Материал: Management-and-Organization-Behavior

Lesson -10: Delegation Of Authority And Decentralization

Objectives

After reading this lesson, you should be able to:

ӹӹUnderstand The Process Of Delegation;

ӹӹKnow The Barriers For Delegation;

ӹӹLearn The Techniques To Overcome The Barriers; And

ӹӹAppreciate The Need For Decentralization Of Authority.

Lesson Outline

ӹӹProcess Of Delegation

ӹӹBarriers To Effective Delegation

ӹӹOvercoming The Barriers

ӹӹDecentralization Of Authority

ӹӹFactors Influencing Decentralization

ӹӹReview Questions

Delegation is the process by which authority is granted to a subordinate by his superior. But for delegation of authority, organizations would remain for ever small. Delegation is the only solution to cope with the increasing work load of managers as the organization grows. Because of the constraints of time and ability, a manager cannot perform all the tasks himself. Therefore, he delegates certain of the tasks to the subordinate and gets them done. Before proceeding further to understand the process of delegation, it is appropriate to examine, in brief, the concepts of authority and responsibility.

Authority is the right to command. It is the discretion power vested with a manager to use the organizational resources. Managers acquire authority by virtue of the rank or title associated with their position. Authority is granted to the individuals in a formal way in the organization. It flows from the top to down in the organization structure.

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Responsibility, on the other hand is the obligation to perform the tasks and accounts for their satisfactory completion. It is implied that an individual is expected to fulfill certain job requirements when he or she accepts a position in the organization. In other words, the individual is answerable for the results of the task to be performed. In contrast to authority, responsibility of an individual in the organization is always upwards, that is, the subordinate is responsible to his or her superior.

Process of Delegation

Entrustment of Duties or assignment of Responsibilities

This is a crucial step in that a few important questions like what to delegate? When to delegate? Whom to delegate? And how to delegate are answered. The effectiveness of delegation depends on how clearly these questions are answered. First of all, the manager has to decide the tasks to be delegated to the subordinates. For this, he must be able to distinguish between the routine and non-routine tasks. Routine and simple tasks can as well be performed by the subordinates while the non-routine and very important tasks must be performed by himself.

Granting of Authority

When the subordinates are assigned certain tasks or responsibilities, it goes without saying that they need authority also to perform the tasks. Authority is required by them to use the resources of the organization for the execution of the tasks. The superior, therefore, parts with his authority to enable the subordinates to perform. Responsibility and authority both go together. One of the important principles of organizing is parity of authority and responsibility which emphasizes the need for a proper balance between the two.

Creation of Accountability

Delegation does not end with just entrustment of duties and the granting of authority. The superior has to create an obligation on the part of the subordinate to perform. In other words, the subordinate is accountable to his superior for the tasks delegated. Thus, while authority flows downwards, responsibility flows upwards. Normally, accountability

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is created by asking the subordinates to submit performance reports/ status reports from time to time.

Barriers to Effective Delegation

To make delegation effective, the spirit and willingness of both the parties are crucial. Though delegation is a powerful tool to motivate the subordinates and to develop managerial skills in them, if adequate care is not exercised the result may be considerable anxiety for both superiors and subordinates. Following are some of the reasons why delegation often fails in organizations to which both superiors and subordinates are responsible.

i.Lack of Confidence in Subordinates: Lack of trust and confidence on subordinates’ abilities and skills make the superiors reluctant to delegate. As a result, subordinates lose initiative and frequently seek the guidance of the bosses to know whether they are doing the things correctly.

ii.The “I can do it better myself fallacy”: Some managers always suffer from a feeling that they only can do the job better. Consequently two things happen. First, spending time on a task a subordinate could perform and as a result the manager may not be able to perform other important tasks like policy formulation and supervision. Second, unless the manager allows subordinates to attempt new tasks, the subordinates will be unable to develop their skills. Thus by insisting on doing things themselves managers often fail in their responsibility for training and grooming subordinates higher levels responsibilities.

iii.Lack of ability to direct: Some managers become so involved in day-to-day operations that they ignore to see the broader picture. Unable to understand the long term perspective of the work flow, they do not fully realize the importance of distributing work among subordinates. Some managers deliberately do this because of lack of confidence in their supervisory abilities.

iv.Aversion to Risk: Since the superior can not absolve himself of the final performance of the task, he may fear that delegating the job

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will cause problems. Further, those superiors who see a threat in the subordinates always try to avoid delegation. This is mostly due to the mindset where superior fears that he may be outsmarted by the subordinate and eventually the latter may become a potential threat to this position.

v.Absence of Selective Controls: When certain duties are delegated to subordinates, the superior has to ensure proper controls in the form of feedback about performance. It gives the superior the opportunity of knowing the problem before much damage takes place. If controls are not adequate and effective, manager has good reason to avoid authority delegation.

vi.Inadequate Information and Resources: The subordinate lacks the information and resources needed to do the job successfully. Some managers with a view to let down their subordinates may deliberately make the delegation unclear. As a result the subordinate lands himself in confusion as to the exact nature of the duties and the authority that he can exercise. The motive of the superior in such cases may be to make the subordinate fail in the execution.

Overcoming the Barriers

Several of the barriers to delegation discussed above mostly relate to the behavioral aspects of individuals. Insecurity, aversion to risk, lack of self confidence, inability to trust another to perform a task are all different types of manifestations of human behavior. Among the various barriers, psychological barriers are the most difficult ones to overcome. In order to overcome many of these barriers, both superiors and subordinates must take a hard look at themselves, recognize their own fears and try to come out of the inhibitions. The following measures may help delegation to be effective:

1.Effective Communication: When a subordinate does not perform the tasks as expected by management, the problem can be faulty communication. In the hurry to get the things done, managers may skip through what they exactly expect from the subordinate. The subordinate may also hesitate to ask questions for looking stupid. At times, subordinate too, may be in a hurry to get on with the job.

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