Question

Pick a job you have held, and describe it in terms of span of control, delegation, responsibility, authority, and accountability. If you have never held a job, interview someone you know regarding the same criteria and summarize their responses.

Note: The business world offers many varied opportunities to excel in the workplace. As workers, we often do not stop to think about the terms listed in this question. The Unity of Command Principle refers to the basic rule that an employee must answer to a single manager and not several. An exception to this rule is the Matrix management concept.

Answer 1

My former company is a multinational publishing company headquartered in Europe. The job that I had held was a Journal Manager’s position. I report to the Team Manager. We were 12 Journal Managers who report to the Team Manager. As a JM, I am responsible for publishing the journal issues on-time. There were a wide variety of journals and it required continuous monitoring by JMs to ensure that the articles were published without any delays. There were complex challenges such as copy right issues, quality issues, delays from editors and reviewers, etc. I have to monitory that the articles are published on-time so that they are published in the respective journals. I was responsible for a portfolio of 11 journals. We were given authority by our TM to perform our job efficiently. We had the freedom of judgment and the TM intervened only if there was any escalation from the internal publishers. I was highly accountable to what I do so that I am responsible for any errors or mistakes in journals. I do not perform any administrative tasks instead I supervise the different stages of the article in the publication process. The management encouraged innovation and creativity for efficiency and effectiveness in the process. This created visibility and more opportunities for growth. I aspired to become a Team Lead and the same was encouraged by my Team Manager. I was also obtained rating ‘2’ in my performance appraisal and this was a requirement to apply for the post of Team Lead. Hence, I had a high level of responsibility for my performance. There was unity of command because I was in-charge of the entire publication of the journals though I have to interact with other team members.