Co-ordination
Meaning, Definition, Features, Needs, Types
Meaning
Co-ordination is the unification, integration, synchronisation of the efforts of group members so as to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals. Co-ordination is a necessary effort to solve conflict in the, organization.
Definitions
“Co-ordination is a set of human and structural mechanism designed to link the parts of the enterprise together to help achieve the specified objectives.”
– Glueck
“Co-ordination is orderly arrangement of group efforts to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals.”
– Money and Reelay
“Co-ordination is the integration of several parts into an orderly hole to achieve the purpose of understanding.”
– Charles Worth
Coordination is the orderly synchronizing of efforts of the subordinates to provide the proper amount, timing and quality of execution so that their unfiled efforts lead to the achievement of the stated objectives, namely the common of the enterprise.
-Theo Haimann
Basic Features of Co-ordination
- It is relevant only for group efforts.
- It is a continuous and dynamic process.
- It streamlines the performance of various functions and makes the individual efforts integrated with the total process.
- It is one of the major responsibilities of manager, special co-ordinators are hired in case of incapable manager.
- `Higher the degree of co-ordination, higher the possibility of achievement of organisational objectives.
Co-ordination may not be considered as a separate function of management but ‘The Essence of Management’. The reasons are given below:
- Coordination, being synchronization of efforts of human beings in an organisation, is intrinsic to management as management also tries to synchronise group efforts for achieving organistional goals.
- Function is a group of activities and duties, which is true for all management functions of planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. Co-ordination, on the other hand involves the integration of human efforts for achieving the goals which is not a particular function but the basic objective of all managerial functions
- Classical authors have considered co-ordination as management function because when all management functions are performed properly and due consideration is given to their inter dependence then well- balanced and synchronized group effort is the outcome; otherwise not. Therefore, co-ordination has been the focus of management by the classical authors because they were not sure about the inter dependence of various individuals and proper execution of various management functions. On the contrary, in the systems approach of management, co-ordination is an automatic process because execution of management functions proceeds on integrative basis. It is concluded that all I management functions focus on achieving integration of efforts to ac-complish organisational objectives, therefore, co-ordination is the essence of management rather than a function of management.
Need for Co-ordination
Co-ordination becomes the major issue in case of large organisations, unorganised complex organisations structure, weak leadership, diversity to tasks, complexities of modem technology etc. special efforts for co-ordination are not required in case of small, well structured, with good and dynamic leaders. The major issues which create an ardent need for co-ordination are as follows:
(i) Very large organisations
More the people, more the problems. Every individual is a unique with unpredictable behaviour is a true fact. Every organisation is nothing but a group of individuals and every individual joins the organisation with a well defined goal and it is very necessary to have compatibility between individual and organisational goals. More is the number of individuals, higher will be the degree of such incompatibility; and there comes the need or co-ordination.
(ii) Specialization
There is high degree of specialization in modern organizations. Specialization arises out of the complexities of modern technology as well as from the diversity of tasks and persons needed to perform them. Specialization is reflected in the use of specialists of various types. It is the nature of training of specialists that they are made to feel that they are the best judge of the scope, nature and kind of work they perform. Specialists think that they are qualified to judge each other according to professional criteria, but outsiders cannot have adequate basis for such judgements. If the specialists are allowed to work without co-ordinations, the results can be costly. therefore, some mechanism is required to coordinate the efforts of various specialists in the organization.
(iv)Departmentalization
It is very obvious that every organization is divided into different departments, divisions, sections based on the similarity in their functions. Departmental goals are to be seen in the light of organizational goals. If there is no proper co-ordination between different departments then organization resources may be wasted. Therefore, co-ordination is needed to link the function together and make sure that they contribute towards the total organization goals.
(iv)Interdependence is the law of nature
No living being on this planet is independent but are dependent upon, each other for their survival so, all the divisions, sections, departments, depends upon each other and the performance of one unit is affected by performance of other and therefore, the need of coordination arises.
Types of Co-ordination
1. Internal Co-ordination
(i)Vertical and horizontal co-ordination
It is very important to have healthy communication channel and synchronisation both vertically and horizontally means among the peer groups of different departments e.g., production, marketing, personal, finance etc.
(ii)Substantive and procedural co-ordination
Every organisational work is comprised of two dimensions : substantive dimension and procedure dimension. Substantive dimension involves deciding ‘what to do’ and procedural dimension involves ‘how to do’. Both the functions in every organisation are equally important and high degree of co-ordination is required to get the desired results.
2. External Co-ordination
It refer to coordination between an organisation and its external environment e.g., investors and financers, customers, suppliers, government agencies, media, public etc. Every organisation works as input-output mediator. So, we may say that higher the degree of co-ordination with all the outside agencies, higher the output in terms of organisational goals.