Coordination as a binding force: importance and limitations

Meaning: why coordination is a binding force

Coordination is making sure that the work of different people, groups and departments fits together, so that the organisation reaches its goals as one. There is no moment when a manager stops planning and starts coordinating: a good plan, structure, instruction or control report is itself a piece of coordination, and it is the job of managers at every level, from the chief executive to the supervisor.

Coordination is not the same as cooperation, which is people's willingness to help one another. The two need each other. A timetable imposed on staff who will not pull together is resisted; a willing team with no common timetable gets in its own way, each member helping in a direction of his or her own.

It is called a binding force because an organisation is a collection of specialised parts, production, sales, finance, human resources, each with its own goals and ways of working. Left to themselves, these parts pull in different directions. Coordination holds them together, much as a conductor turns many musicians into one orchestra, so that the organisation works as one whole and not as a set of separate units.

Example. A packaged-foods company plans a festival promotion. Sales has promised retailers extra stock, production must change its shift plan, purchase must buy more packaging, and finance must release funds early. Unless these plans are matched in timing and quantity, the promotion fails even if each department does its own job well.

Importance of coordination

1. Unity of action. It directs varied activities towards the organisation's goals rather than departmental goals.
2. Integrates specialisation. The more work is divided, the more it needs to be brought back together; coordination does this.
3. Avoids duplication and gaps. Work is neither done twice nor left undone, so resources are not wasted.
4. Reduces conflict. Clear links between departments reduce disputes over priorities, resources and authority.
5. Efficiency and economy. Smooth flow of work lowers delays, idle time and cost.
6. Supports growth and change. As a firm grows in size and complexity, or launches new products, coordination keeps the new parts aligned with the old.
7. Better relations and morale. People who understand how their work connects with others' cooperate more willingly.

Limitations of coordination

1. Harder in large and dispersed organisations. Many levels, locations and units make it difficult and slow.
2. Departmental loyalty. Specialists tend to protect their own goals and budgets, which resists coordination.
3. Depends on communication. Poor or delayed information breaks coordination, however good the plans.
4. Human factors. Personal differences, ego and lack of cooperation cannot be removed by procedures alone.
5. Cost and time. Committees, meetings, liaison staff and reporting systems take time and money.
6. Risk of over-coordination. Too many checks and approvals slow decisions and stifle initiative.
7. Uncertain environment. Rapid external changes can upset carefully matched plans.

Conclusion

Coordination is rightly called the binding force, and even the essence, of management: without it, the other functions cannot deliver a common result. Its limitations do not reduce its importance; they mean that managers must build it in through clear goals, sound structure, good communication and cooperative leadership.