While the purpose of organizing is to make human cooperation effective, the reason for the levels of the organization is the limitations of the span of management. In other words, organization levels exist because there is a limit to the number of persons a manager can supervise effectively, even though this limit varies depending on the situation. The relationships between the span of management and the organizational levels are shown in the following figure. Few organisational levels are associated with a wide management span, while many levels are associated with a narrow span.
| Advantage | Disadvantage |
|---|---|
| 1. Close supervision | 1. Superiors frequently interfere excessively with subordinates’ work |
| 2. Close control | 2. Many levels of management |
| 3. Fast communication between subordinates and superiors | 3. High costs due to many levels |
| 4. Excessive separation between the bottom and top levels |
| Advantage | Disadvantage |
|---|---|
| • Superiors are compelled to assign tasks | • A propensity for overworked managers to become decision bottlenecks |
| • Policies must be stated with clarity | • The possibility of a superior losing control |
| • It is essential to carefully choose subordinates. | • Demands exceptional managerial abilities |