ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · The formal and informal business organisation
An employee in a purchasing department needs urgent approval for an order. Instead of going up through her own manager and down through the finance manager's chain, she speaks directly to the finance clerk she knows. Which concept does this most clearly bypass?
The employee bypasses the scalar chain, which is the formal line of authority and communication passing through each management level. Contacting a peer in another department directly ignores that route, whereas span of control concerns how many subordinates one manager supervises.
- ASpan of control
- BScalar chainCorrect
- CDepartmentalisation
- DCentralisation of ownership
Explanation
The scalar chain is the formal line of authority and communication through each level. Going straight across departments ignores that chain. Span of control concerns the number of direct reports, which is not affected by this action.
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