Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company designs and manufactures industrial heaters, temperature sensors, controllers, and supporting software as well as assemblies - all of the components of a thermal system (Watlow, n.d.). Since 1922, the company has grown in product capability, market experience and global reach (Watlow, n.d.). The company holds more than 450 patents and employs 2,000 employees working in nine (9) manufacturing facilities and three (3) technology centers in the United States, Mexico, Europe, and Asia (Watlow, n.d.). Watlow also has sales offices in 16 countries around the world. The company continues to grow, while the commitment remains the same - to provide its customers with superior products and services for their individual needs (Watlow, n.d.).

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.

Source:

Garrison, R., Noreen, E., & Brewer, P. (2014). Managerial accounting (15th ed.). Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Education.

Unit Learning Outcomes

5. Explain the benefits and disadvantages of a decentralized organization (CLO 2 and 4)

Directions
Initial Posting

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.

If you prepared your response in Word, please cut and paste it directly into the discussion board so that everyone will not need to first download your response, then open it to read it. There is no minimum or maximum in terms of the word count; however, the response should explicitly address all required components of this discussion assignment. The document should be prepared consistent with the APA writing style (6th edition) and reflect higher level cognitive processing (analysis, synthesis, and or evaluation).