Difference Between Span Of Control In Tesco

Span of control is refers to the number of direct reports a manager has. In other words it states the number of employees can a manager efficiently and effectively manage. The optimal numbers of subordinates supervised by a single executive is 5 to 6 in an average firm. It is importantly to note that managers that have more than six subordinates would soon lose track of what is going on in the organisation. Therefore the number of direct reports a manager can handle depends on the nature of the work being supervised, how visible the performance of subordinates is and the extent of decentralisation within an organisation. Generally, if the work performed by subordinates is routine then the performance of subordinates is visible and easy to measure,
The company has a narrow span of control because of more empowered staffs. The tall span of control means that the manager has very few numbers of employees to manage hence the staffs of Tesco has to obey to rules and regulations and they have to also comply with the instruction given from the Chief Executive Officer. This therefore determines that decision take place at the top level management. It must be clearly said that as a result of the tall structure Tesco has organised a matrix team across its levels. However, the tall structure as it is based within the company; it misses out the different market opportunities compared to a flat
Tesco with narrower span, has greater number of levels which means that the narrow span of control is costly for Tesco as compared to the wide span of control of Wal-Mart. This is because there are more numbers of superiors at Tesco so there are greater communication problems between various levels of management. On the contrary wide span of control is best suited when the employees are not widely scattered geographically, and hence it benefits the managers of Wal-Mart to be in touch with their