What is meant by 'Formal Organisation'? State any five advantages of this form of organisation.

Formal organisation refers to the organisation structure which is designed by the management to accomplish a particular task. It specifies clearly the boundaries of authority and responsibility and there is a systematic coordination among the various activities to achieve organisational goals. The structure in a formal organisation can be functional or divisional. It is usually developed for a continuous purpose involving activities of repetitive nature and long-term operations.

Advantages of a Formal organisation are the following:
1) It is easier to fix responsibility since mutual relationships are clearly defined.
2) There is no ambiguity in the role that each member has to play as duties are specified. This also helps in avoiding duplication of effort.
3) Unity of command is maintained through an established chain of command.
4) It leads to effective accomplishment of goals by providing a framework for the operations to be performed and ensuring that each employee knows the role he has to play.
5) It provides stability to the organisation. This is because behaviour of employees can be fairly predicted since there are specific rules to guide them.