Steemit Crypto Academy Contest/S1W3 – Blockchain through the concepts by @concord-leo

I am happy to participate in this week crypto academy contest. I will like to show my level of understanding on decentralization, a term related to blockchain.

Tell us about your favorite concept or term related to blockchain, try to be explanatory and make sure to give your opinion. (For example Decentralized, Genesis Block, Hard Fork, Proof of Stake.)

My favorite blockchain-related topic is decentralization. The English language dictionary defines “Decentralization” as the transfer of control of activity and organization to several local offices or authorities rather than one single entity.

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Decentralization refers to the power of anonymity. It is the central power of authority in which users can take full management of one’s assets. The word Decentralization came into existence in the 1820’s. It is the opposite in meaning of the word “Centralization”. Centralization is therefore defined as a system that is controlled and governed by an authority called the central authority.

In a decentralized system, a user’s information is protected using cryptographic technology. Decisions are not controlled by an organization or individual body but every user has control over what happens in the system.

An example is in the banking sector, when a user wants to make a transaction to another user, the user need the power of the bank before making any transaction. Another example is applications such as Uber, Facebook, Instagram, etc which run on a computer system that is operated and owned by an individual or organization which has full control over what happens in the platform. The organization has the right to delete messages made by users who had violated the community rule but in the case of decentralized organization, a developer can create a social media platform and lauch it on a blockchain where users can write content and no one even the application creator cannot delete the messages.

Characteristics of decentralization

• The response time is fast
• Quick and independent decision making
• Engagement and development of employee.
• It encourages the development of individual department
• Delegation of authority to every member of the organization
• The risk and gain of decision is bore by individuals.

Differences between a centralized system and a decentralized system

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Centralized	Decentralized
Centralized system make use of formal communication	Communication can be in any format
Best for small sized organization	Should be use in large organizations
Power and authority is uniform	There is dispersal of power and authority by the top level
Decision making is slow	decision making is fast
The system is stable because decisions are made by individual(s) having common goal	The system is prone to instability due to many conflicting decisions by the users
Work load is heavy on the decision makers	Work load is shared among people in the organization
Conflict is least likely to occur	Conflict is likely to occur
Does not motivate individuals	Motivates individuals in the organizations
Controlled by a single unit	It is not controlled by a single unit

Everything which has advantages also had disadvantages. Just like other systems has advantages and setbacks, the success of decentralization should not take users eyes off the demerits of decentralized system.

Advantages of a decentralized system.

There are many advantages of a decentralized system but I will mention but a few.

• Promotes Motivation

Decentralization improves the level of job satisfaction and employee morale to work hard and climb more on the ladder of success. It promotes the cohesive and team spirit as a group.

• Growth and diversification

In decentralized organization there is healthy competition among the employees in the organization. It help the subordinates in having freedom to have their own judgement.

• Security

The security of a decentralized system is of very high standard that cannot be hacked by malicious programmers.

• Decisions are made and executed by authorized persons. This makes the result fast and accurate.

• Ease of Expansion

Decentralization makes expansion process fast. This result to creation of new business unit in different locations.

• Users have access to their money anytime they want it as it is not controlled by anyone.

• Satisfaction of Human needs

Every human has a burning desire to be independent, to acquire power, prestige and status. Decentralization serves as a tool to acquire these attributes.

• Relief to top executives

Since everyone takes his(her) responsibility in the organization, the top executives can focus more planning and other managerial duties.

Disadvantages on decentralized system

• Difficult to co-ordinate

Since every group is a unit on its own, it is difficult to coordinate the affairs of the system.

• Conflict

Decentralization puts pressure on departmental heads to realize profits at any cost. This may breed unhealthy competition.

• Lack of specialization as everyone get involved in all activities.

• Cost

Decentralization leads to duplication of staff effort.

• Require qualified personnel

When there are no qualified persons to carry out the duties in a decentralized system, then it becomes useless.

Why do you think it is important in the blockchain?

The building block of every blockchain is decentralization. It makes blockchain more secure in making transactions and it gives user better control of their own decisions which can be exercised through score card, management information system etc.

Decentralization on blockchain gives every individual the ability to perform any transact from one user wallet address to another and have full control of what you want to use your fund for without the interference of a third party. It is easy to come to a conclusion that decentralization is one major and important part of a blockchain.

Do you think that the existence of the blockchain would be possible without this concept? Is there an alternative or similar term?

It is a capital NO! there won’t be a blockchain without decentralization. Decentralization is an important component of a blockchain which differentiate it from usual banking system. The decentralization part of a blockchain is what every blockchain needs to stand on as it puts full control of transactions on the users.

Do you think it is possible to improve this term in some way? Explain to us how

1. Decentralization could provide users meaning to retrieve their keys such as private key, posting key, memo keys and many others in case of forgotten password. In decentralization, when a password is forgotten and keys lost then the user’s wallet address is lost forever. This is a demerit that needs to be improved.

2. Establish an adequate control in decentralization. Decentralization implies entrusting responsibility to each manager according to his capacity. In order to make decentralization effective, management must develop system to evaluate their performance.

Conclusion

The idea of decentralized Blockchain technology has really transformed a lot of things and resolved many complex problems in our present world. It has reduced malicious activities of hackers because the high level of security it provides.

Buying of goods and services across the globe is now faster and transactions are done without the interference of the third party. Transaction charges are minimal and in some case zero transaction charges. Though there are downsides but the advantages outweighs the disadvantages. So, I stand for decentralized Blockchain.