Delegation refers to the process by which a superior gives a subordinate the authority to carry out an aspect of the superior’s job.
This means there is a transfer to the subordinate
a. The responsibility for performance of specific task and
b. Giving authority (to management personnel) to plan and make decisions in general specific area of management activity.
For instance, in a large sole proprietorship, as it expands it becomes necessary to expand to one the responsibility for making one part or all of the purchases, to another part all responsibility of supervising sale and to someone else, all the responsibility for keeping the records and keeping financial statements. Although all of these persons would report to the owner they would share in the responsibility of managing the business because the owner alone could not effectively be able to exercise all authority in making decisions and the responsibility for the performance of the tasks.
In theory only authority can be delegated, but increasing activity in the organisation which overloads administrators and supervisors have in practice, necessitated the delegation of some responsibility for lower level in the direct line or preferably to specialists. However it must be clear that top management’s or each level responsibility for ensuring success or otherwise can never be delegated. This means that responsibility is not surrendered by delegation. As the work is delegated the subordinate becomes responsible for the performance of the job and the superior’s responsibility is to see to it that the job is done.
Importance of Delegation
1. Delegation is fundamental to organisation. The whole concept of organisation is built upon delegation. Achieving the corporate objectives of the business involves variety of activities and being too great for the top management to perform it becomes necessary to employ and organise employees so that some of the responsibilities to perform duties or take decisions are transferred to them. There would be no organisation without delegation.
2. Assist management. When managers and supervisors at all levels have transferred some of their duties and responsibilities and give authority to subordinates to take minor decisions, they free themselves from those petty duties and decisions and devote their time solely on most important task or decision making.
3. Workload more even and fairly distributed. The total workload is more evenly and fairly spread over the available personnel. This makes no worker be called upon to do more work than he can reasonably do. The end result is work done more quickly and more efficiently and avoidance of bottleneck.
4. Development of ability. Subordinates are given encouragement and as they are given a share in the management, a feeling of responsibility is created in them and the ability to manage is developed in them.
5. Avoidance of Reference back. When circumstances call for a decision to be taken at the lower level, normally reference back to the higher level of management for decision is avoided. This means the application of one of the most principles of delegation, that is, decisions should be taken at the lowest level where it is practicable.
6. Subordinates are trained for higher level work. Each senior who delegates work to his subordinate is training his subordinate to replace himself when the need arises.
Circumstances Warranting Delegation
1. Business Expansion: In the case of a one man business there is no need of delegation but as the business greatly expands with increased responsibilities it becomes necessary to delegate some of these responsibilities.
2. The need for training of personnel: Delegating authority and responsibilities is a form of training personnel. This form of training is very necessary because the business would grind to a halt in the absence of such trained subordinates who would step in when the need be.
3. Ability of Personnel: Where the right personnel to whom responsibility can be safely delegated is available, there could be delegation.
4. Existence of administrative bottlenecks: Administrative bottlenecks exist where executives retain to themselves too many responsibilities. This creates bottlenecks because too many subordinates should await the decision or instructions of their supervisors who are overburdened with too many responsibilities. It is therefore necessary to delegate part of the decision making performance of other duties and responsibilities to subordinates to speed up the process in general.
Limitations of Delegation
Even though delegation is said to be the basis of organisation, if it is to work successfully its application should be within the following limits;
1. Nature of Work: Each work and its responsibility has got its related limited factors. For instance, highly specialised work and duties of confidential nature may not be capable of delegation.
2. Permission to Delegate: Very often a senior may not be able to delegate unless permission to do so is granted by his superior to whom he himself is responsible especially where authority to delegate depends on the nature of work.
3. Span of Control: It is claimed by a management scientist that no supervisor can supervise efficiently more than six subordinates. This means that where the supervisor has reached the limit of his span of supervision, he cannot delegate his responsibilities beyond that limit.
4. Ability of Person Delegating: The superior’s own ability is obviously a limiting factor to his span of control and therefore his ability to delegate his duties or responsibility.
This is because to delegate a duty or responsibility the superior should have a thorough knowledge of the duties and responsibilities to be able to supervise the subordinate. Therefore if a person is well trained or highly capable he can delegate more to more people since he can supervise more subordinates. Conversely if he is less trained and little capable he cannot supervise more subordinates and therefore delegate to more subordinates.
5. Ability of the Subordinates: Subordinates who are to be delegated responsibility should have a
a) Physical and mental capacity to do the work
b) Degree of training undertaken to do the work
c) Time available
d) Compatibility of work delegated with other duties undertaken
Where these qualities are lacking then the senior cannot delegate to the subordinate.
6. Training: Training increases the supervisor’s abilities to supervise his subordinates and the subordinate’s ability to do work delegated to him. Therefore the nature and extent of training facilities available may be a limited factor where the subordinate has little or no training therefore it is difficult to delegate responsibility or duty to him.
7. Opportunity for Inspection: The senior who delegates to his subordinate is still responsible for the performance of the work and will answer where the work is poorly done. He therefore saves himself by having the time to inspect or supervise to make sure that the work delegated is being done in accordance with his instructions. Thus his corollary of delegation is inspection. Therefore if there is no opportunity for inspection, there is no delegation by the senior.
8. Proper Announcement: For effective delegation to be achieved there should be proper announcement, that is the responsibility (backed by authority) to make decisions and to instruct other people to act according to decisions made or to undertake a particular task must be announced to all those concerned.
9. Size and form of Organisation: The application of delegation is determined by the size and the form of the organisation. Obviously the bigger the size of the organisation, the greater extent would be the application of delegation. If the size is small as a sole proprietorship, there will be little or no delegation.
Steps for Effective Delegation
1. Ensure the job to be performed is clearly defined
2. Assign specific persons with the ability to do the job
3. Discuss the objectives to be attained and how the job is to be done
4. Ensure the staff has all resources, for example, money, materials, manpower, tools etc. that they will need.
5. Set time limits for the completion of the various stages of the job
6. Give the staff the appropriate level of authority to carry out the tasks.
7. Monitor the progress of the work at regular intervals giving guidance at each stage
8. Hold specific people responsible for the complete performance of the tasks.
9. If the tasks are successful, give credit and recognition to the appropriate people.
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