Differences between line and line and staff Organization

Line organizational structure is one of the simplest types of organizational structures. Its authority flows from top to bottom. Unlike other structures, specialized and supportive services do not take place in these organizations. The chain of command and each department head has control over their departments.

Line-staffs organization in management, approach in which authorities establish goals and directives that are then fulfilled by staffs and other workers. In a highly centralized structure, decisions are made by a few executives or managers and flow downward through the enterprise.

Perhaps the most important (and obvious) difference between line and staff is the purpose : line’s purpose is to work directly toward organisational goals, whereas staff advises and assists. Another important difference is authority. Line authority is generally considered as the formal (legitimate) authority created by the organisational hierarchy.

The Differences between line and line and staff Organization are about the meaning, authority, discipline, executives, degree of centralization, etc. They are explained below.

BASIS FOR COMPARISON	LINE ORGANIZATION	LINE AND STAFF ORGANIZATION
Meaning	The organization in which the authority and responsibility move downward and accountability flows upward.	The organization structure, in which a specialist is added to the line managers to provide guidance and support.
Authority	Command	Command and Advise
Discipline	Strict	Loose
Executives	Line executives are generalist.	Line executives are generalist and staff executives are specialist.
Degree of centralization	Absolute centralization	Partly centralized and partly decentralized
Appropriate for	A small organization with less number of employees.	A large organization with a number of employees.