organization

There are things I miss that I shouldn’t, and those I don’t that I should. Sometimes we want what we couldn’t, sometimes we love who we could. -Lang Leav

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Laboratory Management

ORGANIZING AND STAFFING THE LABORATORY

Most of us have encountered having a messy bedroom (which is usually our fault) and our parents lecturing us time after time on how we should be more organized. Let’s face it, at some point, the clutters in our room became hindrances on what we are trying to achieve - like for example trying to find your lost glasses, figuring out if your favourite shirt is still in the laundry or hidden somewhere in the dark corners of your cabinet, or simply just looking for your highlighter when you’re about to study. Usually though, our attempt to find lost things or ‘treasures’ in our bedrooms become a challenge and sometimes we fail in it. And so, every time we try to clean our rooms, we regret ever making it into a chaotic piece of work – but still, the cycle continues.

As time goes by though, we learn that to stop putting ourselves in the point of regret, we should know how to do things the right way. Organizing is not only practiced in laboratories but everywhere – as what was mentioned earlier, it is even applied in our homes and private spaces. Almost our whole lives, we’ve practiced how to be organized and even though we still have some flaws in this matter, we are able to patch things up because we already have an insight on what is bound to happen. Same thing goes in organizing and staffing laboratories, we apply principles that hold more advantages and are effective in the prospect of achieving our goals. But before we could even go further into the application of organizing and staffing, we need to know what it means.

Organization

-‐ A system, an orderly structure, putting things together into a working order, and making arrangements for undertakings that involve cooperation

Organizing

-‐ One of the essential elements of the quality system (WHO, CLSI, 2011) -‐ Establishes the internal organizational structure of the organization -‐ Gives the proper shape to the structure that should implement the plan to achieve mission and

objectives. -‐ Enables people to work together, and to accomplish common objectives in an efficient, planned, and

economic matter (Mekonnen, 2004) -‐ “More than a clean desk” -‐ Time, people, physical lab space -‐ Lab meetings: brainstorming and troubleshooting -‐ determines who does which project and technique, who heads a post -‐ manages the timelines and budgets for multiple projects -‐ management commitment is crucial -‐ there must be a mechanism for implementation and monitoring (Sandquist, 2013)

-‐ Involves: -‐ Defining and assigning authority, responsibility and accountability needed at each level to achieve

goals. -‐ Focus:

-‐ division, -‐ coordination, and -‐ Control of tasks and the flow of information within the organization. (Hayajneh)


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Staffing -‐ The process of acquiring, deploying, and retaining a workforce of sufficient quantity and quality to

create positive impacts on the organization’s effectiveness. (Heneman and Judge, 2005) -‐ Staffing is a management function

-‐ Occurs after an organizational design is in place -‐ The need for people with the right skills, knowIedge and abilities to fill the organizational

structure -‐ It consists of:

-‐ Selecting the right person for the right post. -‐ Training and development. -‐ Giving proper remuneration and motivation. -‐ Performance appraisal of employees. -‐ Proper promotions, transfers, etc.

-‐ Internal factors that affect staffing: -‐ Promotion policy -‐ Future growth plans -‐ Technology used -‐ Support from top management -‐ Image of organisation

-‐ External factors that affect staffing: -‐ Labor laws -‐ Pressure from socio-political groups -‐ Competition -‐ Educational standards -‐ Other external factors such as trade unions, social attitude towards work, etc

-‐ Staffs: the personnel who carry out a specific enterprise

CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANIZATION

The special quality or trait which makes something different from others is what we call characteristics. This character is what gives memory and familiarity to a certain word that we then apply in our daily situations. Organization hold characteristics which make us remember it and differentiate it from other functions of management.

Organizational structures include two fundamental requirements: the division of labor into distinct tasks and the coordination of that labor so that employees are able to accomplish common goals.

a. Division of labor b. Authority center

Division of labor

• The process of breakdown of activities, duties and responsibilities in stages, segments or even departments so as to achieve a common goal

• Subdivided work leads to job specialization, because each job now includes a narrow subset of the tasks necessary to complete the task.


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Coordination of labor • Act of organizing and making different people work together to achieve an organization's goals. • Organization’s ability to divide work among people depends on how well those people can coordinate

with one another. Authority center

• Responsible for ensuring that employees perform their respective tasks as well as coordinate effectively with other staff on each work shift.

Substitution of personnel

• Ability of an organization to substitute a personnel in case of emergencies like getting sick or when having a vacation leave. The substitute personnel should know or be capable enough to cover the responsibilities of the person he/she is substituting.

CONCEPT OF ORGANIZATION

A. Organizational chart B. Job description C. Job specification D. Work schedule E. Reorganization

A. Organizational chart

The organization chart is a diagram showing graphically the relation of one official to another, or others, of a company. It is also used to show the relation of one department to another, or others, or of one function of an organization to another, or others. This chart is valuable in that it enables one to visualize a complete organization, by means of the picture it presents.

There is no accepted form for making organization charts other than putting the principal official, department or function first, or at the head of the sheet, and the others below, in the order of their rank. The titles of officials and sometimes their names are enclosed in boxes or circles. Lines are generally drawn from one box or circle to another to show the relation of one official or department to the others.

The different types of organization charts include:

Hierarchical

The shape of a hierarchical organizational structure is the pyramid. A hierarchical organization is a group of entities structured to be subordinate to a central idea, person or group of persons. The person or department in charge sits at the top of the pyramid. Each department sits below the top in descending order of subordination. The flat bottom of the pyramid is filled with the bulk of the population of the organization.

Matrix

A matrix organizational chart describes the areas of communication on a matrix-shaped chart. It couples hierarchy with multiple levels of communication responsibilities. This structure is more complex than traditional structures, but allows for better understanding of organizations where various levels may answer to more than one department head. The matrix contains two axes of power--one vertical and one horizontal.


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While most organizational charts are pyramid shaped, a matrix organizational chart describes levels of hierarchy in a matrix-shaped diagram. Traditional organizational charts keep authority positions higher on the pyramid, where the matrix organization chart may keep authority levels on similar lateral lines. This is to better illustrate lines of communication rather than authority.

Flat (also known as Horizontal)

In a flat organization structure, there are few levels of command that exist between the employee and the top management. This structure is best suited to small organizations.

This structure completely does away with bureaucracy and middlemen. The management entrusts work directly to the employees. The employees in turn carry out work as per their discretion or turn directly to the top management for advice when doubts occur.

Communication flows are greatly enhanced here. The management and the employees work together toward achieving organizational goals and objectives. As the roles of middlemen are eliminated, the company does not end up paying unnecessary salaries. Also, as the employees use their judgment and discretion in carrying out work, the response times are very fast.

The main problem here is that an employee might be reporting to more than one superior. There is no clarity on whose work he must complete first. Also, this structure is suited only to small organizations that have limited numbers of employees.

B. Job description

A job description is a list that a person might use for general tasks, or functions, and responsibilities of a position. It may often include to whom the position reports, specifications such as the qualifications or skills needed by the person in the job, or a salary range. Job descriptions are usually narrative, but some may instead comprise a simple list of competencies; for instance, strategic human resource planning methodologies may be used to develop a architecture for an organization, from which job descriptions are built as a shortlist of competencies.

Prescriptive job descriptions may be seen as a hindrance in certain circumstances:

Job descriptions may not be suitable for some senior managers as they should have the freedom to take the initiative and find fruitful new directions;

Job descriptions may be too inflexible in a rapidly changing organization, for instance in an area subject to rapid technological change;

Other changes in job content may lead to the job description being out of date; The process that an organization uses to create job descriptions may not be optimal.

C. Job specification

A job specification is written by the firm and outlines the type of person the firm wants, it might contain the educational qualifications, previous experience, general intelligence, specialized skills, interests, personality and physical requirements.


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A job specification is used to match the right person to the job. It describes the desirable personal attributes of the jobholder. The specification should specify the person's:

1) Skills on the job 2) Knowledge of and for the job 3) Length of experience for the job 4) Attitude for the job 5) Preferences 6) Presentability

D. Work schedule

Work schedules are based on a variety of factors, from the employee's availability to the employer's need. Scheduling can be either detailed or vague, giving a specific time for work or alerting workers to a specific deadline when closer to the given dates. Work schedules are presented in either electronic or hard copy format, depending on the employer, type of work and employee.

Set Schedule

Employers provide employees a specific time when they must work and it cannot be changed unless there is a personal emergency for the employees. Set schedules are usually given out in advance to allow employees to make arrangements around their work times.

Flexible Schedule

Flexible schedules are set out by an employer, but employees are able to change the shifts if needed, provided it is approved by their manager and there are other workers available to cover the time. A mix between set schedules and flextime is common.

Flextime

Flextime is a schedule given to an employee who can determine when they work inside a set week or time frame. Individuals use this kind of schedule when they are short-term contractors, such as graphic designers, or have other obligations. Condensed weeks or regular workweeks may be used for flextime.

Employee Scheduling

Employees, when being hired, generally give the times and days they are available during the week. This is the employees' way of regulating their work schedule, including days they cannot work due to other obligations. Occasionally an employer will schedule an employee on a day when he cannot work and will request that the employee work it if they can.


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E. Reorganization

A process designed to revive a financially troubled or bankrupt firm. Reorganization involves the restatement of assets and liabilities, as well as holding talks with creditors in order to make arrangements for maintaining repayments. Reorganization is an attempt to extend the life of a company facing bankruptcy through special arrangements and restructuring in order to minimize the possibility of past situations reoccurring.

The importance of organization is not only seen in the laboratory but in our everyday life. How we learn to prioritize one activity from the other, how we present ourselves with a daily time schedule complete with reminders, how we put things and valuables into our bags and many more are a part of organization. It is by organizing that we learn to accept responsibilities and handle them properly without putting others in a topsy-turvy line. It is good to remember as well what Dee Hock, the founder of Visa credit card, once said, “An organization, no matter how well designed, is only as good as the people who live and work in it.”

Reference:

(1.) https://www.inkling.com/read/organizational-behavior-mcshane-von-glinow-5th/chapter-13/division-of-labor-and

(2.) http://www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday/asbmbtoday_article.aspx?id=48974 – Elizabeth Sandquist

(3.) http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763759643/59643_CH02_5289.pdf

(4.) http://www.hayajneh.org/glossary/vocabulary/m/Management.html - Dr. Yaseen

(5.) http://kalyan-city.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-is-staffing-meaning-factors.html

Prepared by: Group 2

Chu, Mardanielle C.

Escritor, Arianne Valerie Mendoza, Robert Kymric R.

Ozaeta, Patricia May K. Ponce, Patricia Nicole

Sim, Nathaniel Q.

organization

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