Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

Business Studies

Chapter

Organising

Question:

Read the passage and answer the following questions.

The McNeil name has been associated with the manufacturing and sale of pharmaceutical products since 1879, when Robert McNeil opened his first retail drug outlet in Pennsylvania. Growing as a producer of prescription pharmaceuticals, McNeil Laboratories, Inc. was incorporated in the U.S. in 1933, and became a member of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies in 1959. McNeil Consumer Healthcare began operations in Canada in an existing administrative Johnson & Johnson facility in Guelph, Ontario in 1980. McNeil Consumer Healthcare (nonprescription pharmaceutical products) in Guelph, Ontario is a member of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies in Canada. An important difference between Johnson & Johnson and most other companies — is the concept of decentralized management. Instead of operating as one large multi-billion-dollar corporation, Johnson & Johnson is operated as 190 smaller companies, each focused on a specific medical or product franchise and/or geographic area, with each affiliate generating multiple options for growth. Through decentralization we combine the advantages of being big with the agility and focus of smaller firms. Decentralization enables each company to stay close to its customer, maintain short lines of communication with customers and employees, and accelerate the development of talent. The Johnson & Johnson - Merck Consumer Pharmaceuticals company also operates from our Woodlawn Road facility in Guelph.

When can an organization be regarded as greatly decentralized? 

Options:

When decisions taken by the lower levels are numerous as well as important 

When decision making authority is retained by higher management

Concentration of all decision-making functions by the apex of the management

Both 2 and 3

Correct Answer:

When decisions taken by the lower levels are numerous as well as important 

Explanation:

The correct answer is option 1- When decisions taken by the lower levels are numerous as well as important.

Centralization and decentralization are relative terms, as seen from the existing status of various business enterprises. An organization is centralized when decision-making authority is retained by higher management levels whereas it is decentralized when such authority is delegated. When decisions taken by the lower levels are numerous as well as important an organization can be regarded as greatly decentralized.