Question 4 (i) part i
Delegation and decentralisation compared
5 marks
- Time to write
- About 10 minutes
From an older CBCS paper
Question
Question 4 (i) part i · 5 marksCompare and contrast any three from the following:
- Delegation and Decentralisation
Reworded from the university paper; the task is the same. The original paper belongs to the University of Delhi. See DU's question bank.
Before you write
Read off the question and its marks
Read from the question
- any threeThe paper asks for any 3, and this is one of them. Only 3 are marked: a fourth earns nothing.
- CompareCompare in a table, basis by basis.
Write it in this order
- Read; underline the asks; jot your points 1 min
- 1 Delegation and its elements 1½ marks 2 min
- 2 Decentralisation 1 mark 1 min
- 3 How the two are linked ½ mark 2 min
- 4 Points of contrast, with example 2 marks 3 min
- Check: every ask answered, key terms underlined 1 min
Short on time? Trim steps 1 and 4 evenly rather than skip one: each is capped at its own marks.
Try it first. About 10 minutes for 5 marks. Write it out, then open the solution.
Solution
Hover or tap a marked figure, like 72,000, to see how it is made and where else it appears.
Delegation, in Louis Allen's analysis, means entrusting responsibility and authority to another person and creating accountability for performance. Its three elements run in set directions. Authority, the right to command, passes down from the superior to the subordinate. Responsibility, the subordinate's obligation to perform the assigned duty properly, flows upward to the superior. Accountability also flows upward: the subordinate answers to the superior for satisfactory performance, while the superior who delegated stays answerable for the final outcome, since accountability cannot be delegated at all. The authority given must match the responsibility assigned.
1The counter can't say yes: she phones head office upstairs while the queue fumes.
CentralisationConcentrated at the top; slower; matters go up the hierarchy.
2The same counter, but the stamp is in her own hand—upstairs, the boss studies the plan.
DecentralisationSpread across levels; decisions taken on the spot; top managers focus on strategy.
Decentralisation means that decision-making authority is shared with the lower levels and placed nearest to the points of action; it is the delegation of authority through all the levels of the organisation. No organisation is ever wholly centralised or wholly decentralised, and as it grows in size and complexity it tends to move towards decentralised decisions. Decentralisation has to be balanced by central control of major policy decisions, or departments may start working on their own lines against the organisation's interest.
Decentralisation builds on delegation: the more authority is delegated throughout the organisation, the more decentralised it becomes, and the advantages of the two are similar. Decentralisation therefore presupposes delegation: it is delegation extended down to the lowest level of management.
| Basis | Delegation | Decentralisation |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Narrow: limited to a superior and his immediate subordinate | Wide: delegation carried to the lowest level of management |
| Nature | Compulsory, because no one can perform every task alone | Optional, a policy decision left to top management's discretion |
| Purpose | To lighten the manager's burden | To give subordinates more autonomy and a larger role |
| Status | A process for sharing tasks | The result of a policy decision of top management |
| Freedom of action | Superiors keep more control, so less freedom to decide | Less control over executives, so more freedom of action |
The contrasts follow the study text's comparison. When the head of a retail chain asks her regional manager in Kolkata to recruit store staff, that is delegation. When the chain, as a matter of policy, lets every store manager across the country decide local stock and staffing within set budgets, that is decentralisation.
Where the 5 marks sit
| # | Component | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delegation and its elements | 1.5 |
| 2 | Decentralisation | 1 |
| 3 | How the two are linked | 0.5 |
| 4 | Points of contrast, with example | 2 |
| Total | 5 |
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