...10.Authority, Delegation and Decentralisation AUTHORITY Meaning : Authority is the right or power assigned to an executive or a manager in order to achieve certain organizational objectives. A manager will not be able to function efficiently without proper authority. Authority is the genesis of organizational framework. Without authority, a manager ceases to be a manager, because he cannot get his policies carried out through others. Authority is one of the founding stones of formal and informal organizations. An Organization cannot survive without authority. It indicates the right and power of making decisions, giving orders and instructions to subordinates. Authority is delegated from above but must be accepted from below i.e. by the subordinates. In other words, authority flows downwards....
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...EFFECTIVE DELEGATION ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE MILITARY BY OLOWU DAUDU YINI MALACHY DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA Being a Paper Presented at the Departmental Seminar Organized by Department Of Business Administration Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria May, 2006 Introduction The Growth in size, functions and administrative procedures of the military have presented a challenge to the managers of the organisation. And like any organisation, the military has its objectives, which may be broad, specific, simple or complex. For these objectives to be successfully accomplished, there should be the delegation of authority and managerial responsibility for specific functions to agencies outside the central structure. This decentralization distributes authority to the smallest practical unit but at the same time keeps reasonable controls to ensure that all units are working toward the same organisational objectives. The objectives of the decentralization is to share the responsibility for making and/or implementing decision on public services with a larger number of actors, either within the same organisation (deconcentration) or different organisations (devolution) in the public sector or with actors outside of the state sector altogether. This paper, therefore, attempts to examine the concept of delegation, control and decision-making in organisations with particular...
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...drinks along with a menu of select food products with an in facility dining area and a drive through. This paper will create a job description and job specification for a Starbucks employee to include different job requirements of employees and apply job specification concepts from the textbook to this case. This paper will also suggest a form of departmentalization that Starbucks should use and whether the form should be changed in stores offering food products and lunch with reasons for why or why not. Additionally this paper will address when the company began to experience financial problems whether the leadership should have tried to centralize power and decision-making or decentralize the operation. Finally this paper will discuss what form of organizational configuration best fits Starbucks. Starbucks Job Description In an effort to build a successful job description and increase the awareness of the requirements of the positions being filled, there must be an understanding of how to create effective job descriptions in order to get quality personnel. "A job description is a formal list of tasks and duties that is used…(as)…part of the recruiting process…" (textbook author's last name, date of publication, pg. 61). Following this is an example of a possible job description for an employee of Starbucks: Objectives: • Provide a warm atmosphere for customers, that is both inviting and capable of encouraging frequent return visits by the customer. Responsibilities: ...
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...thrive, they must continually adapt to the market or make internal improvements of service or culture The Encyclopedia of Business defines an organizational structure as "comprised of functions, relationships, responsibilities, authorities, and communications of individuals within each department." An organizational chart is often used to provide a visual representation of a program's structure. Having a clear structure is critical for employees to know how their job relates to others in the department as well as to the institution's mission and goals. Source : by Dr. Betsy Alden Originally printed in Athletic Management, 22.05 August/September 2010 Organizational structure refers to the way that an organization arranges people and jobs so that its work can be performed and its goals can be met. When a work group is very small and face-to-face communication is frequent, formal structure may be unnecessary, but in a larger organization decisions have to be made about the delegation of various tasks. Thus, procedures are established that assign responsibilities for various functions. It is these decisions that determine the organizational structure. In an organization of any size or complexity, employees' responsibilities typically are defined by what they do, who they report to, and for managers, who reports to them. Over time these definitions are assigned to positions in the organization rather than to specific individuals. The relationships among these positions are illustrated...
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...Decentralization, deconcentration and devolution: what do they mean?1 Compiled by Elizabeth Linda Yuliani2 Decentralization with its various types has been implemented in many countries, and the terms have been widely used. However, the same word is often used to describe different things. Interpretations vary, and have led to different conceptual frameworks, programs, implementation and implications. Such differences have invited debates and discussion. This document lists definitions of decentralization, deconcentration, devolution and other related terms used in papers presented at the Interlaken Workshop on Decentralization, 27-30 April 2004, Interlaken, Switzerland. As this is a work in progress, there may be many parts needing improvement/changes. We look forward to receiving your comments and suggestions (L.yuliani@cgiar.org). Decentralization Definitions and descriptions of decentralization used in the papers include: • “Decentralisation is usually referred to as the transfer of powers from central government to lower levels in a political-administrative and territorial hierarchy (Crook and Manor 1998, Agrawal and Ribot 1999). This official power transfer can take two main forms. Administrative decentralisation, also known as deconcentration, refers to a transfer to lower-level central government authorities, or to other local authorities who are upwardly accountable to the central government (Ribot 2002). In contrast, political, or democratic, decentralisation refers...
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...work, authority, and resources among an organization’s members so that they can achieve the organization’s goals. When an organization has adopted a plan management must combine human and other resources such as money, machines, raw materials and knowledge in a best possible way to achieve the organizations goal. The process of establishing orderly uses of resources within management, system in determining what individual employees will do in an organization and had individual efforts should combine to advance the attainment of organization’s goals. Activities involved in organization Developing Communicating co-operating and co-coordinating with people in all the departments in the organization. Develop an organizational structure as part of the organizational activities. Assign tasks to individuals and departments Put in place clear reporting relationships. Why organizing is important? Reasons for organizing include the following: Allocation of responsibilities, Accountability, Establishing clear channels of communication, Resource deployment, The division of work, coordination and departmentalization. Organizing Terminology Departmentalization;- Refers to the grouping of jobs in order to achieve organizations goals or devising a Restructuring; - Right sizing- flattening the organization:- This means empowering the lower level managers so that they assume more responsibilities and so that senior manager can have more time to concentrate on strategizing decentralization. Responsibility;...
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...“The vast majority of corporations are decentralized to a considerable degree. What kinds of organizations are best run in a largely centralized manner, and why?” Corporations nowadays are mainly run under the decentralization concept, where empowerment and appropriate delegation has been given to the lower level i.e. in this case, the Heads of the decentralized units, with regards to the decision making and also in terms of control and monitoring of their respective units. Decentralization has been chosen to reduce the burden at the corporate level and also to ease the running of the business so that some decisions can be made efficiently without many layers of approving authority. Nevertheless, the performance of the respective decentralized units will still be measured as per the targets that have been set earlier and with the agreement between the top management and the lower level. Also, there ...
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...reduce it is centralisation." According to Louis Allen, "decentralisation refers to the systematic effort to delegate to the lowest levels all authority except that which can only be exercised at central point." This definition makes it clear that even in decentralisation, delegation to the lowest levels is not complete as the basic functions in the management process are centralized. level of standardization—both within and across markets—the greater the possible level of global efficiency Globalization 3.0, major software advances have allowed an unprecedented number of people worldwide to work together with unlimited potential. Advantages / Importance of Decentralization 1. Decentralisation helps to improve the quality of decisions/decision-making at the top level management : Decentralisation of authority among other executives at all levels in the Organisation relieves the top executive of the excessive burden saving his valuable time, which he can devote to more important and long-term problems. This is bound to improve the quality of his decisions regarding such problems. 2. Decentralisation facilitates diversification of activities : It is a matter of common experience that an Organisation with departmentation on the basis of products facilitates diversification of products or market even when the authority is centralized. Decentralisation takes this process a step further. Managers of semi-autonomous product divisions are able to utilise their skills...
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...having an established managerial structure aids / hinders and organization and why Having an established managerial structure is good because then there is authority and everyone kind of knows their place. We know who is responsible for making what decisions and so on. I think that it’s necessary to have a managerial structure to help prevent chaos, otherwise you might end up with a lot of people saying “you can’t tell me what to do.” I definitely think there are some disadvantages when it comes to having an established managerial structure as well. A lot of times, employees feel like they can’t make certain decisions or do certain things without their manager’s approval. There have been times at work that my boss is on PTO, but someone will email him needing an immediate approval for something in order to fix an issue that we are having with a client. A lot of times, the people then email me asking to approve in his absence, but I don’t actually have the authority to make the approval, so then I have to reach out to my boss who is supposed to be off work, and the client’s issue is further delayed. So I can see how having a managerial structure is both good and bad, but I do think it’s necessary, no matter what. 2 - Discuss how delegation / decentralization can be both an asset and a detriment to a manager Delegation can be an asset because like our book states, it gives the manager more time for other decision making, monitoring, planning, etc. Another reason why it could...
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...The effects of performance on decision making authority Christian Schumacher I. Introduction Authority-- a superior’s legitimate ability to demand obedient behavior from one or more subordinates within a specified realm of actions—is a central feature in human organizations and established as solution to fundamental organizational design challenges within a decision-making framework (e.g. Simon, 1947; Weber, 1922). The problem of the centralization or decentralization of decision rights concerns the locus of the authority to make decisions affecting the organization. (Colombo & Delmastro, 2008) The question of the determinants of the allocation of decision rights in firms has received considerable attention from different streams of economists and strategy scholars over the last couple of decades. The information processing stream ( see Radner & Marschak, 1972; Harris & Raviv, 2002; Sah & Stiglitz, 1986) contends that hierarchical organizations that centralize the decision-making function can suffer from organizational failures, consisting in leaks that arise in transmitting information from the top to the bottom of the hierarchy and vice versa. Benefits of delegation than arise because of inefficiencies in intra-firm communication (Keren, Levhari, & Kerent, 1979) implementation delays (Radner, 1993), fully exploitation of economies arising from local capabilities and specialization tasks (Bolton & Dewatripont, 1994) and high opportunity costs of highrank managers (Harris...
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...1. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires that management of publicly traded companies: report on the adequacy of the company's internal controls over financial reporting. use investment centers to evaluate top managers. compensate managers with fixed compensation plans only. eliminate stock options for managerial compensation. 2. In general, there is a direct relationship between the quality of the information provided to managers and the quality of decisions made using that information. True False 3. An operating unit of an organization is called a profit center if it is responsible: only for revenues. for investments in assets. for costs and revenues. only for costs. 4. Properly designed management control systems have both fixed compensation and contingent compensation. True False 5. Controllable revenue is included in a performance report of a: Option b Option d Option c Option a 6. Internal controls include all of the following except: requiring management authorization for the use of a company's assets. reconciling various sets of books. requiring employees to take vacations. using contingent compensation plans. 7. When managers are held responsible for costs but the input-output relationship is not well specified, a(n) ___________ is established. standard cost center asset center...
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...Study Material For M.B.A. Based on Latest Syllabus of MBA prescribed By Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak (DDE) 1st Semester (Part-1) By : Expert Faculties Publications SCF-181, HUDA Complex, Near New Telephone Exchange, Rohtak (Haryana) footer Publications SCF-181, HUDA Complex, Near New Telephone Exchange, Rohtak (Haryana) © Reserved No Part of this book can be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means (Electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher of this book. All possible efforts have been made in the prepration of this book yet for any kind of errors and omissions, the publisher is responsible. In case of any dispute it will be subjected to Rohtak Jurisdiction Only. Price : Rs. 400.00 Published By : ZAD Publications, Rohtak footer “The Zad stars & their family are shining stars on the earth, being blessed by the stars in the sky to celebrate the spirit of success” as I am writing this success story, there is no substitute of hard-work, punctuality and disciplined efforts. It is relatively easy to achieve success, but difficult to maintain it. The best way to achieve the success is to do the ordinary things with extra ordinary enthusiasm. Because of our quality work and the sense of commitment to do something different, the institute is enhancing its number of branches...
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...Defining Management Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Key Points · Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. · In for-profit work, the primary function of management is the satisfaction of a range of stakeholders. · In the public sector of countries constituted as representative democracies, voters elect politicians to public office, who then hire managers and administrators. · Since organizations can be viewed as systems, management can also be defined as human action, including design, to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a system. Overview Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources. Since organizations can be viewed as systems, management can also be defined as human action, including design,...
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...Technology Department of Business Administration Principles of Management Short Questions 01-Question: Distinction between delegation and decentralization. Answer: Delegation: Delegation is the assignment of authority and responsibility to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. Decentralization: Decentralization means dispersal of authority throughout the organization. It refers to the systematic effort to delegate to the lowest levels all authority except that which can only be exercised. Distinctions between delegation and decentralization are as follows: Delegation Decentralization 1. It is process or an act. 1. It is the end result of delegation. 2. It denotes relationship between a 2. It denotes relationship between the top superior and a subordinate. management and various departments or divisions . 3. It is essential for management process. 3. It is optional as top management may or may not disperse authority. 4. The delegator exercises control over the 4. The control may be delegated to department subordinate. heads. 5. It is technique of management. 5. It is a philosophy of management. 02-Question: Discuss about Management vs Administration. Answer: There has been a controversy on the use of the two terms-management and administration. Different authorities have expressed conflicting opinions on the subject. Many experts make no distinction between these two terms. A few authors treat...
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...suggested the process of integration to increase power-with while decreasing power-over (Business and Management Review, 2011). And power-with means get the job done by providing the delegation of authority. Delegation is the work a manager does to entrust responsibility and authority to others and to create new accountability for results (Fletcher and Taplin, 2002). Effective delegation can lessen the authority of managers but cannot lessen the responsibility. And it can help managers to work more effectively and efficiently. The process of providing decision-making authority to non managers is called delegation. For the process to be successful, an employee must be able to obtain the resources and support needed for effective accomplishment of the delegated task. When managers share power with non managers empowerment occurs. Empowering employees enables organizations to be more flexible and responsive and can lead to improvements in both individual and organizational performance. Similarly, it is maintained that employee empowerment is critical to organizational innovativeness and effectiveness. This includes providing the training, tools and management support that employees need to finish a task. Thus, an equipped worker has both the authority and the capability to accomplish the work. Although authority can be delegated, responsibility cannot-the person who delegates a task is ultimately responsible for its success (Camp & Simmering, 2004). The assigned worker is therefore...
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