Line Staff Activities

The line and staff activity has been debated for many years. One of the earliest expositions in line-staff activities dates back to 1911, in the military’s plan to simplify shop work (Fisch, 1961). These two activities are often perceived as one process; however they are not the same. There are fundamental differences between line and staff activity. These two functions cross over in organizations including health care, manufacturing, and service organizations. The line does not have direct authority, but moves the organization in advancement towards a state of completion (Etzioni, 1959). The staff activity is usually organized according to function (marketing, engineering, human resources, manufacturing, etc.) and has some authority
The line is responsible for earning income and the support to income-earning is staff, and each has different levels of priority (Brogan, 2003). The staff often acts in a supporting role to the overall line function under the direction of upper management. However, staff is subordinate to line authority and serve in a support capacity to enhance the lines effectiveness (Etzioni, 1959). The line staff could be related to the admission of patients to a health care facility. The line activity is the completion of registration prior to admission, where the patient’s demographic information is taken and transferred into the system for billing. However, if a step is not completed, similar to insurance information not entered into the system, the result would be incomplete and the health care organization could not complete the billing line activity. However, the line (patient registration) does require staff to enter the information thereby a staff activity is essential for success. Another example would be the patients visit to a primary care physician. The line activity is the process of moving the patient through the clinic from registration, triage, exam, discharge. However, if the line omits the exam activity, the line