On the other hand, there is no reason why a centralized group cannot learn a customer-focused culture. Even in Consultancy, the advantages of decentralization are questionable. Decentralized Consultants' efforts are often diluted as they are assigned other projects, or expand their scope and become minature full-service organizations. Partnerships deteriorate when decentralized Consultants see their job as defending their clients against the centralized organization, or attempt to speak on behalf of clients and fulfill clients' responsibilities. Decentralized Consultants rarely collaborate to perfect their methods.
Decentralization is a costly way to treat organizational problems.
A better answer is to address the root cause of the problems by building a healthy central organization. In fact, most of the pressures for decentralization disappear if the organization has an effective Consultancy, a healthy internal economy that gives clients control over priorities, a customer-focused culture, and effective entrepreneurs that take advantage of their consolidation and specialize as much as possible to better serve their customers. Return to the main Decentralization page. Return to the NDMA home page.