Question

Advantages of functional structure

Answer 1

The most obvious advantage of a functional organization is that grouping employees by specialization ensures a dependable level of departmental competence. This is particularly so for large organizations that have several functional levels within a department – a particular tech group that follows up on tech issues not resolved by the primary telephone tech support group, for example. Membership in this group could require a bachelor's degree in computer science, a manager's recommendation and a minimum number of years of field experience. This ensures that support issues moved up to the follow-up group are handled by fully qualified personnel, which increases customer satisfaction and retention.

Operational Speed

A related benefit of this kind of organizational specialization is operational speed. By and large, a senior tech is going to handle a support problem faster than someone with less experience.

Operational Clarity

Segregating the workforce according to function clarifies organizational responsibility and allocation of tasks. This tends to eliminate duplication of assignments that waste time and effort and makes it easier for management to direct work to appropriate employees.