This paper deals with the decentralized pole assignability of interconnected systems by means of linear time-invariant (LTI) controllers. A simple graph-theoretic approach is proposed to identify the distinct decentralized fixed modes (DFMs) of the system, i.e., the unrepeated modes which cannot be moved by means of a LTI decentralized controller. The state-space representation of the system is transformed to the decoupled form using a proper change of coordinates. For any unrepeated mode, a matrix is then computed which resembles the transfer function matrix of the system at some point in the complex plane. A bipartite graph is constructed accordingly in terms of the computed matrix. Now, the problem of verifying if this mode is a DFM of the system reduces to checking if the constructed graph has a complete bipartite subgraph with a certain property. The sole restriction of this work is that it is only capable of identifying the distinct DFMs of a system. However, it is axiomatic that most of the modes of the real-world systems are normally distinct. The primary advantage of the present paper is its simplicity, compared to the existing ones which often require evaluating the rank of several matrices. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.