What is Departmentalization? Definition Meaning

What is Departmentalization? Definition

According to Professors Pearce and Robinson,

"Departmentalization is the grouping of jobs, processes, and resources into logical units to perform some organizational task."

The concept of departmentalization is depicted in the following diagram.

Image Credits © Moon Rodriguez.

Meaning of Departmentalization

In departmentalization, similar activities are grouped together to form various departments.

For example, all the activities relating to accounts are grouped together to make the accounts department. Similarly, we have purchase department, production department, sales department, finance department, human resource (HR) department, etc.

So, departmentalization is the process of dividing the organization into different departments. It is the process by which an organization expands horizontally. There are many bases or types of departmentalization. A department consists of, head of department, specific functions and staff. The head of department (HOD) is responsible to the CEO of the organization for the functions of his department.