Harvard Business Review

There is no question that in the last quarter century the work load of the executive has greatly increased. The top management man has new functions that he cannot possibly delegate completely; take, for instance, his new responsibilities in public relations and industrial relations. Businesses have grown in size, in complexity, and in geographical coverage; the duties and problems of the top executive have increased commensurately. For this reason, one of the biggest tasks confronting the manager is that of reducing his overload of less important daily duties, thus giving himself time for reflection as well as for the personal contacts with his organization which are the mainspring of leadership -the “personal touch” which makes the executive a business leader. It is in connection with this organizational problem that the “span of control” concept has received so much attention. As the first writer to apply this principle formally to business, I propose here to reexamine the concept, to analyze the main criticisms that have been levied against it, and to demonstrate why and how a restricted span of control can improve executive effectiveness, reduce pressure, inefficiency and incompetence, produce better employee cooperation, and build morale and a sense of unity within the organization.