The world within the "span of control"

Abstract The size of the management group has been considered in management theory primarily from the standpoint of the “span-of-control” concept and the implications of that concept for structuring the formal organization. However, the specific effects of group size on the distribution, content, and emotional tone of communications between managers has not been clearly defined. In this article the author discusses studies from small group theory to clarify these effects and shows that much of the psychodynamies behind the span-of-control concept involves group size. Implications are then developed for designing decision-making groups of optimal size within formal organization, both permanent and ad hoc, for purposes of problem solving and of resolving conflict.