The number of subordinates who report directly to a manager is known as what aspect of that manager's responsibility?

The term that you are referring to in your question is span of control or span of management.

• Definition of span of control.

Span of control or span of management is the number of workers that a manager has to supervise. The number of workers that are managed can vary, as a business needs to balance out the need for a manager to look after as many as possible with the desire to work effectively in this and their own work. The more employees that are managed by a manager then the span of control is going to be wider.

• Factors of span of control.

Although span of control is a very important part of a manager's job, they do not spend all of their time supervising other workers. In fact, most of their time will be taken up by non management related duties. There are many factors that can affect a manager's ability to manage workers and complete their own duties. Examples of these factors can include the type of product that they are overseeing, the management style of the company and the overall size of the company.

• Need for low management.

There are certain situations within a business that do not require a great deal of attention from management. If a group of employees are only conducting simple and repetitive work each day then they only need to be checked on or check in with their manager every few days or so to make sure that things are running smoothly.

The need for contact with management can be increased if the workers need to undergo performance evaluations, either routine or otherwise, or if a specific problem arises. More experienced workers, usually those who have been working at the company for longer will need less management supervision than new workers.