CMA Final · Entrepreneurship and Startup · Leadership
A Bengaluru startup's founder, Arjun, has scaled from 15 to 150 staff. He still approves every expense and hiring decision, causing delays and attrition among managers. Which leadership response is most appropriate for sustainable scaling?
The founder should build a management layer with clear decision rights, delegate within defined limits and monitor outcomes through metrics. This removes the bottleneck while keeping accountability. Centralising harder, removing all controls, or hiring only agreeable managers fails to solve the scaling problem.
- ABuild a management layer with clear decision rights and delegate within defined limits, tracking outcomes through metricsCorrect
- BHold all approvals centrally but speed them up by working longer hours
- CRemove all controls so that managers can decide anything without reporting
- DReplace all managers with new hires who agree with the founder
Explanation
Scaling requires the founder to shift from doing to enabling: define decision rights, delegate within limits and monitor with metrics. Working longer hours does not remove the bottleneck. Removing all controls creates risk and lack of accountability. Hiring only agreeable managers does not address the structural problem.
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