Monday, 29 April 2013
Topic: Line v/s Staff Authority
Learning Objectives:
To help the students practically understand difference between Line and
Staff Authority; and the specific and overlapping roles of Line and Staff
Managers
Scenario:
Mr. Latif and Mr. Haroon both are directors in a textile firm. The CEO of the
firm is convinced by Mr. Latif that hiring is required in his departments of
Finance and Marketing. Mr. Latif asked Marketing manager and Finance
manager to estimate the minimum number ofvacancies that should be filled in
order to well accommodate the need of the departments. The estimated
number was 9, but Mr. Latif decided to forward the requirement of only 7 new
employees to keep the cost minimum. The CEO talked to Mr. Haroon about
the dearth of employees and asked him to check if the requirement and the
number of minimum vacancies are justified. Mr. Latif then asked the Finance
and Marketing Managers to specify the KSAs (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities)
the candidates needed to have. The hiring process took place after which both
Latif and Haroon arranged for orientation of the newly hired 7 employees.
Later in the year, Mr. Latif was informed by the Finance and Marketing
managers about the training requirementfor few new employees. He discussed
the training needs of the employees with Mr. Haroon. Mr. Haroon discussed
the required training with the CEO and asked the HR manager to make
arrangements for the training after approval from the CEO. The training was
outsourced.
Now the time for yearly appraisal was around. Marketing and Finance
managers apprised the employees of their respective departments and sent
results to Mr. Latif for approval. He then forwarded it to Mr. Haroon for
further working of the HR department on the performance appraisal.
Question: Keeping in view the given scenario, you are required to identify and
justify who among the CEO, HR, Finance and Marketing managers, along with
Mr. Latif and Mr. Haroon holds staff authority and who holds line authority.
