1. Mark Huffman, “Problems Fixed in Three Million Recalled Vehicles, Toyota Says,” ConsumerAffairs.com, May 5, 2010, http://www.consumeraffairs.com; Greg Gardner, “Dysfunction in Toyota Culture Exposed by Recall Crisis,” Wichita Eagle, March 14, 2010, http://www.kansas.com; “Learning from Toyota’s Mistakes,” Business Management, March 9, 2010, http://www.busmanagement.com; Alex Taylor III, “Toyota Starts the Long Road Back,” CNNMoney.com, March 9, 2010, http://money.cnn.com; Neil Roland, “Toyota’s North America Unit to Get More Authority Over U.S. Results,” Automotive News, March 2, 2010, http://www.automoativenews.com; Chester Dawon and Yoshio Takahashi, “Toyota Expects Earnings to Double,” Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070304577393291480867230.html, last modified May 9, 2012; H. Reimel, “The Great Rethinker,” Automotive News 86, no. 6517 (2012): 3. http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1015631087?accountid=4485.

2. Andre Nelson, “Have I the Right Stuff to Be a Supervisor?” Supervision 51 (January 1990): 10–12. For a more recent responsibility-related trend, see: “Office Professionals’ Responsibilities Set to Soar,” British Journal of Administrative Management (May/June 2001): 6.

3. “Goldman Sachs: Key Executive Accepts Some Responsibility for Meltdown,” Los Angeles Times, April 27, 2010, http://www.latimes.com. For a general discussion of the accountability of top executives in the context of company performance, see: C. Crossland and G. Chen, “Executive Accountability around the World: Sources of Cross-National Variation in Firm Performance—CEO Dismissal Sensitivity,” Strategic Organization 11 (2013): 78–109.

4. J. E. Osborne, “Job Descriptions Do More than Describe Duties,” Supervisory Management (February 1992): 8. For more information on job design, see: R. De Cooman, D. Stynen, A. Van den Broeck, L. Sels, and H. De Witte, “How Job Characteristics Related to Need Satisfaction and Autonomous Motivation: Implications for Work Effort,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 43: 1342–1352.

5. Small Business Administration, “Writing Effective Job Descriptions,” Starting and Managing a Business, http://www.sba.gov, accessed January 21, 2014; Stephanie Castellano, “What’s in a Job?” T + D, January 2014, Business Insights: Global, http://bi.galegroup.com; “Writing Job Descriptions: An Eight-Question Checklist,” HR Specialist, December 2013, Business Insights: Global, http://bi.galegroup.com.

6. Robert J. Theirauf, Robert C. Klekamp, and Daniel W. Geeding, Management Principles and Practices: A Contingency and Questionnaire Approach (New York: Wiley, 1977), 334.

7. Deborah S. Kezsbom, “Managing the Chaos: Conflict Among Project Teams,” AACE Transactions (1989): A4.1–A4.8. For an example of how overlapping responsibilities can impact a political organization, see: Carolyn Ban and Norma Riccucci, “New York State Civil Service Reform in a Complex Political Environment,” Review of Public Personnel Administration 14, no. 2 (Spring 1994): 28–40.

8. Richard Korman, “A Responsibility Gap Crashes at Location C3,” ENR 250 (2003): 12.

9. Chuck Douros, “Clear Division of Responsibility Defeats Inefficiency,” Nation’s Restaurant News (February 21, 1994): 20.

10. Robert D. Melcher, “Roles and Relationships: Clarifying the Manager’s Job,” Personnel 44 (May/June 1967): 34–41.

11. This section is based primarily on John H. Zenger, “Responsible Behavior: Stamp of the Effective Manager,” Supervisory Management (July 1976): 18–24.

12. Stephen Bushardt, David Duhon, and Aubrey Fowler, “Management Delegation Myths and the Paradox of Task Assignment,” Business Horizons (March/April 1991): 37–43.

13. Max Weber, “The Three Types of Legitimate Rule,” trans. Hans Gerth, Berkeley Journal of Sociology 4 (1953): 1–11. For a current illustration of this concept, see: Gail DeGeorge, “Yo, Ho, Ho, and a Battle for Bacardi,” BusinessWeek (April 16, 1990): 47–48.

14. John Gardner, “The Anti-Leadership Vaccine,” Carnegie Foundation Annual Report (1965).

15. Chester I. Barnard, The Functions of the Executive (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938).

16. To better understand the interplay between incentives and authority, see: Jan Bouwens and Laurence Van Lent, “Assessing the Performance of Business Unit Managers,” Journal of Accounting Research 45, no. 4 (2007): 667–697.

17. For an illustration of how line authority issues can impact the operation of the IRS, see: “TEI Recommends Changes in IRS Appeals Large Case Program,” Tax Executive 48, no. 4 (July/August 1996): 265.

18. Patti Wolf, Gerald Grimes, and John Dayani, “Getting the Most Out of Staff Functions,” Small Business Reports 14 (October 1989): 68–70.

19. Harold Stieglitz, “On Concepts of Corporate Structure,” Conference Board Record 11 (February 1974): 7–13.

20. Wendell L. French, The Personnel Management Process: Human Resource Administration and Development (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987), 66–68.

21. For a discussion of how supervisors empower the employees they manage, see: D. R. Avery, M. Wang, S. D. Volpone, and L. Zhou, “Different Strokes for Different Folks: The Impact of Sex Dissimilarity in the Empowerment-Performance Relationship,” Personnel Psychology 66 (2013): 757–784.

22. Derek Sheane, “When and How to Intervene in Conflict,” Personnel Management (November 1979): 32–36. For an interesting discussion highlighting the potential benefits of conflict, see: B. H. Bradley, A. C. Klotz, B. E. Postlethwaite, and K. G. Brown, “Ready to Rumble: How Team Personality Composition and Task Conflict Interact to Improve Performance,” Journal of Applied Psychology 98: 385–392.

23. For a discussion of how giving up authority can be good for an organization, see: A. D. Amar, Carsten Hentrich, and Vlatka Hlupic, “To Be a Better Leader, Give Up Authority,” Harvard Business Review, December 2009, http://hbr.org.

24. Researchers have devised an interesting way to map the distribution of authority within an organization. For a description of this technique, see: Michael Segalla, “Find the Real Power in Your Organization,” Harvard Business Review (May 2010): 34–35.

25. Robert Albanese, Management (Cincinnati: South-Western Publishing, 1988), 313. For an interesting discussion of how political ideologies influence accountability attitudes, see: P. E. Tetlock, F. M. Vieider, S. V. Patil, and A. M. Grant, “Accountability and Ideology: When Left Looks Right and Right Looks Left,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 122 (2013): 22–35.

26. Anthony Buono, “Accountability: Freedom and Responsibility Without Control,” Personnel Psychology 56 (2003): 546.

27. “How Ylvisaker Makes ‘Produce or Else’ Work,” BusinessWeek (October 27, 1973): 112; N. P. Mero, R. M. Guidice, and S. Werner, “A Field Study of the Antecedents and Performance Consequences of Perceived Accountability,” Journal of Management (in press).

28. See: Chris Rivinus, “Ignorance Management,” Business Information Review 27, no. 1 (2010): 33–38.

29. For a practical discussion related to the delegation process, see: Kenneth Corts and Darwin Neher, “Credible Delegation,” European Economic Review 47 (2003): 395. See also: M. Sengul, J. Gimeno, and J. Dial, “Strategic Delegation: A Review, Theoretical Integration, and Research Agenda,” Journal of Management 38 (2012): 375–414.

30. Leslie Kwoh, “Memo to Staff: Take More Risks,” Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2013, http://online.wsj.com; Extended Stay America, “Corporate Profile,” Shareholder Information, http://www.aboutstay.com, accessed January 21, 2014; Michael B. Baker, “Interview: Extended Stay America CEO Jim Donald,” Business Travel News, January 16, 2014, http://www.businesstravelnews.com.

31. William H. Newman and E. Kirby Warren, The Process of Management: Concepts, Behavior, and Practice, 4th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1977), 39–40; Dave Wiggins, “Stop Doing It All Yourself! Some Keys to Effective Delegation,” Journal of Environmental Health 60, no. 9 (May 1998): 29–30. See also: Kristin Gilpatrick, “Step Up to Delegation,” Credit Union Management 24, no. 4 (April 2001): 18.

32. R. S. Drever, “The Ultimate Frustration,” Supervision (May 1991): 22–23.

33. To better understand the intricacies of delegation in international contexts, see: Zhen Xiong Chen and Samuel Aryee, “Delegation and Employee Work Outcomes: An Examination of the Cultural Context of Mediating Processes in China,” Academy of Management Journal 50, no. 1 (2007): 226–238.

34. For more recommendations regarding delegation, see: Joni Youngworth, “Delegation Dilemmas,” Journal of Financial Planning 20 (September 2007): 10–12.

35. Ted Pollock, “Secrets of Successful Delegation,” Production (December 1994): 10–11; Robert B. Nelson, “Mastering Delegation,” Executive Excellence 7 (January 1990): 13–14.

36. Roz Ayres-Williams, “Mastering the Fine Art of Delegation,” Black Enterprise (April 1992): 91–93.

37. Harold Koontz, Cyril O’Donnell, and Heinz Weihrich, Essentials of Management, 8th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986), 231–233. See also: Robert I. Sutton, “Some Bosses Live in a Fool’s Paradise,” Harvard Business Review, June 3, 2010, http://blogs.hbr.org; Andrew O’Connell, “Why Controlling Bosses Have Unproductive Employees,” Harvard Business Review, May 25, 2010, http://blogs.hbr.org.

38. For a practical look at the process of centralization, see: “Pros and Cons of Centralization,” Nature 423 (2003): 787. See also: Marco Adria and Shamsud Chowdhury, “Centralization as a Design Consideration for the Management of Call Centers,” Information and Management 41 (2004): 497.

39. For an interesting discussion of whether to centralize the marketing function, see: Richard Kitaeff, “The Great Debate: Centralized vs. Decentralized Marketing Research Function,” Marketing Research: A Magazine of Management & Applications (Winter 1994): 59; Charlotte Sibley, “The Pros and Cons of Centralization and Decentralization,” Medical Marketing and Media 32, no. 5 (May 1997): 72–76; Christine Tierney and Katherine Schmidt, “Schrempp, the Survivor? To Tighten His Grip, He Will Centralize Decision-Making,” BusinessWeek (March 5, 2001): 54.

40. Steve Weinstein, “A Look at Fleming’s New Look,” Progressive Grocer 74 (1995): 47–49. To understand the interplay between decentralization and innovation, see: B. Ecker, S. van Triest, and C. Williams, “Management Control and the Decentralization of R&D,” Journal of Management 39 (2013): 906–927.

41. Scott S. Smith, “Hotelier Isadore Sharp, a Man for Four Seasons,” Investor’s Business Daily, May 20, 2013, Business Insights: Global, http://bi.galegroup.com; Robert J. Thomas, Joshua Bellin, Claudy Jules, and Nandani Lynton, “Four Blueprints for Ensemble Decision-Making,” Ivey Business Journal, May 2013, Business Insights: Global, http://bi.galegroup.com; EY (Ernst & Young Global Ltd.), “Talent Management Sea Change Needed for Global Growth, Says Survey,” news release, November 12, 2012, http://www.ey.com.

42. T. Derpinghaus and A. Bhattacharya, “Samsonite Sees Rapid Growth in Asia,” Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2013, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303345104579283621990013420?KEYWORDS=decentralize, accessed February 10, 2014.

43. Jack Neff, “What’s Ailing J&J—and Why Isn’t Its Rep Hurting?” Advertising Age, May 10, 2010, http://www.adage.com.

44. To better understand how decentralization influences the empowerment of employees, see: P. S. Hempel, Z. Zhang, and Y. Han, “Team Empowerment and the Organizational Context: Decentralization and the Contrasting Effects of Formalization,” Journal of Management 38 (2012): 475–501.

45. Donald O. Harper, “Project Management as a Conrol and Planning Tool in the Decentralized Company,” Management Accounting (November 1968): 29–33. For a detailed description of the effects of decentralization on research and development (R&D), see: B. Ecker, S. van Triest, and C. Williams, “Management Control and the Decentralization of R&D,” Journal of Management (in press).

46. Information for this section is mainly from John G. Staiger, “What Cannot Be Decentralized,” Management Record 25 (January 1963): 19–21. At the time the article was written, Staiger was vice president of administration, North American Operations, Massey-Ferguson, Limited.

47. Mark Anderson, “Chevys Freshens Interiors, Menus in Sacramento-Region Pilot,” Sacramento Business Journal (2012); “Noteholders Buy Real Mex for $129 Million,” Nation’s Restaurant News (February 20, 2012); “Real Mex Names Goronkin CEO,” Nation’s Restaurant News (April 18, 2011); “Real Mex Narrows Loss Even as 2nd-Q Sales Fall,” Nation’s Restaurant News (September 7, 2009); “Real Mex Restaurants Exits Chapter 11,” March 21, 2012, www.businesswire.com; www.realmexrestaurants.com.

48. This exercise was based on the company’s website as well as on Jena McGregor, “Room & Board Plays Impossible to Get,” BusinessWeek (October 1, 2007): 80.