Delegating Authority in a Large Organization

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Delegating Authority in a Large Organization

Management 330

Delegating authority in any large organization is required to keep a

steady workflow within the organization. Delegation is the process of

distributing the workload in a top-down flow within an organization.

Managers have a responsibility to delegate for the benefit of

themselves and their subordinates but should not abuse the power of

delegation by using it to make others take responsibility for their

mistakes. Delegation allows managers to relieve some of their workload

and allows subordinates a chance to learn the management field through

on the job training. There are various ways to delegate within an

organization and proper and improper ways to do it. Delegation was

accomplished at my previous employer through weekly assignment

meetings or direct tasking. Because I stay at home now with the

children, who are one and four years old, delegation consists of minor

tasking such as making a bed or cleaning toys up. Rules for delegation

stay the same at any home or organization, someone is passing work

along to a subordinate so they can accomplish their own tasking or

teach the subordinate what they need to learn. In a company,

delegation generally follows a hierarchy and moves from top-level

management to middle level management to lower level management to the

workforce. The person delegated should be the appropriate level for

the goal that will be accomplished. There is no sense in delegating a

task to someone without the skill or knowledge to complete it unless

the delegator is willing to teach the procedures to do so.

Unfortunately some managers use delegation as a way to pawn

responsibility off on subordinates and avoid circumstances involved

with not achieving a goal. These are bad management practices and

should not be tolerated by upper level management. Not taking

responsibility for their actions can lead managers to have a

dissatisfied workforce that is not willing to accept delegation of

important assignments.

There are multiple advantages and uses for management delegating

tasks. As managers move from lower to mid to upper level management

they take on more responsibility and larger workloads so saving time

is a critical factor in delegating, most managers are required to

focus on higher-level activities and it frees the manager to devote

mor...

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...n insightful knowledge, which the subordinate may very well have,

this step can help everyone involved to understand the tasking that is

to be done. Allotting the resources needed to complete the project can

make or break the project. If proper resources are not allowed then

the project can either not be done or will only be done to the limit

of the resources that were allowed, which in most cases is

unsatisfactory. Scheduling checkpoints for review to make sure that

goals are being met and following through on those checkpoints to make

sure that satisfactory progress is being made are the final steps in

the delegation process. Not following the steps of proper delegation

can lead to poor or inadequate goals being achieved and

dissatisfaction among management and workers alike.

Delegation should be used in some stages of management more than

others. The planning and organizing stages of management require the

most delegation for research into how to accomplish them and put plans

into action. The leading stage of management requires some delegation

to thin a managers workload. The controlling stage of delegation

should require little to no delegation by a manager.

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