Zentralisierung durch Dezentralisierung

Paradoxical slogans such as “controlled autonomy”, “externally organized self-organization”, “centralistic decentralization” and “regulated anarchy” point to strategies by the management which make use of two seemingly contradictory phenomena: the advantages in innovation and efficiency that are implied in decentralized self-organization on the one hand and the advantages in synergy and control that come with a centralized management on the other hand. Starting from this assumption on the combination of centralization and decentralization as a deliberate management strategy, the results of a case study are discussed which was conducted in a medium-sized German company. This leads to a re-consideration and partial reversal of the original assumption. It is shown that, rather than being a strategy intentionally employed by the management, “centralization by decentralization” was an unintended side-effect of the introduction of team structures on several hierarchical levels which originally was a part of decentralization.