We have selected the organization of a large industrial establishment for the very reason that many divisions and departments are necessary. The smaller organization will have a less number of divisions, but it is much easier to condense than to expand a given plan. Any man who understands the requirements of a large organization can readily adapt those ideas to a smaller establishment. He can apply the plan so far as it can be used to advantage. Some variations of the application of the plan will be pointed out in our departmental analysis.
Fig. 5. A Chart Which Shows the Duties, Responsibilities and Authorities to be Assumed by Each Department Head
It is perhaps unnecessary to say that while the authorities of some of the department heads have been referred to in preceding pages, this analysis is intended to exhibit these authorities in greater detail.
12. General Manager. As a rule the general manager has general supervision over the commercial and manufacturing branches. In conjunction with the president and executive committee, he formulates all policies to be followed in purchasing, manufacturing, sales, and advertising, establishing credits, and accounting methods. He is responsible to the executive committee and board of directors for procuring materials, their manufacture and sale, and the maintenance of buildings and machinery.
It is his duty to keep in touch with the operations of every department and to post himself on the general efficiency of all classes of workmen. Through reports he will keep informed in regard to the results of the operations of every department.
While in direct communication with all department and division heads, he will have for his immediate assistants, a comptroller and a superintendent. It is from the comptroller that he will receive statistics and reports of the activities of the business in all its branches, while to the superintendent he delegates his authority in the actual operation of the manufacturing branch.
13. Comptroller. "A controller or manager" is a standard definition of the term comptroller. In the organization under consideration, he is a controller of the business by virtue of the fact that he is responsible for the accounting and recording of all activities of the business.
He occupies the position of auditor and is the real systematizer of the business. He creates all systems of commercial accounting, cost accounting, departmental records, time keeping, and pay rolls, reports of superintendent, perpetual inventory, sales statistics, and, in fact, all records of the business. He prepares all balance sheets, comparative statements, trading, manufacturing, and profit and loss statements, and reports to the general manager or executive committee, or both, on the condition of finances, materials, and finished goods.
Since the formation of important policies may hinge on the reports and statistics of his department, he occupies an office next in importance to the general manager. The training and experience gained in his office place him in direct line for promotion to the office of general manager.