Although top managers distribute some authority for decision and actions through out the vertical organization they also retain a certain amount of authority .

Centralization is the extent to which authority remains concentrated at top level management level. The opposite of centralization is decentralization , delegation authority to lower management level.

Centralization and decentralization are the two extremes of a continuum more authority delegation down ward reflects a higher degree of decentralization, when more authority detained by top managers reflect a higher degree of centralization.