Management Theories # 3 - Linking Pin Model

The Linking Pin Model is an idea developed by Rensis Likert in which an organisation is represented as a number of overlapping work units in which members of one unit are leaders of another.

In this scheme, the supervisor/manager has the dual task of maintaining unity and creating a sense of belonging within the group he or she supervises and of representing that group in meetings with superior and parallel management staff. These individuals are the linking pins within the organisation and so they become the focus of leadership development activities.

Likert have given the idea of linking pin model for connecting various parts of the organisation.

The model is based on two basic characteristics of the organisation.

First, organisation can be seen as system of interlocking groups; and second, the interlocking groups are connected by individuals who occupy the key positions of dual membership serving as linking pin between groups. Thus every individual functions as a linking pin for the organisation units above and below him. He is the group leader of the lower unit and a group member of the upper unit.

In the linking pin structure a group-to-group, as opposed to traditional man-to-man, relationship exists.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linking_pin_model