It's time to cut back on co‐operation, communication and central control

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to put forward the view that large, complex companies need a systematic process of decentralizing control to prevent increasing delay, cost and dissatisfaction caused by a lack of empowerment and ability to make decisions. Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes the problems with too much central control and advances suggestions to break the vicious circle. Findings – The paper reports that 34 percent of 600 large‐company managers who took part in a survey thought that their firm already had too much central control, 43 percent thought control was moving further towards the center, only 25 percent thought their company had become faster at getting things done, and 48 percent believed that their business had become more expensive to run over the last five years. Practical implications – The paper emphasizes the role of human resources in bringing about faster, more efficient organizations, where people are more empowered and enjoy greater job satisfaction. Originality/value – The paper highlights better training as a way of helping middle managers to avoid referring too many decisions up the organization.