Concepts of delegation

Topic 3A: Concepts of Delegation

Topic 3A: Concepts of Delegation

Site: BayLearn - Bay of Plenty Polytechnic's learning networkCourse: Road Transport L4 : Course 4 - Personnel DevelopmentBook: Topic 3A: Concepts of DelegationPrinted by: Leon Gray-LockhartDate: Wednesday, 26 June 2013, 11:38 AM

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26/06/2013http://baylearn.boppoly.ac.nz/mod/book/print.php?id=119211

Table of Contents3A Introduction

Definitions

Purposes of Delegation

Downwards Delegation

Sideways/outwards delegation

Upwards delegation

Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum

Levels of delegated freedom 1


Considerations in delegation

Steps of successful delegation

Benefits of delegation

Delegation in road transport

Individual levels of delegation 1


3A Next Steps

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3A Introduction

Part of being an effective manager is knowing when to ask for help, and when to let someone who works for you do a task instead of you.

Some managers are afraid to ask their staff to take on extra responsibilities as they worry it makes them look like they're not competent. These managers fear being 'shown-up' and are concerned that they appear lazy.

However, a good manager uses a staff member's interests and strengths to benefit their organisation. They delegate particular tasks to the people on staff who are naturally skilled and enthusiastic about particular types of work. It is okay for a manager to admit they know less about something that they are responsible for than someone who works for them. Generally, Gary has no problem motivating his staff to take on and complete tasks in the business. However, Tim the business mentor still wants to give him a few pointers on the art of delegation.

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What is delegation?

Wikipedia defines delegation as:

Delegation (or deputation) is the assignment of authority and responsibility to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. However the person who delegated the work remains accountable for the outcome of the delegated work.

Delegation empowers a subordinate to make decisions, i.e. it is a shift of decision-making authority from one organisational level to a lower one.

Delegation, if properly done, is not abdication. The opposite of effective delegation is micromanagement, where a manager provides too much input, direction, and review of delegated work.

In general, delegation is good and can save money and time, help in building skills, and motivate people. Poor delegation, on the other hand, might cause frustration, and confusion to all the involved parties.

Definitions

Delegation is where a task, project or job, that is not a normal event, is passed to another to complete. For this to be delegation the responsibility, authority and control must be passed on to the person being delegated to. However, The person delegating is still accountable.

Bearing this in mind one of the steps often missed in delegation is informing others that the control and authority has been given to someone else.

Telling you to do a normal daily task is not delegation, nor is anything that is in your job description or employment agreement.

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This can lead to a real sense of pressure and work overload: You can't do everything that everyone wants, and this can leave you stressed, unhappy, and feeling that you're letting people down.

On the positive side, however, you're being given a tremendous opportunity if you can find a way around this limitation. If you can realize this opportunity, you can be genuinely successful!

One of the most common ways of overcoming this limitation is to learn how to delegate your work to other people. If you do this well, you can quickly build a strong and successful team of people, well able to meet the demands that others place.

This is why delegation is such an important skill, and is one that you absolutely have to learn.

Purposes of Delegation

If you work on your own, there's only a limited amount that you can do, however hard you work. You can only work so many hours in a day. There are only so many tasks you can complete in these hours. There are only so many people you can help by doing these tasks. And, because the number of people you can help is limited, your success is limited.

However, if you're good at your job, people will want much more than this from you.

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Downward delegation remains the most popular and effective means of getting work done quickly and efficiently. But as the workplace becomes increasingly complex, supervisors need to find more creative approaches.

Downwards delegation

To most supervisors, delegation means someone in a superior role transfers authority to various staff members to enhance overall business capacity. This “downward” delegating runs smoothly as long as certain rules are followed.

A good supervisor takes care to delegate to people who have proven they can do the job at hand. Deadlines should always be reasonable—an employee faced with a task that can’t be done on time becomes frustrated. Encouraging feedback keeps staffers involved and makes them feel more a part of the overall project. Giving feedback is equally important; it makes workers feel that the supervisor cares about their success.

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Remember, too, that neither you nor your peers are in business for yourselves—as team players, you should always be looking out for the company’s best interest. Frequently, this is a strong incentive for peers to help you with your work.

Obviously, you should always be willing to help your peers with their work. People will naturally be more willing to help you out if they know they can count on your help—and they rarely forget when someone doesn’t help others.

<> Sideways/outwards delegation

Delegating to one’s peers can be a touchy proposition. Your peers don’t report to you, so they have no obligation to honour your requests. Those who do agree to accept work will invariably ask: "What’s in it for me?" When they do, how you answer will determine how much cooperation you can expect.

Ideally, if you can provide some tangible benefit, peers will be more willing to lend their assistance. If, however, no immediate benefits come to mind, you should try to think of a special way to thank whoever helps you. Sometimes as simple a gesture as a thank-you card is sufficient, but you can probably come up with a number of other ways to show your appreciation.

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When your boss frantically appears with another rush job, calmly refer to your "to do" list (which will have all the other rush requests you’ve received all day) and ask the boss: "How can I prioritize to determine what items on the list can be put off?" All you’ve done is put the responsibility back into the boss’ lap. Obviously, you can’t do three or four projects at once. The boss will have no choice but to identify priorities.

But suppose you have more than one boss? If you work for Smith and Jones and Smith hands you a rush job while you’re in the middle of a rush job for Jones, you can explain the situation and suggest that Smith and Jones get together and decide which project takes priority. At that point they really have no choice but to honour your request.

Upwards delegation

It’s almost a rule that emergency projects come up when everyone is swamped with other work. How do you handle a boss who comes to you, project in hand, and tells you "I need this done now"—perhaps two or three times in the same day? Delegate the work right back to the boss.

First, list everything your boss tells you to do. You may want to make "to do" lists for weekly and daily assignments, making sure to display them prominently in your office.

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The Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum is a simple model which shows the relationship between the level of freedom that a manager chooses to give to a team, and the level of authority used by the manager. As the team's freedom is increased, so the manager's authority decreases.

As a manager , one of your responsibilities is to develop your team. You should delegate and ask a team to make its own decisions to varying degrees according to their abilities. There is a rising scale of levels of delegated freedom that you can use when working with your team. The Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum is often shown as a simple graph:

Over time, a manager should aim to take the team from one end to the other, up the scale, at which point you should also aim to have developed one or a number of potential successors from within your team to take over from you.

Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum

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1. The manager decides and announces the decision.

Manager reviews options in light of aims, issues, priorities, timescale Decides the action, informs the team of the decision Team plays no active part in making the decision Team may well perceive that the manager has not considered the team's welfare at all Seen by team as a purely task-based decision

2. The manager decides and then 'sells' the decision to the group.

Manager makes the decision as above Explains reasons for decision to team, particularly positive benefits Manager is seen by the team to recognise the team's importance with some concern for them

3. The manager presents the decision with background ideas and invites questions.

Manager presents the decision along decision background Team is invited to ask questions, discuss with the manager the rationale behind the decision Enables the team to understand and accept or agree with the decision More participative, involving approach enables team to appreciate issues and reasons for decision, implications of all the options More motivational approach because of higher level of team involvement and discussion.

4. The manager suggests a provisional decision and invites discussion about it.

Manager discusses and reviews provisional decision with team on basis that manager will take on board the views and then finally decide Enables team to have some real influence over the shape of the manager's final decision Acknowledges that the team has something to contribute to the decision-making process.


Where the relationship between a manager and his or her team is on the Tannenbaum and Schmidt continuum prescribes certain levels of delegated freedom, ranging from little actual delegation freedom, to complete delegation of all decisions associated with a task.

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6. The manager explains the situation, defines the parameters and asks the team to decide.

Manager has effectively delegated responsibility for the decision to the team, within the manager's stated limits. Manager may or may not choose to be a part of the team which decides Appears to gives a huge responsibility to the team, but manager can control the risk and outcomes to an extent, according to the constraints that he stipulates. Level is more motivational than any previous, and requires a mature team for any serious situation or problem Team must get the credit for all the positive outcomes from the decision, while the manager remains accountable for any resulting problems or disasters.

7. The manager allows the team to identify the problem, develop the options, and decide on the action, within the manager's received limits.

Team given responsibility for identifying and analysing the situation or problem; the process for resolving it; developing and assessing options; evaluating implications, then deciding on and implementing a course of action. Manager also states in advance that he/she will support the decision and help the team implement it Manager may or may not be part of the team, and if so then he/she has no more authority than anyone else in the team Only constraints and parameters for the team are the ones that the manager had imposed on him from above Potentially most motivational of all, but also potentially the most disastrous Team must be mature and competent, capable of acting at what is a genuinely strategic decision-making level.


5. The manager presents the situation or problem, gets suggestions, then decides.

Manager presents situation, maybe some options to the team Team is encouraged and expected to offer ideas and additional options, and discuss implications of each possible course of action Manager then decides which option to take High and specific involvement for the team, and is appropriate particularly when the team has more detailed knowledge or experience of the issues than the manager Being high-involvement and high-influence for the team, provides more motivation and freedom.

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Establish checkpoints

Plan how you're going to ensure the work is being completed according to plan by establishing checkpoints, or key performance indicators at the end of project stages. This doesn't mean asking, "How's it going?" every hour – that would be oppressive. Manage the risk of mistakes occurring by being proactive and staying in the loop at key points within the project.

Delegate the results, not the process

Focus on the end result and, unless the person to whom you're delegating is inexperienced, allow him or her to determine how best to achieve it. If you dictate exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, you limit the learning potential, and you risk not taking proper advantage of the person's experience.

Define your role

Explain how much support you'll provide. Let the person know whether to wait for your instructions or make independent recommendations and decisions. Often, the more authority you give, the better the end result will be – however, use your discretion, depending on the task and the individual. Make sure the person understands whether independent initiative is mandatory.

Talk about consequences

If you allow people to have authority over their work, inform them of the consequences of both successful and unsuccessful results. What rewards can they expect if they do a great job? What will happen if they don't achieve the expected results?

Considerations in delegation

Effective delegation requires crystal clear communication so that people know precisely what is expected of them. It also requires letting go.

Here are some key things to consider:

Clarify your expectations

Tell the person to whom you are delegating what you need accomplished and why it's important. When he or she knows the desired results, it's much easier to see the "big picture" and work accordingly. If possible, connect the task to organizational goals.

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Steps of successful delegation

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As a giver of delegated tasks you must ensure delegation happens properly. Just as significantly, as the recipient of delegated tasks you have the opportunity to 'manage upwards' and suggest improvements to the delegation process and understanding; especially if your boss could use the help.

Managing the way you receive and agree to do delegated tasks is one of the central skills of 'managing upwards'. Therefore while this page is essentially written from the manager's standpoint, the principles are just as useful for people being managed.

Good delegation saves you time, develops your people, grooms a successor, and motivates. Poor delegation causes you frustration, demotivates and confuses others, and fails to achieve the task or purpose itself.

Benefits of delegation

Delegation is a very helpful aid for succession planning, personal development and seeking and encouraging promotion. It's how we grow in the job as delegation enables us to gain experience to take on higher responsibilities.

Effective delegation is actually crucial for effective succession. For the successor and for the manager too; the main task of a manager in a growing thriving organization is ultimately to develop a successor. When this happens everyone can move on to higher things. When it fails to happen the succession and progression becomes dependent on bringing in new people from outside.

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For road transport, this is especially important when it comes to the kinds of decisions that need to be made in the event of an emergency: particularly important when this occurs late at night or in a remote location. These decision-making abilities, as at the team level, come in degrees of delegated freedom for an individual.

It's important also to ask the other person what level of authority they feel comfortable being given. Some people are confident; others less so. It's your responsibility to agree with them what level is most appropriate, so that the job is done effectively and with minimal unnecessary involvement from you.

Involving the other person in agreeing the level of delegated freedom for any particular responsibility is an essential part of the 'contract' that you make with them. Always check with the other person that they are comfortable with your chosen level. People are generally capable of doing far more than you imagine.

The rate and extent of responsibility and freedom delegated to people is a fundamental driver of organisational growth and effectiveness, the growth and well-being of your people, and of your own development and advancement.

Delegation in road transport

The nature of working in road transport means that delegation is very much part of the daily reality for all involved. Being a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week industry, it would be impossible for any one person to be able to do all the tasks associated with managing consignments and drivers.

It is in the interests of managers to make it clear who is responsible for what at various points of a consigment's journey; making sure that they clearly communicate their expectations about decision-making authority to those upon which it is conferred.

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3. "Look into this and tell me the situation. We'll decide together."

This has a subtle but important difference to the above. This level of delegation encourages and enables the analysis and decision to be a shared process, which can be very helpful in coaching and development.

4. "Tell me the situation and what help you need from me in assessing and handling it. Then we'll decide."

This is opens the possibility of greater freedom for analysis and decision-making, subject to both people agreeing this is appropriate. Again, this level is helpful in growing and defining coaching and development relationships.

5. "Give me your analysis of the situation (reasons, options, pros and cons) and recommendation. I'll let you know whether you can go ahead."

Asks for analysis and recommendation, but you will check the thinking before deciding.

6. "Decide and let me know your decision, and wait for my go-ahead before proceeding."

Other person is trusted to assess the situation and options and is probably competent enough to decide and implement too, but for reasons of task importance, or competence, or perhaps externally changing factors, the boss prefers to keep control of timing. This level of delegation can be frustrating for people if used too often or for too long, and in any event the reason for keeping people waiting, after they've inevitably invested time and effort, needs to be explained.


1. "Wait to be told." or "Do exactly what I say." or "Follow these instructions precisely."

This is instruction. There is no delegated freedom at all.

2. "Look into this and tell me the situation. I'll decide."

This is asking for investigation and analysis but no recommendation. The person delegating retains responsibility for assessing options prior to making the decision.

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8. "Decide and take action - let me know what you did (and what happened)."

This delegation level, as with each increase up the scale, saves even more time. This level of delegation also enables a degree of follow-up by the manager as to the effectiveness of the delegated responsibility, which is necessary when people are being managed from a greater distance, or more 'hands-off'. This level also allows and invites positive feedback by the manager, which is helpful in coaching and development of course.

9 "Decide and take action. You need not check back with me."

The most freedom that you can give to another person when you still need to retain responsibility for the activity. A high level of confidence is necessary, and you would normally assess the quality of the activity after the event according to overall results, potentially weeks or months later. Feedback and review remain helpful and important, although the relationship is more likely one of mentoring, rather than coaching per se.

10. "Decide where action needs to be taken and manage the situation accordingly. It's your area of responsibility now."

The most freedom that you can give to the other person, and not generally used without formal change of a person's job role. It's the delegation of a strategic responsibility. This gives the other person responsibility for defining what changes projects, tasks, analysis and decisions are necessary for the management of a particular area of responsibility, as well as the task or project or change itself, and how the initiative or change is to be implemented and measured, etc. This amounts to delegating part of your job - not just a task or project. You'd use this utmost level of delegation (for example) when developing a successor, or as part of an intentional and agreed plan to devolve some of your job accountability in a formal sense.


7. "Decide and let me know your decision, then go ahead unless I say not to."

Now the other person begins to control the action. The subtle increase in responsibility saves time. The default is now positive rather than negative. This is a very liberating change in delegated freedom, and one that can also be used very effectively when seeking responsibility from above or elsewhere in an organisation, especially one which is strangled by indecision and bureaucracy.

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3A Next Steps

Jeff thinks he can now explain the purpose of delegation and the differences between upward, downwards and outwards delegation. He also thinks he can explain the key components and benefits of delegation

Please complete Topic 3A Review before proceeding to Topic 3B.

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Concepts of delegation

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