Which organizing function enables leaders to align and integrate personnel activities and organizational units?

• A. Specialization
• B. Coordination
• C. Authority
• D. Standardization

Answer: (B)

Coordinating is the organizing function that brings together people and different parts of the organization so they work as a cohesive unit. It ensures that schedules, resources, information, and efforts are aligned across departments, reducing duplication and preventing conflicts. This alignment is what allows diverse units to act in a synchronized way toward common objectives and to respond effectively in complex operations.

Specialization focuses on dividing tasks to increase efficiency, which boosts expertise but doesn’t inherently ensure that separate units are working together. Authority is about who has decision-making power and the formal chain of command, providing structure but not automatically integrating activities. Standardization creates uniform rules and procedures to promote consistency, but it doesn’t by itself coordinate the actions of different units.

Thus, coordination best captures the goal of aligning and integrating personnel activities and organizational units.