There is no such thing as a truly centralized or decentralized management system. With regard to universities, most of the key areas in universities are centralized, e.g. finance, personnel, curriculum, management and quality. These key areas will exhibit a higher impact on learning and research by maintaining the appropriate balance between centralization and decentralization approaches. The purpose of this paper is to study the key features of balanced management implemented within the internal quality assurance system at the University of Bahrain. Areas of such balance will be explained while showing the pros and cons of each management approach.,In this paper, both quantitative and qualitative surveys were used to study this balanced approach.,The centralization approach at the university maintained systematic compliance through the development of policies and procedures, quality structure and a clear framework for quality enhancement. Centralization ensured consistency in quality, programmes and activities. It also maintained diffusion of innovation, for example, sharing and transferring the knowledge of international accreditation practices to other colleges. The balance of the centralized with the decentralized management approach provided additional advantages. For example, the management shared the vision of decentralization to raise the level of responsibility and accountability. The management provided an acceptable level of authority to take on spot decisions; hence, building expertise at the decentralized levels. However, this would require support and capacity building to ensure directly responsible persons, who can take on spot decisions. The ownership of the self-improvement cycles was implemented at the level of the departments and colleges.,This study showed that this balanced management had a great influence to maximize the benefits of the internal quality assurance (IQA) system, as it showed that 71.4 and 67.3 per cent of the academic and administrative staff, respectively, found that the IQA system was effective.,This balanced approach would guide the universities to enhance its quality system by organizing its structure, processes and systems in a harmonized nature.

中文翻译：

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平衡巴林大学的集权化和分权化管理

没有真正的集中式或分散式管理系统。关于大学，大学的大多数关键领域都是集中的，例如财务，人员，课程，管理和质量。通过在集中化和分散化方法之间保持适当的平衡，这些关键领域将对学习和研究产生更大的影响。本文的目的是研究在巴林大学内部质量保证体系内实施的平衡管理的关键特征。在说明每种管理方法的利弊的同时，还将说明这种平衡的领域。在本文中，定量和定性调查都用于研究这种平衡方法。该大学的集中化方法通过制定政策和程序，质量结构和清晰的质量提升框架来保持系统的合规性。集中化确保了质量，计划和活动的一致性。它还保持了创新的传播，例如，将国际认证实践的知识共享和转让给其他学院。集中式管理与分散式管理方法之间的平衡提供了其他优势。例如，管理层共有权力下放的愿景，以提高责任和问责制水平。管理层为现场决策提供了可接受的权限；因此，在权力下放的层次上建立专业知识。然而，这将需要支持和能力建设，以确保直接负责的人可以当场做出决定。自我完善周期的所有权是在部门和学院级别上实施的。研究表明，这种均衡的管理对于最大程度地发挥内部质量保证（IQA）系统的收益具有很大的影响，表明71.4分别有67.3％的学术和行政人员发现IQA系统是有效的。这种平衡的方法将指导大学通过以统一的方式组织其结构，过程和系统来增强其质量体系。