Organising
What the domain tests
Organising is grouping activities, assigning duties, and creating authority relationships. RBSE tests the process, functional vs divisional structure, formal vs informal organisation, delegation, and decentralisation. It wants clear distinctions and merits/demerits.
Core rules
- Process: division of work, departmentation, assignment of duties, and establishing reporting relationships.
- Formal organisation is deliberately designed; informal organisation arises from social interaction.
- Delegation is downward transfer of authority from superior to subordinate, with responsibility and accountability. Authority can be delegated; responsibility cannot; accountability cannot be delegated.
- Decentralisation is the systematic dispersal of decision-making authority to lower levels. Delegation can exist between two persons; decentralisation is organisation-wide.
- Functional structure groups by function (production, finance); divisional structure groups by product, territory or customer.
Worked example
A manager gives a supervisor the power to approve leave for the shift but remains answerable to the plant head if leave rules are broken. The supervisor has authority and responsibility; the manager retains accountability. If the firm then gives all plant heads power to set local production schedules, that is decentralisation-not merely one delegation-because decision-making is dispersed across levels and units.
Traps
Do not say responsibility can be delegated. Do not equate decentralisation with delegation; decentralisation is wider and extends to all levels. Informal organisation is not “illegal” or useless; it can speed communication but may spread rumours. Do not confuse divisional structure with departmentation by function.