Authority and Communication in Organizations
نویسنده
چکیده
This paper studies delegation as an alternative to communication. We show that a principal prefers to delegate control to a better informed agent rather than to communicate with this agent as long as the incentive conflict is not too large relative to the principal’s uncertainty about the environment. We further identify cases in which the principal optimally delegates control to an “intermediary”, and show that keeping a veto-right typically reduces the expected utility of the principal unless the incentive conflict is extreme.
منابع مشابه
Why Hierarchy? Communication and Information Acquisition in Organizations
In most firms, if not all, workers are divided in terms of authority and responsibility. In this paper, we view the asymmetric allocations of authority and responsibility as essential features of hierarchy and examine why hierarchies often prevail in organizations from that perspective. The focus of attention is on the tradeoff between costly information acquisition and costless communication. ...
متن کاملIdentifying and Explaining the Factors Affecting the Social Participation of the Iranian People in Natural Disasters
Over 2 million people worldwide suffer from life-threatening emergencies and natural disasters, annually. By participating in crisis management processes, different people and various sectors of the society can reduce the country's vulnerability to natural disasters. One of the most important issues in crisis management is the participation of people in all processes of the crisis management cy...
متن کاملDiscussion Paper No. 751 WHY HIERARCHY? COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION ACQUISITION IN ORGANIZATIONS
In most firms, if not all, workers are divided asymmetrically in terms of authority and responsibility. In this paper, we view the asymmetric allocations of authority and responsibility as essential features of hierarchy and examine why hierarchies often prevail in organizations from that perspective. The focus of attention is on the tradeoff between costly information acquisition and costless ...
متن کاملWhistle Blowing: A Message to Leaders and Managers; Comment on “Cultures of Silence and Cultures of Voice: The Role of Whistleblowing in Healthcare Organizations”
This comment argues that instead of worrying about the pros and cons of whistleblowing one should focus on the more general problem of the failure of upward communication around safety and quality problems and consider what leaders and managers must do to stimulate subordinates to communicate and reward such communication. The article analyzes why safety failures occur and introduces the concep...
متن کاملModern Communication Technology and National Security In the Middle East
One of the characteristics of the modern international systems is the undeniable role the new communication technologies play in different sections of human societies. Modern communication technologies such as satellites and computers have challenged the national authority and sovereignty of Vestfallian states. Although national states, specially, in the third world countries, extremely resist...
متن کاملInterorganizational Information Exchange and Efficiency
Achieving efficiency in coordinated action in rapidly changing environments has challenged both researchers and practitioners. Emergency events require both rapid response and effective coordination among participating organizations. We created a simulated operations environment using agent-based modeling to test the efficiency of six different organizational designs that varied the exercise of...
متن کامل