Decentralization is the process of distributing or dispersing functions, powers, people or things away from a central location or authority. Concepts of decentralization have been applied to group, dynamics and management sciences ,in private businesses and organizations, political science, law and public administration, economics and technology.

1. Reduction of Executives’ work load: It reduces the work load of officers. They can thus utilize their time in more important and creative works instead of works of daily routine.
2. Employee development: Employees get more opportunities to utilize their talent which allows them to develop those skills which will enable them to perform complex tasks.
3. Quick and better decision are possible: The subordinates are granted sufficient authority so they need not to go to their superiors for taking decisions concerning the routine matters.
4. High Morale of subordinates: Because of delegation of authority to the subordinates they get an opportunity to display their efficiency and capacity.
5. Better coordination: The elements of delegation – authority, responsibility and accountability help to define the powers, duties and answer ability related to various job positions which results in developing and maintaining effective coordination.

Decentralisation refers to the dispersal of the decision making power among the middle and lower level managers. It is an optional policy as it depends on the organisation how much power the top level management wants to delegate to the lower levels. An organisation may choose to be centralised or decentralised depending on the objectives and the decisions of the top level managers. Following are a few factors that explain why an organisation would choose to be decentralised.

(i) Initiative: Decentralisation allows a sense of freedom to the lower managerial levels as it lets them take their own decisions. It gives them a higher degree of autonomy to take initiative. Moreover, it promotes a feeling of self-confidence and self-reliance among them. When the power is delegated to lower level managers, they learn to face new challenges and find solutions for the problems themselves. This helps in spotting those potential managers who can take the needed initiative.

(ii) Managerial Competence: Once the authority is delegated to the managers at lower levels, it provides them the needed opportunity to develop themselves. It provides them with the opportunity to gain experience and thereby, develop the skills and knowledge to face new challenges. Decentralisation gives them a chance to prove their talent and get ready for higher positions. It also helps in pre-identification of the future managers who are well-equipped with the necessary talent required to deal with managerial problems.

(iii) Control: Decentralisation helps in evaluating the performance of the organisation in a better manner. Decentralisation helps in analysing and evaluating the performances of each department separately. Thus, the extent of achievement of each department and their contribution to the overall objectives of the organisation can be easily can be easily evaluated.

(iv) Active Decision Making: Since through decentralisation, the authority of making decisions is passed on to lower levels of management, decisions are taken quickly and timely. This is because the decision can be taken at the nearest points of action which thereby, helps in easy adjudication of the problems.

(v) Growth: Managerial efficiency is developed to a large extent with the help of decentralisation. Decentralisation results in greater authority to the lower level managers. It promotes competition among the managers of various departments. In a race to outperform each other, they give their best shot and thereby, increase the overall productivity and efficiency. The organisation gains from the increased overall performance and thereby, grows.

(vi) Reduced Workload of Top Managers: Delegation of authority provides freedom to top level managers. It helps them in shifting the workload to their subordinates and gives them time to concentrate on more important and higher priority work such as policy decisions. Moreover, direct supervision by the top level management is decreased, as the subordinates are given the rights to take the decisions by their own.

A Functional structure entails organising and grouping together activities of similar nature. That is, under functional organisation activities or work of similar nature are grouped together. Each group functions as a separate department and specialises in its work. For example, an organisation can have departments such as production, human resource, finance, marketing, etc. Each department in turn report to one coordinating head. Functional structure is usually suitable for large organisations who deal with number of varying functions requiring high degree of specialisation. The following points highlight the suitability of functional structure.

i. Large Size: A large size organisation can function smoothly, if the work is divided into various departments. Departmentalisation in large organisation improves managerial efficiency and the degree of control. Thereby, the work proceeds smoothly.

ii. Varying Functions: Dealing with diverse varying functions simultaneously requires high degree of coordination so as to improve efficiency. By a clear division of activities in various departments, a functional structure promotes coordination among the various functions and thereby, ensures smooth functioning.

iii. Requirement of Specialisation: Varying functions in an organisation can be performed better if dealt with specialisation. With departmentalisation, each department can function independently and specialise in their respective functions.