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Thus Meyer, Milgrom and Roberts write ‘although delegating authority to those with the information needed to make good decisions is an important part of good organisation design, it is of little use unless the decision makers share the organisation’s objectives. We have already mentioned incentives as a way to align individual and organisational objectives ... incentives and delegated authority are complements: each makes the other more valuable’. Their solution to the principal–agent problem is to create incentives such that the individual (with local knowledge unavailable to persons more senior in the hierarchy) will act as if the objectives of the organisation were his or her own. The principal–agent problem seeks solutions that will induce subordinates to pursue the objectives of the organisation. But what are the objectives of the organisation, and who identifies them?

KayThe Corporation in the 21st Century
p.164

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This brings us to a central truth about organizations: they are inherently messy. There are no panaceas, no structures that solve all problems. Any attempts to completely eliminate the mess are doomed to failure. Yes, there are costly inefficiencies in decentralization, but the fire of personal ownership—of being our own little business—elevates human motivation and stimulates innovation in powerful, albeit somewhat chaotic, ways.

Collins, LazierBE 2.0
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If the greatest rewards are given for behavior contrary to that which the new course of action requires, then everyone will conclude that this contrary behavior is what the people at the top really want and are going to reward.

Not everyone can do what Vail did and build the execution of his decisions into the decision itself. But everyone can think what action commitments a specific decision requires, what work assignments follow from it, and what people are available to carry it out.

DruckerThe Effective Executive
p.139

In a complex situation, when you want to empower the entire organization to be able to act without direction from the top, having a shared view of what the purpose is and how each participant fits into it is absolutely critical. It is only with a basis of a shared understanding of what we’re all trying to achieve here that distributed action is possible.

McGrathSeeing Around Corners
p.138

Thus, we should seek coordinated policies only when the gains are very large. There will be costs to demanding coordination, because it will ride roughshod over economies of specialization and more nuanced local responses. The brilliance of good organization is not in making sure that everything is connected to everything else. Down that road lies a frozen

maladaptive stasis. Good strategy and good organization lie in specializing on the right activities and imposing only the essential amount of coordination.

RumeltGood Strategy / Bad Strategy
p.94

If the greatest rewards are given for behavior contrary to that which the new course of action requires, then everyone will conclude that this contrary behavior is what the people at the top really want and are going to reward.

Not everyone can do what Vail did and build the execution of his decisions into the decision itself. But everyone can think what action commitments a specific decision requires, what work assignments follow from it, and what people are available to carry it out.

DruckerThe Effective Executive
p.139