Coordination

Dr. T V Suresh Kumar

Prof. and Head, Registrar (Academics)
Department of Computer Applications
Ramaiah Institute of Technology
 Learning Outcomes
• Know the meaning of coordination and its differences from cooperation and
control
• Relate the need for coordination
• Describe the requisites for excellent coordination
• Explain the types of coordination
• Present the techniques of coordination
• Identify the difficulty of coordination
• Present the systems approach to coordination
• Examine the coordination of global operations
 Introduction
• The management of a modern enterprise is based on the principle of
specialization or division of labor
• Coordination is the management of interdependence in work situations
• For example, in a hospital, the activities of doctors, nurses, ward attendants,
and lab technicians must be properly synchronized if the patient is to receive
good care.
 Well – Coordinated Enterprise
• Each department works in harmony with the rest
• Each department, division and sub – division is precisely informed as to the
share it must take in the common task
• The working schedule of the various departments is constantly attuned to
circumstances.
 Is coordination a separate function of
management?
• Coordination must be considered not as a separate function, but as an
essential art of all the managerial functions of planning, organizing, directing
and controlling
• He defines relationships between departments in such a manner and sets
them in such a way that coordination will result.
• In controlling, the manager evaluates operations and checks whether
performance is in conformity with the desired standards.
 Distinction between coordination and
cooperation
• For instance consider a group of men attempting to move a heavy object

• Coordination is superior in order of importance to cooperation.

 Distinction between coordination and control

• Control is direct intervention

• Coordination provides the appropriate linkage between different task units
within the organization
• Longer time span than control
 Need for coordination
• Division of labour
• A car is equipped with accelerator, brake and clutch. Operate them all simultaneously and to
their limit, you will generate a lot of noise but no movement. Coordinate them and manage
their interactions, and you progress.
• Interdependence of units.
• Units can be linked in three ways
• Pooled interdependence
• Sequential interdependence
• Reciprocal interdependence
 Reciprocal dependence

Output Input Output

(post- Input (Machines (post-
Production Maintenance
maintenance requiring maintenance
Department Department
machines) maintenance) machines)
Individual interests versus organizational
interests
 Requisites for excellent coordination
• Direct contact
• Early start
• Continuity
• Dynamism
• Clear-cut objective
• Simplified organization
• Clear definition of authority and responsibility
• Effective communication
• Effective leadership and supervision
 Types of coordination
• Internal or external
• Vertical or horizontal
• Procedural or substantive
 Techniques of coordination (approaches to
coordination)
• Employing only basic coordinating techniques
• Rules, procedures and policies
• Planning
• Hierarchy
• Increasing coordination potential
• Direct contact
• Task force
 Techniques of coordination (approaches to
coordination)
• Increasing coordination potential
• Committees
• Induction
• Indoctrination
• Incentives
• Liaison departments
• Workflow
• A workflow is the sequence of steps by which the organization acquires inputs and transforms
them into outputs and exports these to the environment
 Techniques of coordination (approaches to
coordination)
• Reducing need for oordination
 Difficulty of coordination
• Difference in Orientation towards particular goals
• Difference in time orientation
• Difference in interpersonal orientation
• Differences in formality of structure.
 System approach and coordination
• What are the strategic parts of the system?
• What is the nature of mutual dependency of various parts?
• What are the main processes in the system which link the parts together and
facilitate their adjustments to each other?
• What are the goals sought by the system?
 Coordinating global operations
• Maintaining a higher ratio of expatriates in the top management teams of
those units that play a bigger role in the MNE’s global integration
• Corporate socialization
• Selection of entry mode aligned with the MNE’s need for organizational
control and global integration.