Page 44 - DLIS003_LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Unit 2: Library Authority and Communities

4. Special Library: The Board of Director or Board of Trustees of the parent body is the Notes
authority. The librarian is answerable to the Managing Director or some other senior
officer and in practice the situation differs from library to library.

Task Visit a state library and analyse the management system over there.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
12. The ………………………. refers to the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who
make up a body for the purpose of administering the library.
13. A person having ……………… is authorized by a competent agency/authority to carry
out a certain job.

2.7 Decentralization of Authority

Decentralisation of authority is another concept closely related to centralisation. The delegation
of authority by an individual manager is closely related to organization’s decentralisation of
authority.
In decentralisation, only broad powers will be reserved at the top level. Such powers include
power to plan, organise, direct and control and maximum powers will delegated to the authority
at the lower level.
Decentralisation is just opposite to centralisation. Under centralisation, authority is mostly
concentrated at the top level management. Centralisation and decentralisation are mutually
dependent. In a large Organisation, the process of centralisation and decentralisation co-exist
and reinforce each other.

Decentralisation is a natural development when the Organisation grows large and complex.
Here, centralisation of management is neither possible nor desirable. The only practical solution
is to divide the Organisation into decision-making units and giving the powers to take routine
types of decisions in regard to the functioning of those units. This is decentralisation in practice.
In decentralisation, systematic efforts are being made to delegate to the lowest levels all authority
except that which can only be exercised at the central points. Decentralisation is delegation not
from one individual to another but delegation to all units in an Organisation. A company is said
to be highly decentralized, when the delegation is company-wide in all functions and divisions
of the company and also for a wide range of authorities and responsibilities.
Decentralisation is different from centralisation as in centralisation, the decision making power
is in the hands of one person only. We observe such centralisation in sole trading concerns. It is
also noted that centralisation is one feature of traditional management in India while
decentralisation is a normal practice under professional management.

Notes Decentralisation of authority means conscious/systematic effort to bring dispersal
(spreading) of decision making power to the lower levels of the Organisation.

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