There are six main functions of an organization which are described as under :
(1) Work Specialization : Work specialization depends on the nature of the work. There are two ways of work specialization. (1) Some tasks exclusively done by a single worker. (2) Some tasks divided into parts and each part of the work done by different workers. Each worker becomes expert in only one part of the activity.
(2) Departmentalization : Depending upon the nature of duties, tasks are grouped together which is called departmentalization. For example : A hospital may have departments of patients care, administration, accounting, research etc. Such grouping proves beneficial for better coordination and efficiency in work and productivity.
3). Chain of Command : It is directly related to the hierarchy from the top to bottom position. It clarifies who will report to whom. It tells the workers whom to contact if there is a danger or problem. It includes two things : authority and unity of commands (1) In authority, command is given and expectation regarding the following of the command is the right of managers. (2) Unity of command indicates that a subordinate should have one and only one higher authority to whom he directly reports.
(4) Span of Control : Span of control means the numbers of subordinates a manager can effectively and efficient supervise. The manager will lack time to provide support and leadership to many subordinatesif the span is too wide. But if the span is too small, the company will need many managers which will prove costly.
(5) Centralization : An organization, determines the level of centralization and decentralization depending upon the involvement of the employees. In centralization, top managers take all the decisions and their subordinates have to follow them, while in decentralization, employees are given power to take decisions. Thus, the power of decision making is distributed. In decentralized organization, employees are given rights and steps are taken for their empowerment. But this type of system should be evaluated at regular intervals to get good results. This is how, both centralization and decentralization directly affect the speed of decisions and their implementation.
(6) Formalization : An employee gets least freedom in playing his role in this type of system when the employees have to do the assigned task by the same method and uniformly every time, it is called formalization. Such organizations follow definite rules and procedures. There are merits and demerits o formalization. The merit is that the employee is not free to behave in alternative ways. But the demerit is that the employee is not able to work freely and independently in his own way.