Advantages and Disadvantages of Decentralization
In an organization, centralized way of making a decision entails less autonomy to everyone except the central leadership. In contrast, decentralization involves delegation of responsibility and the associated decision-making powers across various levels in the organization. Let us discover the pros and cons of this concept.
A central command structure derives from an autocratic style of management. Autocracy is not necessarily an intention and could be incidental. For example, typically start-ups and business that have just been founded are naturally autocratic with the founding members primarily running the show. Gradually, as the business grows and the headcount expands, the
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The adoption of organizational standards and best practices is also facilitated by a decentralized setup. Transparency in process ensures that it is easy for the various local teams to emulate and adopt the methods and processes that brought success to a team located elsewhere.
One of the major advantages of decentralized way of taking decisions is witnessed during a sudden change in the local business environment such as the onset of recession or currency devaluation, etc. Businesses are able to respond and adapt quickly to these changes when authority is decentralized.
Retail businesses like Walmart and hotel chains often benefit from having a decentralized style of management. Businesses, where quick decisions amidst fast-paced changes in environment are the order of the day, stand to benefit from decentralization.
Disadvantages of Decentralization
Too much emphasis on localized way of taking decisions may end up blurring the bigger picture. As you go down the corporate ladder, employees seem to lose sight of the organizational vision.
A highly decentralized organization can be the battleground for unhealthy competition between local managers leading to lack of co-operation and coordination. As a result, interdependent functions may suffer and resolving interdepartmental conflicts is difficult when authority has been delegated. In addition, there is costly duplication
Delegation is widely acknowledged to be an essential element of effective management (Yukl, G. 1994). Delegation is basically a process of assigning responsibility, sharing authority, and producing accountability in organizations. It is a managerial instrument that allows managers to nurture subordinates to capitalize the subordinate’s potential and ability to meet organizational goals and objectives. As a form of employee involvement in decision-making, delegation describes a category of leader behavior that entails assignment of new responsibilities to subordinates and additional authority to carry them out (Yukl, G. 1998). Managers usually find it easier to speak about delegation of
The organization of power within a corporation is a rigid dichotomy between centralization and decentralization. Substitute strategies can exist anywhere along the spectrum whether they are completely centralized, completely decentralized or somewhere in between. Though Cervus’ methods are substitutable, centralized policies have not proven to be nearly as successful in maintaining
“An organizational structure defines how job tasks are formally divided, grouped, and coordinated” (Robbins and Judge, 2007, p. 583). The six key elements that Robbins and Judge explain that managers need to address are; work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control, centralization and decentralization, and formalization. Coming from a military background, I find it easy and effective to bring in a strong chain of command. Robbins and Judge (2007) define chain of command as “an unbroken line of authority that extends from the top of the organization to the lowest echelon and clarifies who reports to whom” (p. 542). This chain of command eliminates confusion, keeps employees working on their respective tasks without distracting others with any involvement on certain areas, and can help to break up the cliques. Currently there is a jumbled Sociogram depicting unilateral and bilateral communication throughout the organization. The chain of command can stream line this communication and ensure the right tasks are being delegated and communication can be effectively transferred through the appropriate levels to increase efficiency.
Making decisions globally might require more of decentralizing power and decision making than keeping it all centered in the company´s original headquarters. By mobilizing decision making to local areas, decisions can be more accurate and
One of the themes in Thomas McCraw’s book American Business Since 1920: How It Worked is mastering centralized control through decentralized management. As the business world rapidly expanded competition for market share between the larger companies increased. More task management was necessary in order to delegate within the businesses as they expanded. The market was also changing and as an answer to that some companies implemented a revised version of traditional management; decentralized management (McCraw, 2009).
In addition, it is essential to generate detailed divisions for merchandise progress and industrial can have an effect on the company’s administrative structure known as product evolution. Centralized management retains all major decisions with one detailed decision-making group, whereas decentralized management lets company managers to have more ‘say’ in the executive process. Next, corporations that participate in the mass production of products may not exert as
Command economic systems can easily change direction using allocation, answers the economic questions, and makes running a business very simple. The straightforward nature of a command economic system is what makes it the best for today’s society. Although it is looked down by majority of society due to how strict it is, it does make a lot of impact and gives a lot of structure to the
Pauline Hanson's lady discourse, conveyed on the tenth of September 1996 to the Place of Delegates caused debate as a portion of the remarks she made on aboriginals, multiculturalism and migration were marked as supremacist. Hanson reprimanded aboriginals as she said she seemed to be 'nourished up' with hearing the 'This is my territory' from aboriginals. Hanson likewise remarked on the issue of movement when she expressed her conviction that our nation is in threat of being overwhelmed by Asians as they shape ghettos and don't acclimatize. I was quite stunned myself when perusing her discourse online as I didn't surmise that somebody in her position would make such supremacist remarks that would be heard by greater part of Australia. With
Most of Johnson and Johnson's success can be attributed to its emphasis on decentralized management, which allows for greater focus as the
* Centralization would also ensure better involvement of the business team in the decision making for the IT matters.
Decentralization has several advantages. Staffs are encouraged to develop decision-making skills, which help them advance in their careers. The autonomy afforded by this style of operation also increases job satisfaction and motivation. For example, if maintenance staff receives a complaint on a fault by a customer, in a decentralized organization the maintenance staff has the power to fix the problem without getting the approval from the administration. If that same front maintenance staff determines that a customer has been
Other common terms for the idea of organizational decentralization include: team self-management, self-management, shared control, distributed leadership (Lambe, Webb, & Ishida, 2009) and holacracy (Robertson, 2007). While these terms may have small differences they all describe the common theme of distributing power across organizations. Several concepts help to explain why decentralization and the encouragement of teamwork throughout an organization are often superior to traditional management structure.
○ Responsibility – Autonomy is high: Incubation teams are responsible for operational decisions, while the “brain trust” only gives suggestions. Decentralization achieves increased individual autonomy, responsiveness to changing situations, and variety of ideas.
As seen from figure 2, the matrix organisational structure is complex and aligns functional and divisional organisational structures merged into a hierarchical structure. The student observes that with this comes the potential to on the one hand, improve interdepartmental collaboration through avoiding silo-functioning and yet, on the other hand, blur the unity of command structure in an organisation that can be counterproductive. A critical analysis of two major advantages and disadvantages of this organisational structure here
In a centralized organizational structure one individual is responsible for making all the decisions and maintains control of the company by giving direction. While Decentralized organizational structures often rely on several persons with the authority to make final decision for the company’s well being. Some benefits associated with a centralized organization are as follows: Reduction in cost in the work environment, having a focused vision on one common goal and Reduction in conflict. A Few drawbacks of a centralized organization include, No secrecy because all ideas and decisions are conveyed to all, No special attention and Delay in work. Advantages associated with Decentralization are; Huge relief is provided off the top managers, Greater use is made of employees skills and Decision making is left up to educational and well informed people.