Abstract
This paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of a decentralized IT system and management information systems (MIS). It discusses the need for greater time-to-market and competitiveness and the factors affecting cost reduction and efficiency. The paper also compares decentralization with centralization for organizations.

Table of Contents:
Executive Summary
Advantages of Decentralized Management Information Systems (MIS)
Disadvantages of Decentralized Management Information Systems (MIS)
Summary

From the Paper
"- When organizations have organized teams into specific functional areas, for example logistics, supply chain planning and execution, marketing or engineering, a centralized IT structure is typically the best possible IT infrastructure to support the specific business strategies of these functional groups. CIOs who have specifically used this approach report clearer job descriptions and higher levels of morale, as employees are clear with regard to what is expected of them, according to CIO Magazine (2001). US Space Alliance's CIO Kathy Tamer reports that the centralization of strategic planning and integration, platform engineering and operations, application engineering services, data and documentation management, IT security, and user support services have made it possible to trim 17% of total staff levels through job re-assignment and attrition. The US Space Alliance anticipates savings of $300,000 per year due to centralization of these vital functions. What is impressive about this centralization strategy on the part of US Space Alliance is that there has been no need to relocate any member of the core centralized teams."

Tags:reorganization, SaaS, dynamics, market

Abstract
This paper states that decentralized organizations are more successful at adapting to the global environment and maintaining their competitive edge than centralized organizations. The author discusses self-managed teams and boundary-less organizations. The paper relates that the management of uncertainty is part of the new decentralization paradigm. Includes an abstract.

From the Paper
"The structure of organizations is an important factor in whether they can respond appropriately to challenges that arise. The traditional centralized organization has long been favored as offering standardization ..."

Tags:decentralization, centralization, self-managed teams, management of uncertainty, argumentative essay, globalization

Abstract
This paper examines the political and theoretical motivations behind the argument for decentralized arts funding. Also discussed are views on decentralization trends in arts funding and the potential effects on artists, arts organizations and arts audiences as well as on rural, urban and suburban areas.

From the Paper
"The Arts breathes life into any community, whether urban, suburban, or rural. How often have we heard of a ghost town, perhaps an old mining town, or a city's abandoned warehouse district, or a small farming community once remote but now only minutes away the city limits of a major city, that has been virtually transformed by becoming home for the arts. Art is a magnet. It draws people no matter their race, social or economic status. It is just as likely that a tobacco farmer, living a hundred miles from the nearest metropolitan area, enjoys the Boston Pops on PBS just as much as the executive living in a high-rise condo. "

Tags:community, society, murals, poetry, music, artists

Abstract
This paper explores critically and comprehensively strategies that enhance empowerment of communities within a framework of sub-national governance through some techniques of decentralization and quality participation. Developing countries are the main units of analysis. However, the role of the International Development Community is examined and the discourse is concerned with creating a special legal, economic, social, political, geographic and fiscal space for sub-national groups that act autonomously, though in association with the state, private sector and other factors in society.

From the Paper
"Since the 1970s and 1980s, the character and form of public service delivery has extended far beyond provision through central government towards the empowerment of local governments, hence, sub-national groupings involving much decentralization for empowering particularly communities. The idea has been the growing focus on not only, political and economic development, but also, and more importantly, social and human development where it has been recognized that central government alone, within the vortex of globalization cannot promote development in all respects. The United Nations Development programme (1998) has noted that decades of development assistance have countenanced the notion that economic development alone will not bring about equitable and lasting development because there was much focus on the economy, which meant an exclusion of political, social, environmental and cultural factors. As the report noted, "in the face of continued and devastating poverty and rapid environmental deterioration, more and more policy-makers are acknowledging that development progress must be people-centered, equitably distributed and environmentally and socially sustainable" (UNDP, ibid, 1998, p. 1). Nevertheless, the implementation, activity and even the concept of sub-national governance have been problematic and have developed a distinct set of formidable concerns. This is so, as some of the very problems found with central governments that propelled the idea and practice of decentralization and empowerment for sub-national groups, in particular communities, have again and have continually resurfaced and in some ways just as and even more troubling. Problems relate in part to information asymmetry, institutional deficiencies, and problems of targeting technical, managerial, professional and otherwise resources in addition to problems of accountability and capacity generally, as some would argue (Turner and Hulme 1997 : World Bank Report, June 2001 )."

Tags:administration, africa, america, building, capital, caribbean, communitarian, community, conflict, countries, decentralization, developing, drawing, economic, empowerment, government, latin, legal, lesson, national

Abstract
This paper reviews the term "transition economies" which defines those socialist command economies that, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, attempted a transition from a state controlled, centralized planning economic model to a decentralized capitalist economic model. The paper lists these transition economies as being Russia, Poland, China and Vietnam. Transition economies are generally classified under one of two categories: the shock model and the gradualism model. The paper further discusses how these categories refer to the rate of economic and political change in these societies during their transitional periods. States that applied the gradualism model include Poland and China, while the shock model is commonly applied to cases such as that of Russia.

Tags:transition, economies, globalization

From the Paper
"All companies begin as centralized organizations. This is a function of size. Small companies may never leave the centralized structure, while larger companies eventually find that they are too unwieldy to function effectively in a centralized manner, and so they move to a decentralized structure. Historically, these movements have followed an evolution in the company itself, with the first moves toward decentralization happening as companies established facilities in more than one location. Sometimes, even the existence of just an off-site warehouse could lead to decentralization. Today, companies are taking a strategic look at whether they are centralized or decentralized, and what system is best for them. Instead of relying on the natural course of business to make the decision for them, companies are building the centralization ... "

From the Paper
"Administrative Decentralization

Introduction
The history of public administration and management theory is one of changing understandings of the relationship between employees and managers, between the organization and the community, and between organizations. It is not a history in which theories are built incrementally, or additively, simply by adding new information to what has gone before. Instead, theories seem to be led by changes in political thought and cultural values, which influence the way in which relationships are conceptualized.
One current trend is toward a belief that decentralization is more efficient and effective than centralized administration."

Abstract
This paper explores how decentralization bears several new challenges for the health service sector. It explains how, with active participation of health managers in the decentralization process, sufficient national resource allocation and a continuous system for monitoring equity and quality of health care are vital in improving the level of service provided to people of all income groups.

Introduction
What is Decentralization?
Defining Decentralization
Types of Decentralization
Choosing the Correct Form of Decentralization
Need of Decentralization
Political Decentralization
Decentralization and Health Care
Affects of decentralization on Human Resource Management
Conflict-Provoking Communication In Any Organization
Advantages of Decentralization
The Promise of Decentralization
Raising healthier people in Pakistan
Implementation of Decentralization in Pakistan
Impact of Decentralization in Pakistan
Conclusion
References

From the Paper
"Globalization has helped in developing consensus on priority health concerns and establishing targets for handling them. Liberalization, economic reforms, trade agreements and democratization have created new avenues for international cooperation. The unprecedented progress made in information technology has brought people closer, through e-mail, computer, cell phones, and satellite TV. Information technology has also provided excellent opportunities to keep people involved and informed at all times. In the context of public service reforms, decentralization is regarded as an important means to achieve improved efficiency in the quality of services. One of the challenges in this context is the financing of such services, since tax and fee systems are often not charged simultaneously or sufficiently. Consequently, municipalities and local government institutions opt for a variety of approaches to privatizing services provided in the public interest. Decentralization affects the terms of employment and working conditions of municipal workers, as well as labor-management relations, in a number of ways."

Tags:globalization, government

From the Paper
"If the 1980s were about quality and the 1990s were about reengineering, then the 2000s will be about velocity. About how quickly the nature of business will change. About how quickly business itself will be transacted. About how information access will alter the lifestyle of consumers and their expectations of business. Quality improvements and business process improvements will occur far faster" (Gates, 1999, 12). One of the improvements Bill Gates was talking about is an organization structure called the "flat organization."

That term is a comparison to the older, more traditional organizational charts, which were much like a pyramid. At the top was the president or CEO and below him were senior vice ..."

Abstract
This paper discusses how France has remained far more centralized than many of its European neighbors and seeks to explain why this is so. It considers a number of factors including its highly divided social and political history and attitudes towards state power. It also explores the recent growth in decentralization in France and attempts to reveal that while France has benefited from decentralization in several areas, it has been unable to commit fully to the process due to a number of inherent obstacles which derive from a "cultural and historical legacy" that has been responsible for France's highly centralized nature.

From the Paper
"One of the key reasons behind France's long history of centralization is that of its highly divided political values. It is generally accepted that the more a society is divided the more likely it is to have a centralized government and vice versa. In a homogeneous society with shared interests and values it can be assumed that it is safe to allow decentralization, yet this has certainly not been the case in France (at least until the late 1960s) where the government and its opposition have been completely split throughout much of France's history. Logically, it then follows that the French government would be less enthusiastic for decentralization as it may have allowed for a loss of power to opposition parties."

Tags:government, president, state, society, class