Explain four disadvantages of functional organisation structure.
The following are the disadvantages or limitations of functional organisation structure:
(i) Ignorance of Organisational Objectives: Each departmental head works according to his sweet will. They always give more weight to their departmental objectives. Hence, overall organisational objectives suffer. For example, to establish its image, the production department may produce quality product ignoring the fact that market trend is of accepting medium quality product.
(ii) Difficulty in Inter-departmental Coordination: All departmental heads may work as per their own wish. No doubt this facilitates coordination within the department but it makes inter-departmental coordination difficult.
(iii) Individual Ego Leads to Conflicts: Every departmental head wants to become a functional empire. To satisfy their ego each demands maximum resources for their department. This situation leads to conflicts among the various departmental heads.
(iv) Hurdle in Complete Development: This system is a hurdle in the way of the complete development of the employees. Each employee specialises only in a small part of the whole job.
