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.
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,
theyt end to think within the context of their won
specialty, Second, as staff people
are away from the actual operational scene, they are not able to fully
appreciate the actual dimensions of the problems and their recommendations may
not be practicable.
Tags : Management Concepts & Organisational Behaviour - Line And Staff Relationships
Last 30 days 1418 views