Centralisation

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Diagrams of systems in various degrees of centralisation. From left to right: centralisation, decentralisation, distribution, and distributed decentralisation. Centralization to Distributed Decentralization.jpg
Diagrams of systems in various degrees of centralisation. From left to right: centralisation, decentralisation, distribution, and distributed decentralisation.

Centralisation or centralization (North American English; see English spelling differences) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning, decision-making, and framing strategies and policies, become concentrated within a particular group within that organisation. This creates a power structure where the said group occupies the highest level of hierarchy and has significantly more authority and influence over the other groups, who are considered its subordinates.

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An antonym of centralisation is decentralisation , [1] where authority is shared among numerous different groups, allowing varying degree of autonomy for each.

The term has a variety of meanings in several fields. In political science, centralisation refers to the concentration of a government's power—both geographically and politically—into a centralised government, which has sovereignty over all its administrative divisions. Conversely, a decentralised system of government often has significant separation of powers and local self-governance.

Centralisation in politics

History of the centralisation of authority

Centralisation of authority is the systematic and consistent concentration of authority at a central point or in a person within the organization. This idea was first introduced in the Qin dynasty of China. The Qin government was highly bureaucratic and was administered by a hierarchy of officials, all serving the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang. The Qin dynasty practised all the things that Han Feizi taught, allowing Qin Shi Huang to own and control all his territories, including those conquered from other countries. Zheng and his advisers ended feudalism in China by setting up new laws and regulations under a centralised and bureaucratic government with a rigid centralisation of authority. [2]

Features of centralisation of authority in ancient Chinese government

Idea of centralisation of authority

A diagram of a centralised health tracing system (in French) Centralise.png
A diagram of a centralised health tracing system (in French)

The acts for the implementation are needed after delegation. Therefore, the authority for taking the decisions can be spread with the help of the delegation of the authority.

The centralisation of authority can be done immediately, if complete concentration is given at the decision-making stage for any position. The centralisation can be done with a position or at a level in an organisation. Ideally, the decision-making power is held by a few individuals.

Advantages and disadvantages of the centralisation of authority

Centralisation of authority has several advantages and disadvantages. The benefits include:

  1. Responsibilities and duties are well defined within the central governing body.
  2. Decision-making is very direct and clear. [4]
  3. The central power maintains a large "encompassing interest" in the welfare of the state it rules since it stands to benefit from any increase in the state's wealth and/or power. [5] In this sense, the incentives of state and ruler are aligned.

Disadvantages, on the other hand are as follows:

  1. Decisions may be misunderstood while being passed on and lower position departments do not have the decision-making power, therefore it requires an efficient and well-organised top department.
  2. Attention and support for each department or city may not be balanced.
  3. Delay of work information may result in inefficiency of the government.
  4. Discrepancies in the economy and information resources between the centre and other places are significant.
  5. Excludes actors at the local and provincial levels from the prevailing system of governance, reducing the capacity of the central government to hold the authority accountable (with risks of corruption), resolve disputes or design effective policies requiring local knowledge and expertise. [6] [7]

Centralisation in economy

Diagram comparing centralised versus decentralised designs of water sectors Centralized vs Decentralized water sector Desalination Esmaeil Ahmadi.jpg
Diagram comparing centralised versus decentralised designs of water sectors
A centralised air conditioning unit Centralized Air conditioning.jpg
A centralised air conditioning unit

Relationship between centralisation (i.e. concentration of production) and capitalism

As written in V.I. Lenin’s book, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism , "The remarkably rapid concentration of production in ever-larger enterprises are one of the most characteristic features of capitalism." [8] He researched the development of production and decided to develop the concept of production as a centralised framework, from individual and scattered small workshops into large factories, leading the capitalism to the world. This is guided by the idea that once concentration of production develops into a particular level, it will become a monopoly, like party organisations of Cartel, Syndicate, and Trust. [8]

Centralisation in business studies

An animation representing centralised information processing Global Brain - centralized information processing.gif
An animation representing centralised information processing

Most businesses deal with issues relating to the specifics of centralisation or decentralisation of decision-making. The key question is either whether the authority should manage all the things at the centre of a business (centralised), or whether it should be delegated far away from the centre (decentralised).

The choice between centralised or decentralised varies. Many large businesses necessarily involve some extent of decentralisation and some extent of centralisation when it begins to operate from several places or any new units and markets added. [11]

According to a 2021 study, "firms that delegated more power from the central headquarters to local plant managers prior to the Great Recession outperformed their centralised counterparts in sectors that were hardest hit by the subsequent crisis." [12]

Features of centralisation in management

  1. Top level managers concentrate and reserve the decision-making power.
  2. Execution decided by the top level management with the help from the other levels of management.
  3. Lower levels management do their jobs under direct control of the top managers. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and social theories and movements associated with the implementation of such systems. Social ownership can take various forms, including public, community, collective, cooperative, or employee. As one of the main ideologies on the political spectrum, socialism is considered as the standard left-wing ideology in most countries. Types of socialism vary based on the role of markets and planning in resource allocation, and the structure of management in organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartel</span> Mutually beneficial collusion among competing corporations

A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers to limit competition and increase prices by creating artificial shortages through low production quotas, stockpiling, and marketing quotas. Cartels can be vertical or horizontal but are inherently unstable due to the temptation to defect and falling prices for all members. Additionally, advancements in technology or the emergence of substitutes may undermine cartel pricing power, leading to the breakdown of the cooperation needed to sustain the cartel. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Most jurisdictions consider it anti-competitive behavior and have outlawed such practices. Cartel behavior includes price fixing, bid rigging, and reductions in output. The doctrine in economics that analyzes cartels is cartel theory. Cartels are distinguished from other forms of collusion or anti-competitive organization such as corporate mergers.

Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and given to smaller factions within it.

Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both a means to achieve immediate improvements to working conditions and to build towards a social revolution in the form of a general strike, with the ultimate aim of abolishing the state and capitalism. Anarcho-syndicalists consider trade unions to be the prefiguration of a post-capitalist society and seek to use them in order to establish workers' control of production and distribution. An anti-political ideology, anarcho-syndicalism rejects political parties and participation in parliamentary politics, considering them to be a corrupting influence on the labour movement. In order to achieve their material and economic goals, anarcho-syndicalists instead practice direct action in the form of strike actions, boycotts and sabotage. Anarcho-syndicalists also attempt to build solidarity among the working class, in order to unite workers against the exploitation of labour and build workers' self-management.

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Delegation is the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person. In management or leadership within an organisation, it involves a manager aiming to efficiently distribute work, decision-making and responsibility to subordinate workers in an organization. Delegation may result in creation of an accountable chain of authority where authority and responsibility moves down in an organisational structure. Inefficient delegation may lead to micromanagement.

An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims.

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Economic planning is a resource allocation mechanism based on a computational procedure for solving a constrained maximization problem with an iterative process for obtaining its solution. Planning is a mechanism for the allocation of resources between and within organizations contrasted with the market mechanism. As an allocation mechanism for socialism, economic planning replaces factor markets with a procedure for direct allocations of resources within an interconnected group of socially owned organizations which together comprise the productive apparatus of the economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Managerialism</span> Political theory based on professional managers

Managerialism is the idea that professional managers should run organizations in line with organizational routines which produce controllable and measurable results. It applies the procedures of running a for-profit business to any organization, with an emphasis on control, accountability, measurement, strategic planning and the micromanagement of staff.

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References

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  7. Shleifer, Andrei (2002). "The grabbing hand: Government pathologies and their cures".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. 1 2 Lenin, V. (1939). Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism. New York: International Publishers, pp.12-54.
  9. O’Sullivan, A. and Sheffrin, S. (2003). Economics. Needham, Mass.: Prentice Hall, p.171.
  10. Theodore, D. (1888). "The Legality of "Trusts". Political Science Quarterly, 3(592).
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