Except in very small organizations, top managers must delegate some decisions. In a decentralized organization, decision-making authority is spread throughout the organization rather than being confined to a few top executives. As noted above, out of necessity all large organizations are decentralized to some extent. Organizations do differ, however, in the extent to which they are decentralized. In strongly centralized organizations, decision-making authority is reluctantly delegated to lower-level managers who have little freedom to make decisions. In strongly decentralized organizations, even the lowest-level managers are empowered to make as many decisions as possible. Most organizations fall somewhere between these two (2) extremes.
You are Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company. The company currently operates under a decentralized organizational structure; however, recent mishaps have occurred due to a perceived lack of control over manufacturing processes and marketing decisions. In response, the CEO is considering the possibility of changing the organizational structure of the company. You have been asked to consider the recent issues experienced at the company, determine if they can be reasonably attributed to the current organizational structure, consider alternative structures and their pros and cons, and then formulate a recommendation using sound arguments that are well supported, properly vetted, and logically presented. It is important that management carefully consider any potential ethical implications associated with their stated position. If there are any potential ethical concerns associated with your position, they should be identified and discussed in the final recommendation.
The response should explicitly address all required components of this discussion.The document should be prepared consistent with the APA writing style (6th edition) and reflect higher level cognitive processing (analysis, synthesis, and or evaluation).