Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Manager
Assistant manager
Nursery manager
Retail store
manager
Greenhouse manager
Worker
Worker
Worker
Worker
Worker
GreenThumb, Inc.
Line organizational chart
2nd year
Figure 16.1
Line organization
Furthermore, there is really no place in a line organization for specialists. As a business
grows, it requires a more diversifi ed structure. As GreenThumb grew, it became obvious that
an offi ce manager/accountant would be needed, as well as a professional horticulturist to
advise on matters of disease control, plant propagation, and fi eld practices. In a line organi-
zation, such specialists should be in a position to offer advice, but typically are not directly
involved in the line of authority over activities in the nursery or greenhouses.
Line and staff organization
The
line and staff organization
is a variation of the line organization. The difference is that
it includes a place for specialists, sometimes known as staff (
Figure 16.2
)
. In this type of
organization, staff personnel have direct accountability to key line managers and are respon-
sible for offering advice on problems or providing services in their area of specialization.
Typically, these specialists or staffs have no authority except over assistants who may be
assigned to them. Their advice can be accepted or rejected by line managers, who retain
responsibility for all decisions.
GreenThumb management is likely to fi nd the advice of a staff horticulturalist
and accountant invaluable in making technical decisions and analyzing operating costs. The
highly trained horticulturalist can work with the nursery manager and the greenhouse man-
ager, advising them on disease problems in the nursery or propagation problems in the
greenhouse, or assisting them with customer problems in the retail store. Under this struc-
ture, no one is required to accept all the specialists' suggestions, but professional advice and
services can be extremely benefi cial to the business. Staff specialists can be advisory, they
can handle service problems, and/or they can provide control functions, as do
quality inspectors in a processing plant. In any case, they typically do not have line authority
over others in their organization, and this is one major drawback of the line and staff
organization.
Staff specialists must be positioned to avoid undermining the authority of line manage-
ment. This is diffi cult, since their position and special knowledge often give them consider-
able status and prestige that can easily be misused. Line managers or workers may not
welcome changes or policies that these staff specialists may legitimately suggest. Specialists
