( De) Centralization of Authority

( De) Centalization of Authority

1. Centralizaiton of authority

The discipline of Management is incomplete without discussing the concept of ' Authority' its centralization and decentralization.

Power in the hands of the few people is centralization.  Power in the hands of the hands of many is DE- Centralizaton. Power is the central issue here. How the power is distributed matters most for the outcomes by its use. 

Centralization or Decentralization - Which concept is GOOD for higher performance ? 

There are no clear answers available to this question.

It might  be true that centralisattion may produce better results. At the same time,  Decentralization may lead to lower results.

Does the higher / lower organizational  performance matter for what need to be preferred DCZN  / CZN  ?

Centralization or Decentralization - which one is GOOD for ?  

Each of the ways of dealing given authority has its implications for the people and also organisational prerformance... .  

Centralisation lead to:

• Isolation of many people  who are powerless and possibility of misuse of power by few are powerful.
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• Isolation of powerlessness leads to lower involvement of people. Less power given to the people lesser their involvement.. higher the power ..higher the involvement..
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• It is possible that Centralization  leads to misuse of POWER by FEW powerful  over many others who are not powerful.....
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The TWO concepts - Centralisation and   DeCentralizaton - through open many  a  challenges. Especially these concepts have great relevance for the people who enjoy  so much of POWER as part of their positions and roles in any society / organisations.

• Such people   must personally experience both the states -  Centralised and   DeCentralized situations for themselves. 
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• Such people  must practice  -  How to use given  power in  i.e., Centralised and   DeCentralized contexts. They should become experts in using the power for themselves in both the given ways without any liking and favour and prejudice.
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• Such people should not develop any  particular taste for  CZN / DCZN  ( either this way or that way ) .  They need to be value neutral with regard to CZN / DCZN.. 
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• The central issue related to this concept is  - People like you  must become experts  in using  the power ( either way ) leading to results ..  

2. DCZN of power leads to .....Empowerment concept ..

Concept of Decentralization  leads to one more concept called  EMPOWERMENT. Decentralizaiton with out any doubt favours  distribution of authority / power among many and all.  but the issue is ' Power given to the people need to be used by them ... Unless otherwise, decentralizaion makes no sense. 

Empowerment has the following componenets: 

YOu need to note that..

Power receved  does not automatically make those  people who receive the power  use it  effectively. Making the people  who receive the  power  is important NEED.

Effective power use means:

• Peoople who gain power need to develop positive orientation  for power itself
• Understand the power of its use and misuse.
• make people proficient / expert  to use the power and produce results without negative impact 
• Empowerment of people is real need in any society.. Especially in underdeveloped economies where there is unequal distribution of powr it is much more important. 
• Especially those people who gain power for fist time ( ! ) and who are not accustomed to  using the power badly need to be  empowered. 

A person first time becoming an  MLA  / Sarpanch needs empowerment training. Same is the case with first time managers or and first time village sarpanchs.

3. There are TWO other related concepts which M K Gandhi wrote much . They are: 

Centralization of Production

Centralization of Consumption

Both the concepts given above again  lead to CENTRALIZATION  of POWER in any given society. It seems these two concepts are not VALUE NEUTRAL but have clear NEGATIVE  implications for any given society. Clearly, these two ways of dealing lead to monopolies, enmeshing undue  wealth by few people, higher costs of production and wealth mal-distribution, contribution to environmental pollution, imbalanced access for the things.  

Further, Centralization of production also leads to centralization of consumption. Powerful people  need to take extra care so as to avoid any  pitfalls related to the above  two concepts . 

In contrast, decentralization of production and decentralized consumption - both the concepts  has their  DIVINE implications for the society without any doubts.