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Coordination Concept
Coordination is not more than the
integration process of the several activities developed in each
department of the organization, as a way to achieve the desired
organizational results. Without this integration, the organization sense
as whole would be lost – incentives would be created for that each
department only centered itself on its interests, rather than joint
interests. So, coordination works as a counterweight to the division of
labor – while the division of labor separates people, coordination
reunites them.
Like in the case of division of labor and
departmentalization and the choice of hierarchy levels’ numbers, the
coordination deepness will also depend on the contingencies faced by the
organization.
Paul R. Laurence and Jay W. Lorsch,
examine this question and conclude that the bigger the differentiation
degree among departments (differentiation as to attitudes, work styles,
among others) bigger is the interdepartmental conflicts possibility and,
consequently, bigger is the need of integration techniques use (or
coordination).
Translated from Portuguese
by Susana Saraiva, Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese translation
specialist. Contact: spams@sapo.pt.
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