8.4 Coordinating and integrating mechanisms
In management literature you will find a number of words that are used with considerable licence. These words are system, process, coordination, integration, and control. Before defining these words in the context of this chapter, here is an assertion which is fairly consistent with what you will find in management literature: the basic management systems are the communication system, the system for coordination and integration, and the control system. Here are the definitions.
- A system is a set of interacting elements which acquires inputs from the environment, transforms them and discharges outputs to the external environment. 'Interacting elements' mean that people and departments depend upon one another and must work together.
- A process is a series of actions, changes or functions that bring about an end or result.
- Coordination is the linking of two or more organisational units so that they work harmoniously. Organisations have two basic kinds of coordination needs: vertical and horizontal.
- Differentiation in the organisation context is also known as division of labour : that is, breaking the entity into its constituent parts so that people can specialise in some function such as manufacturing, marketing and so on. Integration is the converse of differentiation. It is the process of bringing all the parts together so that they function as a unit.
- Control is the process through which managers ensure that actual activities conform to planned activities.
You are entitled to use these terms with the same abandon as writers of management textbooks. There is in fact a good deal of transferability across these terms and the context in which a word is used will usually give the appropriate meaning. The important issue for students of management is to know the devices, mechanisms, processes or systems which are used for communication, coordination, integration and control.
Now tap into your knowledge of your real world. To do the following task you should put your books aside, find a comfortable place to lie down, read the questions, close your eyes and think about the answers. At this point you should accept as fact that you know more than you think you know.
Activity 8.2
- Through what means does the 'communication system' in your workplace function? How does the communication system function in an MNE such as Pacific Dunlop?
- What mechanisms are there in your place of work, or the local supermarket, to coordinate the activities of the various departments? What coordinating mechanisms are there in an MNE such as Pacific Dunlop?
- What impediments are there to coordination in the organisation you used to answer question 2? What impediments to coordination are there in an MNE such as Pacific Dunlop?
- What mechanisms exist to integrate the activities of the organisation you used to answer question 2? What mechanisms are there to integrate the activities of an MNE such as Pacific Dunlop?
If you made a conscientious effort to do Study task 8.1 you should find the next reading easy.
In your text
Hill 2005, Chapter 13, pp. 453-457.
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