Study Notes
Decentralised structures
- Level:
- AS, A-Level
- Board:
- AQA, Edexcel, OCR, IB
Last updated 22 Mar 2021
In a decentralised organisational structure, decision-making is spread out to include more junior managers in the hierarchy, as well as individual business units or trading locations.
Good examples of businesses which use a decentralised structure include the major supermarket chains like WM Morrison and Tesco. Each supermarket has a store manager who can make certain decisions concerning areas like staffing, sales promotions. The store manager is responsible to a regional or area manager. Hotel chains are particularly keen on using decentralised structures so that local hotel managers are empowered to make on-the-spot decisions to handle customer problems or complaints.
The main advantages and disadvantages of this approach can be summarised as follows:
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