The functional similarity method is, according to many management theorists, the most basic method of dividing job activities. Simply stated, the method suggests that management should take four basic, interrelated steps to divide job activities in the following sequence:

1. Examine management system objectives.

2. Designate the appropriate activities that must be performed to reach those objectives.

3. Design specific jobs by grouping similar activities.

4. Make specific individuals responsible for performing those jobs.

Figure 9.1 illustrates this sequence of activities.

At least three additional guides can be used to supplement the functional similarity method.⁶ The first of these supplemental guides suggests that overlapping responsibility should be avoided when making job activity divisions. Overlapping responsibility refers to a situation in which more than one individual is responsible for the same activity. Generally speaking, only one person should be responsible for completing any one activity. When two or more employees are unsure about who should do a job because of overlapping responsibility, the result is usually conflict and poor working relationships.⁷ Often, the job does not get done because each employee assumes that the other will do the job.

The second supplemental guide suggests that responsibility gaps should be avoided. A responsibility gap exists when certain tasks are not included in the responsibility area of any individual organization member. In this situation, nobody within the organization is obligated to perform certain necessary activities.⁸

The third supplemental guide suggests that management should avoid creating job activities to accomplish tasks that do not enhance goal attainment. Organization members should be obligated to perform only those activities that lead to goal attainment.

The absence of clear, goal-related, nonoverlapping responsibilities undermines organizational efficiency and effectiveness.⁹ When job responsibilities are distributed inappropriately, the organization will have both responsibility gaps and overlapping responsibilities. The effects of responsibility gaps on product quality are obvious, but overlapping responsibilities also impair product quality. When two (or more) employees are uncertain as to who is responsible for a task, four outcomes are possible:

1. One of the two may perform the job. The other may either forget to or choose not to do the job—and neither of these is a desirable outcome for product quality control.

2. Both employees may perform the job. At the least, this situation results in duplicated effort, which dampens employee morale. At worst, one employee may diminish the value of the other employee’s work, resulting in a decrement in product quality.

3. Neither employee may perform the job because each assumed the other would do it.

4. The employees may spend valuable time negotiating each aspect and phase of the job to carefully mesh their job responsibilities, thus minimizing both duplication of effort and responsibility gaps. Though time-consuming, this is actually the most desirable option in terms of product quality.

Note that each of these outcomes negatively affects both product quality and overall productivity.