Working in The Legal Environment

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Adetokunbo Adebanjo

Working in the legal environment

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Hierarchical structure

In this type of organisation, employers are ranked at various levels, with the one main employer at the top, and the number of people at each level increases as you go down the structure. This is usually illustrated as a pyramid shape. Each employee has command over a few employees, each of which also has command over a few employees, and so on.

The advantages of this structure are that authority, responsibility and promotion paths are clearly distinct. Also, specialist managers are beneficial, and employees are loyal within their departments.

Disadvantages include the fact that horizontal communication across various sections can be poor.


Flat structure

This only has one or two layers of management, and is usually found in small organisations. The span of control is wide, and the chain of command is short.

The advantages of this, is that team spirit is generally better, as well as the communication better management and workers. Decisions are easier to make, there is less bureaucracy, and also lower costs.

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Disadvantages include the fact that workers may have more than one boss, different department functions and job roles may be blurred, and the growth of the organisation may be hindered. This structure only works in small organisations, such as partnerships, co-operatives and some private limited companies.


Tall structure

This has many tiers, and levels of command. These run from the top to the bottom of the organisation. It has a long chain of command from top to bottom. Tall structures rarely exceed 8 levels because the span of control is decreased to such a point ...

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