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Public Adminstration QUESTION #9563
Question 1
The concept of 'span of control' and 'organizational levels' are inversely related. A government ministry decides to increase the span of control of its Joint Secretaries from 4 to 8 subordinates. What organizational consequence necessarily follows?
  • The organization becomes taller with more hierarchical levels to maintain effective supervision
  • The organization becomes flatter with fewer hierarchical levels, reducing communication layers but increasing supervisory load✔️
  • The organization requires more managers to maintain the same ratio of supervision across all levels
  • The organization shifts from functional to geographic departmentalization to manage the wider supervisory responsibility
Correct Answer Explanation
Span of control and organizational levels are inversely related: wider span = fewer levels (flatter structure); narrower span = more levels (taller structure). Increasing span from 4 to 8 means each manager supervises more people, reducing the need for additional management tiers — producing a flatter hierarchy with fewer intermediary levels.