This term refers to the manner in which the major tasks are divided on the same structural level of the organization.

There are two basic ways to divide tasks horizontally. Each centres on the notion of autonomy.

1) If the work requires a high degree of training and is highly specialized (like the work of professionals or of craftpersons), then those who do it will exercise a considerable amount of autonomy in their decision-making and will be given responsibility for a rather wide range of activities needed to complete the job. Such people have what we call discretionary authority (more "space" to move in). Certain civil servants in the Ministry of the Environment, for example, are given the task of negotiating a realistic plan for pollution abatement with large companies that have been identified as major polluters (Inco, Stelco , Ontario Hydro). How much abatement can be expected, in what stages, over what period of time, is subject to negotiation. While the decisions of the government officials are limited by certain general guidelines, the application of the guidelines must be tailored to the particular circumstances of the offending company.

It should be noted that, if an organization contains a variety of specialized occupations - e.g. chemists, physicians, legal experts working in a pharmaceutical firm - then their work will need to be coordinated, giving rise to an even more complex organization with the addition of coordinating personnel.

2) If the work is strictly routinized and repetitive, and requires a minimal level of training, this non-specialized work will be divided minutely. The best example here is the industrial assembly line where workers perform simple tasks over and over again without being responsible for the final product.

One way that an organization can reduce horizontal differentiation is by contracting out (sub-contracting) certain operations. A university, for example, may decide to sign a contract with a firm in the food services industry for the management of the campus cafeterias, and contract with a local restaurant to run the Faculty Club.

In the latter instance, complexity is reduced because the university delegates responsibility to the restaurant instead of running the operation itself; on the other hand, another degree of complexity is introduced with the creation of a faculty committee charged with overseeing relations between the university and the restaurant.

In the examples of horizontal differentiation outlined above, the co-ordination of organizational roles occurs as a result of consultation; as a consequence of technology employed; as a result of both consultation and technology.

What does this statement mean ? Which of the three possibilities is most apparent in each example?