Централизация или децентрализация?

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Centralisation or decentralisation?

Every large enterprise has to face one major problem. It must decide how much it wishes to centralise or decentralise its business. What are centralisation and decentralisation? The tenns refer to the degree of authority that is given to various levels of man­agement and to the divisions of an organisation. Authority may be defined as the right to make decisions, to direct the work of other people and to give instructions. When we talk about centralised and decentralised business, we mean the extent to which authority has been passed down - delegated - to lower levels or divisions of an organisation.

When an organisation is centralised, a limited amount of authority is delegated. If it is decentralised, a greater degree of authority is given to staff and divisions. For example, in a centralised company, Head Office may make most of the decisions concerning recruitment, the purchase of equipment and product lines. It may also be responsible for areas such as advertising, promotion and research and development. In a decentralised company, the divisions will have wider responsibilities and authority. Divisional managers will, for instance, have authority to purchase expensive equipment and authorise substantial salary increases. In decentralised organisations, more important decisions can be made at lower levels. There are fewer controls from Head Office.

To sum up, a centralised business has a "tight" structure, whereas a decentralised business has a "looser" structure. No enterprise chooses complete centralisation or decentralisation. In practice, it tries to find a balance between the two forms. The problem for organisations is to decide how much decentralisation they want, and what kind? In some companies, for example, Head Office controls things like cash, capital expenditure and stock control. In addition, it may control the profitability of divisions by developing measures of efficiency. But the divisions have a great deal of autonomy, being responsible for designing, making and marketing the goods.

Nowadays, decentralisation is in fashion, the "buzz" word. Believers in decentralisation argue along these lines: they say that it helps to "develop people" because staff get more responsibility, make more decisions, and so gain experience for later managerial positions. If an organisation is too centralised, people become robots - which is demotivating. Decentralisation allows top managers to delegate jobs, so these managers will have more time to work on setting goals, planning corporate strategy and working out policies. The strongest argument for decentralisation is that in competitive conditions, the "looser" companies will be more flexible, better able to make quick decisions and adapt to change.

In a famous book on management, IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE, the writers argue that America's best-run companies know how to balance control and delegation. Excellent companies, say the authors of the book, have "loose-tight" characteristics. On the one hand, they have a simple structure, generally based on product divisions which also have great autonomy. These divisions have control over functions like product development, purchasing, finance, personnel etc. On the other hand, the centre of these excellent companies - management - provides "firm central direction". It continually stresses the "core values" of the organisation, e.g. quality, need for innovation, service, informal communications and so on. These central values provide the context within which staff can be creative, take risks - even fail.

It is normal for people to like independence, to dislike control. The more educated staff are, the more they will want to make decisions, to have authority. However, it is not easy to have more decentralisation if the right staff are not available. For example, if you own a chain of stores, it may be difficult to give more authority to employees. The employees may be used to following rules, so they may not be able to take decisions, to show initiative. As Charles Handy, the expert on organisation says, "It is one thing to prescribe diversity, decentralisation and differentiation. It is another to manage it."

Централизация или децентрализация?

Каждое крупное предприятие сталкивается с одной серьезной проблемой. Он должен решить, насколько он хочет централизовать или децентрализовать свой бизнес. Что такое централизация и децентрализация? Термины относятся к степени полномочий, предоставляемых различным уровням управления и подразделениям организации. Власть может быть определена как право принимать решения, направлять работу других людей и давать инструкции. Когда мы говорим о централизованном и децентрализованном бизнесе, мы имеем в виду степень, в которой полномочия были переданы - делегированы - на более низкие уровни или подразделения организации.

Когда организация централизована, делегируются ограниченные полномочия. Если он децентрализован, больше полномочий предоставляется персоналу и подразделениям. Например, в централизованной компании головной офис может принимать большинство решений, касающихся набора персонала, покупки оборудования и продуктовых линеек. Он также может отвечать за такие области, как реклама, продвижение, исследования и разработки. В децентрализованной компании подразделения будут иметь более широкие обязанности и полномочия. Например, руководители подразделений будут иметь право закупать дорогостоящее оборудование и санкционировать существенное повышение заработной платы. В децентрализованных организациях более важные решения могут приниматься на более низких уровнях. Управлений из головного офиса меньше.