essay - GMAT: Issue5

Question:
"All groups and organizations should function as teams in which everyone makes decisions and shares responsibilities and duties. Giving one person central authority and responsibility for a project or task is not an effective way to get work done."

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this definition of success? Support your position by using reasons and examples from your reading, your own work or school experiences, your observations, or your reading.

Answer:
The statement says that it's better to lower the supervisory level for all groups and organizations. I partly agree with this statement, since empowered employees, which means employees who have been given authorities, make their performance the best. This, however, depends on the circumstance where the organization stands. I mean that if the organization is in a certain circumstance, the approach the sentence proposes will bring a serious problem to the organization.

The first case is the case the organization is not mature. If the employees are incompetent at making decision and leading the organization, or if the employees are not disciplined and are prone to be negligent, the approach of delegating authority and power to the employees at all levels will cause a serious disaster.

The second case is the case the external environment is harsh in competitive and fast in change. For responding to such an environment, the organization has to have a clear chain of command in order to attain quickness of the strategies. If all employees can freely make decisions and moves ahead in directions that they like, the organization will not be able to survive in the harsh environment.

In sum, I agree that empowerment or delegation might be a good choice for a certain type of organizations, which should be mature and the employees can make a wise judgement. I, however, disagree with the statement saying all groups and organizations can adapt this organizational approach. This will result in a catastrophe because of the reasons I mentioned above.