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The study of the relationship between consultation and decision processes in an industrial research laboratory showed the efficacy of multidirectional consultation coupled with a pattern of shared, decentralized decision making. The loose, decentralized pattern was closely associated with more science-oriented activity, while the hierarchical pattern with more practical or organizationally relevant activities. The relationships obtained between this loose or hierarchical pattern and performance were mediated by coordination, adequacy of work expectations, and level of member involvement. The results also suggested that when decision centers are consistent with consultation centers, implying a congruence between authority and expertise, the overall structure of the laboratory is less important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two different ways of measuring the distribution of power in sixteen health and welfare organizations. Participation in decision making about the allocation of organizational resources and the determination of organizational policy was strongly related to the degree of complexity as measured by (1) the number of occupational specialities, (2) the amount of professional training, and (3) the amount of professional activity and was weakly related to the degree of formalization as measured by the degree of job codification and the amount of rule observation. Except for rule observation, hierarchy of authority or the reliance on the chain of command for work decisions was not as strongly related to each of these measures of organizational structure. A partial correlational analysis between each measure of the distribution of power and the five structural properties indicates that participation in decision making retains an association with the first two indicators of complexity and the first indicator of formalization even when the other five variables are controlled simultaneously. The hierarchy of authority retains an association with the amount of professional activity and the amount of rule observation. At the same time, it is important to recognize that these two measures of the distribution of power are themselves strongly interrelated. When decisions about the allocation of organizational resources are centralized, then there is a centralization of work decisions as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An integration of the rational model of expectancy theory and the "caring for people" philosophy of the participative approach to employee motivation is presented. The paper describes four ways in which these theories argue that the same processes increase motivation. Data are presented that support these predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A group of Faculty members of the School of Industrial Management at Purdue University have for some time been engaged in studies of decision making in a large, decentralized American manufacturing company. These studies have investigated decisions at the mills producing raw material and the converting plants of this fully integrated company. Examinations have been made of decision processes within and between company plants with the objective of adding to theory of behavior in organizations, particularly theory of working relations and theory of cognitive processes in the carrying out of complex organizational tasks, and application of theory to the solution of practical problems, such as those of scheduling production and of formal organization.
This paper discusses one of these projects, an attempt to construct a behavioral model of the decision rules actually employed to schedule orders for production in one of the firm's plants. This project has sought to embody decision rules in a computer program which will, in fact, take incoming data on orders and plant capacity and convert this into an operating schedule in a manner highly analogous to that of the human schedulers who performed this task.[] The following discussion avoids technical details, since the aim of this paper is to give an overall picture of the major purpose and problems of this type of research; to describe its origin and to suggest possible future application as seen by the researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power of attendants at state mental hospitals to influence policy has often been noted. This paper suggests that the distribution of power in the state mental hospital fails to conform to Michels's "iron law of oligarchy." From an analysis of the ward system, three main characteristics are derived. These are then stated as the formal characteristics of a front-line type of organization in which power tends to be distributed to peripheral units rather than to centralized positions of leadership. It is suggested finally that a front-line type of organization presents special problems of control and hence will tend to develop characteristic structures and processes of control as solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the predictive power of the concept of élite values with leader values, member values, and the three structural variables of complexity, centralization, and formalization. Elite values proved to be slightly better predictors than either leader values or complexity. When élite values and complexity were combined, there was a considerable increase in the amount of variance explained indicating that these variables are independent. Three contrasting definitions of the élite were considered but one proved a better predictor than the other two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper replies to Hummon's criticism of the Carzo-Yanouzas experiment. Justification is presented for the use of a split-plot repeated measures design, and tests for homogeneity support the use of this design. Variables which Hummon considered to be not under control are explained as attributes of structure or as variables having inconsequential effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations that have a single or a few related product lines and a high degree of vertical integration tend to be capital intensive, and to be organized in a centralized, functionally-departmentalized structure. Organizations that have a diversified product line tend to have a decentralized, divisional structure. This paper indicates that the first type tends to concentrate on domestic markets, while the second type accounts for most of U. S. direct investment abroad. Expansion abroad requires diversification, reorganization, and the training of general international managers. The evidence suggests that the organizations that have been most successful in meeting this new challenge have been those that had previously acquired the ability to develop general managers capable of controlling and guiding a heterogeneous, diverse enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assume that you have been asked by the president of a large firm to advise him on the most desirable levels of decentralization in order to control the activities of different departments within his organization. Upon what factors would you be likely to base your decision! A recent investigation indicates that to establish appropriate levels of decentralization, one's decisions should be, at least partially, based on: the types of productive tasks workers perform in general; and, the degree of predictability of work demands, in particular. This paper provides a partial explanation of several non-administrative cause for differences in the degrees of discretion workers exert in performing their tasks. Specifically we attempt to trace the influence of two factors upon discretion. One is the predictability of work demands; the other is the professionalization of jobs. Before attempting to analyze these relationships, let us take a brief view of the research design and the components of discretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on decentralization on the basis of price schedules in linear decomposable resource allocation problems. The author presents a simulation of a problem faced by a hypothetical multi-divisional manufacturing organization. The author mathematically examines how the organization determines which divisions will produce and sell which products based on corporate and divisional constraints. The author notes that the organization's overall goal is to design a production program that allocates their resources in a manner that maximizes the total contribution of all divisions.

In the second of two articles based on a government organization for medical research, the author presents data from 338 scientists showing how their attitudes on the adequacy of various auxiliary services are related to the central or divisional source of services, to use of direct or indirect channels, and to use of personal or written contact. The role of the divisional administrative office is examined. Implications for practical problems, such as centralization of services, and for the concept of control in organizations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses aspects of the Spokane, Washington wholesale market. A study of the market was conducted from 1949-1951. The objectives of the study were to determine the extent of the trading area for major wholesale lines, to identify trends in the market, and to obtain competitor information. Researchers found that the wholesale market was dominated by the regular, or merchant, wholesaler. Competition between the Spokane wholesale market and other large U.S. city wholesalers was significantly influenced by transportation costs and distance. The study revealed that there exists some tendency for the market area to move eastward and that some decentralization had taken place.

This article presents views on a paper presented by David F. Bradford and Wallace E. Oates during a panel discussion focused on the theorem that matching grants are more stimulative than lump-sum grants of equivalent amount. Charles J. Goetz suggested that from a methodological standpoint, the Bradford-Oates study did not imply excessive generality wherein it contradict the earlier Goetz-McKnew economic model. Thomas E. Borcherding examined the issues of fiscal decentralism wherein he criticized it on the following grounds: (1) the incorrect characterization of fiscal centralism; and (2) the total neglect of the mechanism linking the decisions of noncentral units with the central unit's decision as to the method of finance and dispersal of the grants-in-aid. Walter E. Williams examines the mathematical models of fiscal decentralization.

The article presents a short-run planning model for a decentralized firm, which includes a linear programming model for the allocation of scarce corporate resources. The decentralization philosophy is well known and its essence lies in the desire by large firms to delegate responsibility decision making on a broad basis throughout the organization. A classical decentralization problem occurs in the planning phase of a decentralized organization. It consists of the question of how to obtain an optimal plan for the firm as a whole while allowing each division to do its own planning. An important limitation to the decomposition technique is that only problems of a certain form can be subjected to the technique. The decentralization model presented has the general form required for the application of the decomposition technique. The "market" values are, in mathematical programming terminology, the dual values on scarce corporate resources. This description essentially applies to all applications of the decomposition methodology to the decentralized decision making problem.

This paper has attempted to show that no one method of transfer pricing can fill the needs of a decentralized corporation. The uses of the information have been isolated and the methods best accomplishing the objectives of significant reporting have been identified as shown below. No pretense of absolute correctness has been made for any of the pricing methods. The admitted inaccuracies must be weighed against the unmeasurable gains resulting from having decentralized operations and decision-making. One final conclusion should be noted; the greater the significance of the intradivisional transfers the more unreliable are the measures of income of the divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of a comparative study of 19 United States manufacturing organizations using the Aston group's four abbreviated structural scales and seven other measures support the concept of a multidimensional bureaucratic structure space. Factor and cluster analyses yielded three independent dimensions of decentralization, specialization, and formalization. The results are interpreted to suggest not only that a multidimensional model of bureaucracy is superior to the unidimensional Weberian one, but that the dimensionality of the bureaucratic structure space may be a function of the socio-cultural environment of the organization unit being examined. The results imply that bureaucratic structure may conform to the equifinality principle, in that a variety of structural arrangements appear to be equally viable strategies for the various sample organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study of 19 manufacturing organizations revealed structural differences between relatively high and low performing organizations. Cluster analyses of the correlations among eleven measures of structure isolated three relatively independent dimensions of (a) decentralization, (b) specialization, and (c) formalization among the ten high performing firms, but failed to produce any such independent dimensions among the low performing firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of abstracts are presented for articles pertaining to the field of marketing management. They include "The Importance of Electronic Data Processing to the Sales Function," "A Marketing and Financial Evaluation of the Manifold Business Forms Industry," and "Information Flow and Decentralized Decision Making in Marketing."

The article reports the author's opinions regarding past and present periods of change in society. The author focuses on discussing innovations that changed society in one way or another, thus contributing to progress. It is suggested that industrial managers have contributed innovations including decision making, group problem solving, and participative management to their discipline.

The article focuses on positive and negative aspects of corporate mergers and how to plan for them. The article states three major influences that result in the increase in corporate mergers: industrial complementarity, common thread, and differential price-earnings ratios. It mentions that the most important thing needed for a merger to succeed is a systematic and comprehensive preplan. It comments that another important aspect is an effective long-range plan which provides for diversification planning. It states that the company also needs to be honest about its own strengths and weaknesses.

The article discusses aspects of management development relating to unstructured groups. The unstructured group in this context means that authority is deliberately diffused, the staff member does not typically assume any authority in the early stages of the group or lets it go quickly. The concept was conceived by social psychologists. Though there is no definitive locus of authority, the structure of authority usually emerges. Exercise of authority always produces consequences. It is the cause and effect relationship between the exercise of authority structures and their consequences that becomes principal concerns for the groups.

Administrative practices and principles of the West have derived from preoccupation with control and therefore have little value for development administration in underdeveloped countries where the need is for an adaptive administration, one that can incorporate constant change. However, adaptive administrative principles can be derived from the researches and theories of the behavioral sciences, and these should become the administrative objectives of development administrators. Illustrative of such objectives are the following: an innovative atmosphere; the operationalizing and sharing of goals; the combining of planning (thinking) and acting (doing); the minimization of parochialism; the diffusion of influence; the increasing of toleration of interdependence; and the avoidance of bureaupathology. These propositions are illustrated by the analysis of some concrete administrative problems, such as the centralization-decentralization issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis of the organizational character of the YMCA focuses on factors leading to the successful transformation of a welfare organization. It is argued that the organization's broadly stated goals and unrestricted clientele encourage a wide diversification of programs and target populations. Federated structure leads to decentralized decision making, and to control by local elites. Since YMCA professionals do not have a well-defined ideology, and since the organization is linked to an enrollment economy, the organization is highly responsive to the needs of its relatively integrated and typically middle-class clientele. Possible role dilemmas stemming from the organization's structure are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, 300 American suburbs are classified according to the three major forms of government: commission (considered to be most decentralized), mayor-council, and council-manager (most centralized). Various social and economic characteristics are then examined. The commission city is the least likely, and the council-manager city is the most likely, to be newer and to have a young, mobile, white, middle-class population that is growing rapidly. It is suggested that the socioeconomic character of a city may partly determine its political structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a government research organization, data were obtained from 300 scientists on how adequate they considered a variety of auxiliary services, from 500 auxiliary personnel on how considerate or appreciative they found the scientists they served, and from both on the frequency and type of channels used to obtain the services. In the first of two articles the author deals with data from auxiliary staff on how their attitudes toward scientists are related to the communication channels used by the latter. The results bear both on practical problems such as centralization of services and on the theory of interaction in organized groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on sources of role conflict in complex organizations. Principles of organizational authority include chain of command, unity of command and direction, and single accountability. Organizations structured on hierarchies are based on the chain-of-command principle, which has a single flow of authority from top to bottom. Multiple chains of command can occur in professional organizations where employees are accountable to more than one person, in hospitals where authority is represented by administrators and physicians, and in line and staff organizations where there is project and department supervision. Research about job satisfaction, resolution of role ambiguity, prevention of role conflict, and criteria for successful problem-solving meetings is discussed.

The article discusses the decentralization of retail trade in Boston, Massachusetts. According to the author, during the decade of the 1930s, retail trade in Boston shifted from the metropolitan area to outlying communities. The author notes a number of factors influencing the purchase of shoes in the city. According to the author, women chose certain stores because of better styles, better quality and lower prices, while men chose stores because of quality, style, a larger assortment and based on the store's reliability.

The article reports on retail sales and store analysis in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Hollywood, California. Censuses from the years 1929, 1933 and 1935 included information from all three geographic regions, despite different populations and business prosperity. A chart is presented which tracks the total market share of sixteen regions within the entire Los Angeles market. Relative gains and losses in sales volume changes are presented. Additional analysis and charts seek to evaluate the changing patterns between downtown Los Angeles and the county as a whole, potentially suggesting a decentralized retail trade industry.

The article discusses some possible uses for the U.S. Census of Business Data. To economists the Census provides the factual basis which is essential in the appraisal of economic life in the U.S. The Census shows tendencies toward geographic concentration, migration, and decentralization. These factors are of importance to industrial sectors. Through migration demand changes can be determined. General business conditions throughout the U.S. can also be ascertained through this analysis. The Census provides a comparison of salaries and wages broken down by business type and region in the U.S.

Size is examined as a predictor of organization structure with data from a British sample of business organizations, supplemented by findings from British labor unions, engineering firms, and the Aston sample of varied work organizations. Where possible, comparison is also made with the results of an American study. While the broad outlines of formal organization structures are predictable with a high degree of confidence from a knowledge of organization size, a comparison of size-structure regressions across different industries suggests that other variables must also be taken into account. A solution, more satisfying both theoretically and statistically, emerges when complexity is distinguished from other aspects of structure which more directly constitute the framework of bureaucratic control--namely, the degree of formalization and decentralization. It is then found that while size, with technology, location and environmental variables, predicts complexity, the degree of complexity itself has a more direct relationship with formalization than does size. Size, however, remains the major predictor of decentralization. It is concluded that, in the organizations studied, complexity cannot be satisfactorily predicted or fully understood without reference to the economics of scale, but that it is neither theoretically convincing nor statistically demonstrable that size in itself is the major determinant of formalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationships between organizational, work role, and behavioral variables are explored in a sample of 787 senior British managers working in seventy-eight business organizations. * The model of administrative reduction of variance in behavior developed by Inkson, Hicksort and Pugh is used as the framework of analysis. The model postulates that two main strategies of administrative control, structuring of activities and centralization, will give rise to conforming behavior and low levels of conflict through their prescription of roles. Structuring of activities, however, is found to be associated with higher levels of conflict and hardly at all with conforming behavior, while centralization is associated with higher levels of conforming behavior, but not with conflict. In general the pattern of relationships between the variables located at different levels of organizational analysis is more complex than previously envisaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A replication of the Aston study of organization structure, employing the original measurements, reports data secured from a sample of eighty-two British organizations. The replication confirms the tight nexus between specialization, standardization of procedures, paperwork, and vertical span expressed by the concept "structuring of activities." In contrast to the Aston study, centralization of decision making is found to be related negatively to structuring in a way that conforms closely to Weber's description of the bureaucratic mode of administrative control. Further examination of the replication rest Its draws attention to problems in carrying forward the Aston program of comparative organizational research, problems both of a theoretical and operational nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between four properties of organizational structure and certain personality characteristics of teachers are investigated to determine their effect on teacher perception of organizational climate in schools. Organizational structure is confined to structural properties, which include complexity, centralization, formalization, and professional latitude. Teachers' personality characteristics are determined by the Cattell 16 personality factor inventory. The interaction between the organizational structure of a school and the personality characteristics of the teachers constitutes the independent variable. The dependent variable is the teachers' perception of the organizational climate of the school, as determined by the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to link the formal structure of bureaucratic organizations to decision-making processes, and in particular to centralization or decentralization of authority. Interview data were obtained from 254 city, county, and state departments of finance. These data show that, controlling for an organization's size, decision-making authority is more highly centralized as the number of subunits in an organization increases; but as the number of levels of supervision grows, there is greater decentralization and at the same time proliferation of rules that specify criteria to guide decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is argued that all formal organizations have resources and establish procedures for the use of those resources. A taxonomy is developed primarily based on how the procedures are established and how the organization stores its resources. Three simple bureaucratic forms are identified, the Complete, the Enucleated, and the Truncated Bureaucracies. In addition, four complex organizational types are described: internally coupled organizations; externally coupled organizations; parallel decentralization; and functional decentralization. The conditions under which each of these organizational forms is optimal also are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on aspects of organizational design. The structure of industrial organization is discussed in detail. The author focuses on classifying organizations based whether they are built off of problem solving or performance models. It is suggested that theories pertaining to industrial management are often geared towards organizations which are based on performance models. Business planning is discussed in relation to the utilization of technological innovations. Methods of information and performance programming are examined. Decentralization in management is also discussed.

The concept of decentralization of authority as understood and practiced by managers in the USA tends to be of limited applicability in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a section of abstracts related to marketing management. They include "Leasing: New Release For Liquid Capital," "Business Budgeting and the Theory of the Firm," and "Observations on Decentralization in Large Enterprises."

The article discusses department store management and the pros and cons of decentralization or strong central authority. The benefits of central merchandise control are reportedly lower buying expense ratios, improved buying power and more flexibility in inventories. The role of the branch manager within the organizational bureaucracy is evaluated. Conflict in organizational sociology caused by changes in autonomy, buying decisions and the degree of autonomy between branch managers and company management are covered.

The influence of union structure and organization in collective bargaining has been explored frequently, with considerable attention being paid to the coincidence and conflict of interests between the local and international union. Yet, in many unions, an intermediate body, organized on an area or industry basis, actually plays a far more important role in collective bargaining than does the local. Penetrating a neglected field in the study of union organization, this article discusses the structure of such intermediate bodies and their function in collective bargaining in a variety of unions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers controllability questions of this type, using slightly different definitions of controllability from those used by Arrow and Kurz. Arrow-Kurz (p. 120) define controllability of a policy rather than of a system. Their definition therefore implicitly assumes a certain objective function (which gives rise to the policy in question).In this paper, the concept of controllability is defined for a dynamic system without reference to policies or objective functions. We apply largely known results to study the controllability of decentralized economic systems, extending them slightly when necessary. it does not seem, however, that controllability requirements for decentralized economic systems have been studied in the way presented in this paper. In particular it is shown that local controllability about a point in a growth path is implied by the controllability properties of certain associated linear or bilinear systems. Thus, these associated systems serve as approximations to the original system. We give various definitions of controllability in the next section. A discrete-time model is formulated in Section 3. Its controllability properties are the subject of Section 4. After deriving the equation for the perturbation of a growth trajectory due to small changes in the instrument values, local controllability by the policy maker with a single tax (consumption tax only, saving tax only and one common tax for consumption and saving) is examined in detail, with particular attention paid to conditions under which the model may not be locally controllable. One of the interesting results is that the decentralized economic system studied in this paper is not necessarily locally controllable by the government with only one instrument, unless the response of the consumers' savings behaviour to tax changes meets certain conditions. These conditions allow interesting economic interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Dantzig and Wolfe have formulated the decomposition algorithm as a computational device, it was subsequently recognized that the principle underlying the algorithm may also be utilized by a planning system to achieve a centralized planning within the framework of a decentralized organizational structure. This paper illustrates the workings of such a planning system and, at the same time, explores some of the problems connected with its actual implementation. The planning system under the study is called the decomposed planning system in order to distinguish it from either the centralized planning or the decentralized planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivating employees to work for the goals of the firm has long been one of management's most important and vexing problems. The search for methods that motivate effectively, that induce the employee to work harder for the firm's goals, led to experimentation with a wide diversity of devices. In recent years, several writers emphasized that the firm's accounting system has a direct influence on the motivation of managers. This paper (a) surveys the available findings of research done in the behavioral sciences and organization theory as they bear on motivation and (b) critically examines the accounting system and reports in the light of such findings. Decentralization contributes to effective motivation. The firm's accounting system facilitates decentralization and hence has an indirect but important impact on motivation. The direct use of accounting reports, such as budgets, for motivation can result in reduced performance, if the budget is imposed on the department manager. The accounting system facilitates decentralization, which is conducive to effective motivation. Furthermore, the careful use of accounting reports can directly contribute toward effective motivation by expressing goals and by supplying knowledge of performance.