In your home if as a parent you ask your kid to bring milk from nearby store for one day than it is delegation as you have delegated your work to your kid but if you assign the duty of bringing milk daily from the store without fail then you have decentralized the work as kid in his or her mind know that bringing milk from store is his or her duty. In the case of companies, a similar thing happens as work is either delegated or decentralized, in order to understand both the concept in a better way one should look at the differences between delegation and decentralization –
Delegation Vs Decentralization
Meaning
Delegation in simple words refers to the assignment of specific tasks or duties and once the subordinate has carried out the specific duty or task than his or her job is done with regards to that specific duty while decentralization refers to permanent delegation of decision making authority to lower or middle-level management by the upper-level management.
Scope
The scope of delegation is limited in the sense that superior delegates specific or limited task to the subordinates but as far as decentralization is concerned it has a much wider scope as once the company goes into the decentralized structure it means all tasks or duties are delegated to lower and middle-level management from top-level management. In simple words, if delegation is small pond as its scope is limited than decentralization is like the sea as its scope is very wide.
Purpose
The main purpose behind delegation is to reduce the burden of the superior so in the above example you ask your kid to bring milk from store only when you are super busy and cannot do the task yourselves but as far as decentralization is concerned the main purpose behind doing it to increase the role of subordinates by giving them more authority as well as responsibility, hence in the above example when you ask your kid to bring milk daily you are making him responsible for the completion of task same is the case with employees when company goes for decentralization.
Autonomy
In case of delegation since subordinates are assigned limited work besides they are always under the lens of supervisor which results in less autonomy for subordinates as far as decision making and way of doing the job is concerned but when it comes to decentralization there is no such restriction and subordinates can do work with autonomy as well as with authority.
Optional
Delegation is something that cannot be avoided because no person can do all the tasks alone and one has to delegate work at some point whereas as far as decentralization is concerned it is optional as some companies adopt a centralized approach for work while some companies adopt a decentralized approach in the company. In simple words when it comes to options as far as decentralization is concerned company has the option to implement or not implement it but when one talks about delegation there is no option as it cannot be avoided.
As one can see from the above that there are many differences between the two and that is the reason why as a manager you should be aware of the above differences as any confusion concerning the above two can put manager as well as the company in trouble.