Decentralized organizations have the ability to create divisions of itself that are called responsibility centers. One of the features and advantages of this is that managers have decision-making independence and are empowered to run their own departments. Which of the following represents the lack of authority, one of the three characteristics of a responsibility center?
A) A bank branch manager has delegated the task of signing off on new accounts to lower-level employees.
B) A company moves from a model where there is a company-wide policy for set working hours to one where each department can determine what hours employees will work.
C) A hospital CEO would like to oversee the hiring of all nursing staff since they believe the manager has allowed too much turnover.
D) The sales manager has asked senior-level sales staff to take charge of the inventory count beginning next month.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This question requires familiarity with authority, one of the three characteristics of a responsibility center. Choice C is the only one of the four choices that accurately depicts the lack of authority by allowing the CEO to make a hiring decision for a specific department and not trusting in the manager to make this important decision. The other three choices represent the presence of authority where managers of a department have the authority or ability to make decisions independent of higher-level management.

Decentralized Organizations Have the Ability to Create Divisions of Itself