Definition of Scalar Chain
When you run an organisation or are a part of an organisation, you know that there are a lot of aspects that keep the organisation going. One of the most important and crucial aspects is communication.
Scalar chain focuses on this communication and the flow of the communication through the organisation, right from the person at top to the person at the lowest rank in the organisation. So in a literal sense, a scalar chain is a straight line or chain of authority that runs from highest to lowest rank in the organisation.
What is a Scalar Chain and How does it work?
As we already discussed, a clear and smooth flow of communication is very important for an organisation to run smoothly. This communication flow should be in a proper order from one authority to another for it to be accurate and effective.
As any organisation has a large number of employees, it is not exactly easy to maintain such flow of communication and may often lead to miscommunication, which can be harmful for the organisation’s performance and progress.
Scalar chain gives a set principle which the organisation needs to follow to avoid such miscommunications. According to this principle, the flow of communication should be pre-decided and pre-planned, it should be communicated by the person in higher authority to their immediate junior and so on to avoid any confusion and misinterpretation.
This chain needs to be followed at every department of the organisation. To make you understand this better, Fayol explained it in the form of Fayol's ladder. For example, if your organisation has 5 employees and employee 2 has to communicate something to employee 5, the flow of communication will be 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 . This was explained in a ladder diagram by Faloy.
This planned flow of communication will help to transfer it more clearly from one authority to another and that helps in much quicker problem solving.
Limitation of the Scalar Chain
The only limitation of the scalar chain is that at the time of emergency, it may take a longer time for the message to pass on. This limitation is however overcome by a concept called “GangPlank”. Through this concept, the message can be directly communicated between two authorities of the organisations of different departments but of the same rank. This would help to communicate the message faster.
