Described about span of management and also about Graicunas Theory of Model

1. SPAN OF MANAGEMENT
GRAICUNAS THEORY OR MODEL
NAME : SHEELA

2. Span of management :
• The term originated from military.
• But now used in business management.
• Also known as “Span of control”, “Span of supervision” and “Span
of authority”.
• It refers to the number of subordinates who can be managed
effectively by a superior.
• It also refers to the number of subordinates who report directly
to specific manager.
• Manager should neither have too many or too few subordinates.

3. Deciding the number of subordinates :
• Classical writers have suggested 3 to 8 subordinates are ideal.
• GRAICUNAS, a French management consultant has given a mathematical
formula for the number of subordinates.
• According to him, as the number of subordinates increases arithmetically (
like1,2,3,4,5,6, etc.), the number of relationships which the superior has to
control increases geometrically (like 1,6,18,44,100,244, etc.)

4. • Graicunas has identified 3 types of superior subordinate
relationships
1. Direct Single Relationship.
2. Direct Group Relationship.
3. Cross Relationship.

5. Direct Single Relationship
• Arise from the direct
individual contacts of the
superior with his
subordinates.
• Thus, if there are 3
subordinates (1,2,3) under
supervisor, there will be 3
direct single relationships.
• Formula : n (Number of
subordinates)

6. HOW TO SOLVE

7. Direct Group Relationship
• It is the relationship that
arise between a manager and
group of subordinates.
• The supervisor has to manage
his/her group relations
between each group of
individuals.
• With 3 subordinates, the
supervisor is managing 9
groups.
• Formula : n[2^n-1-1]

8. HOW TO SOLVE

9. Cross Relationships
• This relationship arise
among subordinates
themselves working under a
manager.
• The supervisor has to
manage each individual in
the team.
• Thus, there are 6
relationships within his
subordinates.
• formula : n[n-1]

10. HOW TO SOLVE

11. Total Number Of Relationships
• The last formula reveals that
possible relationships with
variable number of
subordinates rise very rapidly
as shown in the following
table.
• Formula : n[2^n/2 + (n-1)]

12. HOW TO SOLVE

13. Impact of Span Of Supervision :
• The number of persons an executive supervises has an important
influence on the nature of organisation structure.
• If the span is large, it means that fewer levels are needed in the
organisation. The structure would lead to be flat and wide.
• Subordinates who are skilled, efficient, knowledgeable, trained
and competent requires less supervision, and therefore, the
supervisor may have a wider span in such cases as compared to
inexperienced and untrained subordinates who requires greater
supervision.
• The capacity of a person to supervise and control a large number
of persons is also limited on account of time available at his
disposal to supervise them.

14. Types of Span Of Supervision :
• Wide span of supervision ( Flat Structure)
• Narrow span of supervision ( Tall Structure)

15. Wide Span Of Supervision
• When the span of supervision is wider, the number of executives
needed to supervise the workers will be less. This will make
organisation structure wide.
• Such a structure would be less expensive because of less
overhead costs of supervision. Since the number of levels is less,
there will be better communication between worker and the
management and better coordination.
• However, the quality of performance is likely to deteriorate
because one executive cannot effectively supervise a large
number of subordinates. He will not be able to devote sufficient
time in directing each and every subordinate.

16. Wide span or Flat Structure

17. Narrow Span Of Supervision
• This means a single or supervisor oversees few subordinates.
This gives a rise to a tall organisation structure.
• There will also be a problem of effective coordination of the
activities of different persons in the organisation because of more
levels of executives.
• However, the narrow span of supervision has a benefit of better
personal contacts between the supervisors and the subordinates.
It facilities tight control and close supervision. Tall organisation
structure gives sufficient time to an executive for development
relations with the subordinates.

18. Narrow Span or Tall Structure

19. Factors Determining Span Of
Supervision :
The span of control varies from individual to individual, time to time
and place to place. The factors which determine the span of control are
discussed below :
 ABILITY OF THE MANAGER : Individual differ in various qualities
like leadership, decision making and communication. The span may be
wider if the manager possesses these skills in greater degree as
compared to others.
 TIME AVAILABLE FOR SUBERVISION : The span should be narrow
at the higher levels because top managers have less time available for
supervision. They have to devote the major portion of their time to
planning, organising, directing and controlling. Each manager need to
focus on important functions of the management.

20.  NATURE OF WORK : When the span are narrowed, the levels in the
organisation increases. This involves delegation of authority and
responsibility. If the work is of a routine and repetitive nature, it can easily
be delegated to the subordinates.
 CAPACITY OF SUBORDINATES : If the subordinates are skilled,
efficient and knowledgeable, they will require less supervision. In such a
case, the superior may go in for a wider span.
 DEGREE OF DECENTALISATION : Under decentralisation, the power to
make decisions is delegated to the lower levels. The span of management
will be narrow in such case so as to exercise more and more control.
 EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION : An effective system of
communication in the organisation favours large number of levels because
there will be no difficulty in transmission of information in spite of a large
number of intervening layers.

21.  CONTROL MECHANISM : The span of control also depends
upon the control mechanism being followed. Control may be
followed either through personal supervision or through
reporting. The former favours narrow span anf the latter favours
a wide span.
To sum up, it can be said that an executive should be expected to
supervise a reasonable number of subordinates. What is
reasonable depends on a variety of factors like individual
difference in executives, number and capacity of subordinates, like
nature of work, availability of time, ease of communication,
internal checks and controls and degree of delegation in the
organisation.