Organizational inefficiencies often stem from observable symptoms such as low morale, excessive supervision, and poor communication structures. Analyzing these indicators can help identify root problems like fragmentation and job dilution, leading to targeted structural and position management solutions.
Key Insights
- Recognize symptoms such as miscommunication, over-specialization, and fragmented roles to address problems like fragmentation by consolidating functions under unified supervision.
- Identify issues such as excessive supervisory layers and restricted authority as signs of layering, which can be mitigated by reducing levels of management and increasing span of control.
- Address low morale and stagnant career growth caused by job dilution and missing career ladders through improved job design, creation of bridge positions, and implementation of development programs.
This lesson is a preview from our Federal Position Management Course and Certified Federal HR Business Partner (cFHRBP) Level III Certificate Program. Enroll in a course for detailed lessons, live instructor support, and project-based training.
I want you to look at the symptoms and solutions chart. It gives you three columns for symptoms, and then it gives you a column with problems and suggested solutions. And so it lists the symptoms.
I'm going to just read a few of them, but you take the time to read them yourself. The first symptom is that many supervisors, employee job development, miscommunication or no communication between supervisors and employees, individual positions are over-specialized, and organizational organizations split into many small segments. And so for those symptoms, the problem is fragmentation.
And remember, if you need a definition for these position management words that you don't understand, or they may be your first time seeing them, you want to go to Appendix A to determine what the definition of those words is. And so the problem is, again, fragmentation. The solution is to consolidate functions so that related tasks or processes are placed in the same organization under one supervisor, team leader, or other line of authority.
Ensure the breadth of knowledge and tasks in individual positions to allow the challenge development of those individuals. And so that is one symptom. Let's look at another symptom.
Difficulty in getting decisions made, or management is often unaware of how and by whom lower-level decisions are made. Controversial issues sometimes do not reach upper-level supervisors, and lower-level supervisors and employees are overly restricted. And too many layers in the chain of command.
That is a problem. And so we call that problem layering. The solution is to reduce the number of layers of supervision and increase the span of control.
The span of control is the number of supervisors, the number, excuse me, the number of employees to a supervisor. You want to increase the authority that individual positions have to do their work to ensure clear lines of command and communication. The next symptom is low employee morale, high cost of positions, inefficiency, and a high level of duties spread thinly among several positions.
That problem is job dilution. The solutions could be increased percentages of grade-controlling work in positions, established technician and clerical jobs to take care of lower-level work. Job dilution.
Another symptom is high operating and salary costs, many layers and a management chain, low employee morale, and positions that do not contribute substantially to the mission of the unit. Well, that is a problem. And so that problem is unnecessary positions.
We all have some organizations where we look at staff and say, How does that position fit into this organization? And those are unnecessary positions. Solution would be to eliminate positions that duplicate effort, including supervisors, assistants, shadow administration, staff, and determine what work is actually needed and design jobs around that work. Dead-end positions are another problem or symptom, including low employee morale, recruitment problems, job dilution, and no clear path of progression to higher levels within an organization.
That problem would be missing career ladders. The solution would be to establish bridge positions, including technicians, clerks at interim levels, create development programs, internships, et cetera, to move employees into higher graded positions. And those solutions would actually get employees to stay longer within that organization.
Another symptom is more than one position with the same responsibility. Confusion regarding accountability, workload, and program changes not followed by position changes in the organization. The problem is workforce slash PD inconsistency.
PD is a position description. And so the solution would be to review the organization and the unit functions and design positions. You want to review and update all position descriptions, follow up with communication, and ensure accountability.
And let's look at this last symptom. Little employee initiative, eroding responsibility for quality, excessive overhead expense, and more supervision than is actually needed to get the job done. The problem is a narrow supervisor-to-employee ratio.
That means that there are too few employees working for that particular supervisor. And so you want to increase the span and control. It will introduce the team concept, do peer reviews, which will help you solve that symptom or that problem.
All right, now that we've looked at the symptoms and solution chart, oh, there's one other thing. We want to recognize weaknesses. And so using a systematic approach to recognize weaknesses helps you fully define the problems and gives you a process to use when you're not really sure what's wrong.
That should help a lot. Now, let's look at Exercise 3-2. And so you want to read the case information and answer the questions that follow.
And so let's look at the scenario. Sarah is evaluating an organization that serves as the entry point for veterans seeking information or requesting benefits. It answers questions on educational benefits for veterans.
It refers to another organization for processing. It interviews veterans to determine initial eligibility and provides paperwork for eligible veterans. The organization is experiencing the following problems.
Employees are stuck in low and mid-level jobs with no chance of advancement, resulting in morale problems and grievances. Employees do not qualify for other agency positions because their jobs are so narrow; they are experts in very limited scope jobs. There are five supervisors for 15 employees, as well as a division manager, resulting in excessive review of work.
Few people can meet the very specific qualifications. And once they master the job skills, employees are bored doing the same thing over and over again. And so the three questions are: document the symptoms that exist in this situation.
Two, from the symptoms you identify, what is the problem in this situation? And three, using the suggestions in the symptoms and solution chart on the next page, for the problems you identified, what solutions would you concentrate on?
