In which organizational arrangement is decision-making authority distributed among a group rather than concentrated in one person?

• A. Committee Structure
• B. Centralization
• C. Matrix Structure
• D. Functional Structure

Answer: (A)

Distributing decision-making authority across a group is what a committee structure emphasizes. In this setup, a group of people from different areas comes together to discuss and decide, often working through discussion, consensus, or voting rather than having one person make all the calls. This approach brings diverse perspectives, checks and balances, and shared accountability, which is why it’s described as a group-based form of governance. You’ll see this pattern in governance bodies, steering committees, or cross-functional project teams, where the chair may guide the process but does not unilaterally determine every outcome.

In contrast, centralized organization concentrates authority at the top, with one person or a small leadership group making the key decisions. The functional structure places most decision rights with heads of functional areas (like Marketing, Finance, Operations), rather than with a broader group. The matrix structure mixes reporting lines across functions and projects, which distributes some authority but still involves multiple managers and does not embody a pure group-based decision process. So the arrangement that truly distributes authority among a group is the committee-based structure.