Samenvatting

This paper investigates how top management can use management decentralization to influence motivation of employees within the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The different types of decentralization under investigation relate to the degree of concentration of power and the segregation of duties, instruments and responsibilities. The three types of decentralization considered are: limited vertical decentralization, vertical decentralization and clean decentralization.The general hypothesis, that decentralization has a positive or negative effect on motivation dependent on the type of decentralization, is tested in a survey among 112 managers working on ten different departments or military airbases in the Netherlands. The paper contributes to the extant literature in at least two ways. First, it adds to the limited literature that examines complex influences on motivation. Second, the paper explicitly recognizes the role of decentralization in the optimal organization of businesses in order to influence the motivation of employees in a positive way.