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Line and Staff Conflict - Line And Staff Relationships
Management Concepts & Organisational Behaviour - Line And Staff Relationships
Line and Staff Conflict - Line And Staff Relationships
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Line and staff relationship implies that both are complimentary in nature.
Line and Staff Conflict
Line and staff relationship implies that both are complimentary in nature. However, there are frequent instances of conflict between line and staff in the organizations, resulting in friction. The various factors leading to line-staff conflict can be grouped into three categories: apprehensions of line managers, apprehensions of staff, and nature of line-staff relationship. Let us examine how these apprehensions generate conflict.
Line managers who are responsible for the final results leading to the achievement of organizational objectives, often criticize the staff manages on the following grounds:
Encroachment of Line Authority: Line managers often see a threat to their authority in the staff. They perceive that staff people encroach upon their authority by advising on matters which fall within their jurisdiction. Whenever there is such encroachment the result is resentment, hostility, and open or hidden reluctance to accept advice and recommendation.
Dilution of Authority: Closely related to the earlier one is a feeling that staff people dilute line authority. Line managers fear that their responsibility will be reduced because of the addition of staff thereby making their job less challenging. Such a feeling of insecurity makes line manages suspicious of staff managers.
Lack of Responsibility: The disparity between authority and responsibility and also between contributions and rewards is a source of jealousy between line and staff. Line managers often allege that staff people are not directly accountable for the results, but enjoy authority. Lack of responsibility makes them complacent and they do not care for the ultimate objectives of the organization. Further, line managers contend that they will be criticized if things go wrong, while the staff will get the rewards if things go well.
Line and staff relationship implies that both are complimentary in nature. However, there are frequent instances of conflict between line and staff in the organizations, resulting in friction. The various factors leading to line-staff conflict can be grouped into three categories: apprehensions of line managers, apprehensions of staff, and nature of line-staff relationship. Let us examine how these apprehensions generate conflict.
Apprehensions of Line Managers:
Line managers who are responsible for the final results leading to the achievement of organizational objectives, often criticize the staff manages on the following grounds:
Encroachment of Line Authority: Line managers often see a threat to their authority in the staff. They perceive that staff people encroach upon their authority by advising on matters which fall within their jurisdiction. Whenever there is such encroachment the result is resentment, hostility, and open or hidden reluctance to accept advice and recommendation.
Dilution of Authority: Closely related to the earlier one is a feeling that staff people dilute line authority. Line managers fear that their responsibility will be reduced because of the addition of staff thereby making their job less challenging. Such a feeling of insecurity makes line manages suspicious of staff managers.
Lack of Responsibility: The disparity between authority and responsibility and also between contributions and rewards is a source of jealousy between line and staff. Line managers often allege that staff people are not directly accountable for the results, but enjoy authority. Lack of responsibility makes them complacent and they do not care for the ultimate objectives of the organization. Further, line managers contend that they will be criticized if things go wrong, while the staff will get the rewards if things go well.
Theoretical Bias: Often the advice and recommendation of staff people suffer from
theoretical bias because of two reasons, First,
they
Tags : Management Concepts & Organisational Behaviour - Line And Staff Relationships
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