INTRODUCTION

Large scale and complex nature is the notable feature of modern business. Management has to perform various, varied and diverse activities, which he cannot do all alone. It is, therefore necessary that the manager must share it work with other, so that the task assigned must be performed. In this way, the process of sharing task by its corresponding authority with the subordinate is known as delegation of authority. Delegation is the art of getting work done through others. It is the ability to get the desired result through subordinates. This is why; a competent manager is able to perform a lot of work through delegation. It is rightly said that, “A manager multiples himself through delegation”. Only ordinary and routine authorities are delegated. Delegation does not mean avoiding responsibility and decisions. The idea behind the delegation is to enable the manager to devote and concentrate to important tasks.

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The management is required to perform a lot of work. It is quiet difficult for him to concentrate on every piece of work, so he shares the task and the authority with subordinates. Delegation of authority as such means granting the responsibility regarding specific job to the subordinates. With the expansion of business it become difficult for any officer to perform all the jobs entrusted to his efficiency, therefore the need of delegating certain routine work to his component and reliable subordinate with requisite authority and responsibility. The sharing of routine authority and responsibility with the subordinate is delegation of authority.

Delegation of authority is based on the simple principle of ‘division of work’. No manager can perform the entire work assigned to him, so he has to get a part of it done through others by delegating the task and its corresponding authority.

Delegation is the important element of organization. It is very systematic process not an ahoy arrangement.

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MEANING & DEFINITION MEANING & DEFINITION OFOF DELEGATION OF DELEGATION OF

“Delegation of authority merely means the granting of authority to subordinate to operate within prescribed limits”. “Delegation means assigning work to others and giving them authority to do it”.

“Delegation means in brief the passing on to other of a share in the four elements of the management process”.

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DEFINATION OFDEFINATION OFDELEGATION OF AUTHORITYDELEGATION OF AUTHORITY

Obtain authorities only can be delegated.

The officer who delegates the authority

remains liable even after the delegation of authority to subordinates.

Authorities granted as per delegation can be withdrawn.

Authorities regarding ordinary and routine work only can be delegated.

There should be control of the officer over subordinates in case of delegation.

The subordinates work according to order an instruction of the original officers.

Authority, responsibility and duty are clearly specified.

In this way, “Delegation of authority is an art of granting certain ordinary, routine and exact authorities to competent subordinates, so that they can be perform the work as per instruction efficiently.”

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SPECIAL FEATURE OFSPECIAL FEATURE OFDELEGATION OFDELEGATION OF

AUTHORITYAUTHORITY

Delegation of authority is an essential tool for effective organization. Every executive to perform wider range of activities. His scope of authority is wide enough but his capacity to work and supervise is limited, so it is always in the interest of the organization that the routine, ordinary and general work should be delegated by to component subordinates. This will result in the effective accomplishment of work on the one hand and on the other hand, it will increase efficiency work of the executive. The manager will be in a position to get a major part of work done by the competent subordinates, and he will multiply himself as regards the quantity of work done on his behalf by delegates. We can now summaries the advantage of delegation of authority:

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Multiplicity of the executive capacity.

Facilitating replacement of the top managers.

Opportunity for professional growth.Helping the expansion of the

business.Increasing morale of employees.Means of co-ordination.Achieving business goals.

IMPORTANCE / ADVANTAGEIMPORTANCE / ADVANTAGEOF DELEGATIONOF DELEGATION

Importance / Advantage of

Multiplicity of the executive capacity: Delegation enables the executive’s jobs to be performed by the subordinates, which no doubt, multiples executive services. He is spared fro-routine affairs and attends to important complicated matters.

Facilitating replacement of top managers: The subordinate perform the work of the executive as per delegation and becomes competent and capable of replacing him in case of absence and retirement of the manager. He perform his piece of work intelligently in case o his promotions

Opportunity for professional growth: The delegates learn the executive job and become capable of doing it, which increases his ability, understanding and competency and thus result in professional growth.

Helping the expansion of business: If the enterprise expands, well- trained, experienced and competent persons are readily available to taken up the positions. These people are also habituated of working in the real situations of the business.

Increasing morale of employees: The subordinates perform the work of executive as per delegation and thereby they’re moral and self-confidence is increased. He works

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with zeal, and improves his efficiency to get promotion.

Means of co-ordination: Delegation enables manager and subordinates to establish close relationship with each other. It improves the atmosphere and maintains effective co-ordination at all levels of management.

Achieving business goals: Delegation is made in such a way, that it integrates and changeless the effort and energies of individual to the desired goal of the business and facilitates in achieving it

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AUTHORITYAUTHORITY

Authority is the power to command employees and instruct them to do a piece of work. The authority enables the employees to know certain facts, to enjoy a privileged position and to command respect and obedience from subordinates.

Authority in the opinion of management expert:In the word of F.W. Moore, “ Authority is the right to decide and the power to act and carry out decision”.In the opinion of Koontz and O Donnel,”Authority is legal or rightful power, a right to command or to act.”According to Henry fayol,”Auhority is the right to give order and the power to exact obedience”According to Davis filley,”Authority consist principally of the right to decide and command G.R. Terry, defines,” Authority as the power to exact others to take actions considered

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ELEMENTS OF DELEGATIONELEMENTS OF DELEGATION

appropriate for the achievement of predetermined objective.

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Special Feature of authority: It is the legitimate right to command

and control subordinates.

Authority has social, legal and biological limits.

Authority is granted to achieve the cherished goal of the enterprise.

Authority is exercised through persuasion and sanctions.

Authority is the right to direct others to get things done.

Authority is also a commanding force binding different individuals.

Authority is delegated downward.

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RESPONSIBILITYRESPONSIBILITY It is closely related to authority and power. Responsibility is the obligation to do something. In originalisation, some responsibility is the duty that on has to perform in originalisatioal task, functions or assignments. A manager can delegate his authority but responsibility cannot be delegated.

Responsibility as defined by management authorities:“ Responsibility is the obligation of the individual to perform assigned under the direction of his executive.”

- Davis “ Responsibility may be defined as the obligation of a subordinates to whom a duty has been assigned to perform.”

-Koontz O Donnel

“ Responsibility is the obligation to carry out assignees activities to the best of his abilities.

-George R Terry

Special Features of Responsibility

Responsibility is assigned duty to human begins only.

Responsibility always flows upward from juniors to seniors.

Responsibility is the result of duty assigned. Responsibility can never be delegated. It is

personal obligation, and absolute also. The manager remains responsible to his superiors for the job even after its delegation.

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Responsibility is therefore an obligation to perform the assigned task to the better of one worth.

Delegation is aimed at reducing the workload of executive, so that they may make the best possible use of their time and energies in solving important matters, thus the manager cannot delegate all of his work. If it is done, there will be no necessity of the executive himself.

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ACCOUNTABILITY

It means holding an individual answerable for final result. The subordinates are held accountable to superiors. The subordinates has to give explanations, before hi superior for the failure in case of accountability. Accountability Arises from responsibility. The important principal of accountability, which means accountability, refers to individual not groups.

Special Feature of Accountability Accountability can neither be shared

nor delegated.

Accountability is legal responsibility.

Accountability is unitary.

Accountability relate to assigned duties.

Accountability as always from downward to upward.

Accountability is different from responsibility.

Responsibility relates to the work to be done, where as accountability is the obligation to do the work satisfactorily.

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Relationship between authority and Responsibility: Authority and responsibility go together. They are intimately related. If management is supposed to be cycle, authority and responsibility are its two wheels. In order to achieve the desired goal of the enterprise, authority and responsibility must flow together.

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Delegation is the systematic process of sharing routine duty and the corresponding authority with the subordinates.The process of delegation has the following three important elements:

Assigned Duty or task or responsibility

Granting authorities Creating of obligation or

accountability

Assigned duty or task or responsibility Responsibility refers to the task assigned to a person, position or job. Responsibility involves all those mental and physical activities, which need to be performed to carry out a certain duty. The explain of business makes it very difficult for the management to perform all the work entrusted to him effectively, therefore, he shifts a part of his routine duty to competent subordinates. The delegate’s piece of work should be complete in itself, so that the delegates may not escape from the responsibility. All the detail regarding the work delegate and the result expected should be clearly defined and explained to the delegates. The delegates should be under control of and in out contact with the original officer for the effective accomplishment of the work. The assigned duties must be ordinary, general, routine and less important from organizational point of view. The original officer should himself perform the important, secret and complicated work.

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PROCESS OF DELEGATIONPROCESS OF DELEGATION OF AUTHORITYOF AUTHORITY

The person who delegates duty is himself responsibility for it successful accomplishment to his superior, therefore, he should get the work under done under his guidance and supervision.

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Granting Authority The authority regarding the assigned duty should also be delegated otherwise the work cannot be done efficiently. Authority according to Allen is “The sum total of the power and rights entrusted to make possible the performance of work delegated.” According to Koontz O’ Donnel, ”Actually the authority vested in a managerial position is the right to use discretion, the right to create and maintain an environment for the performance of individual working together in a group.” There are the following three types of authorities:

Authority of knowledge Authority of position Legal authorities

Authority in this way is the power to incur expenses, purchase essential articles, and appoint employees, order worker to do certain work and to carry out orders. An authority, wherein in the subordinate employees cannot be compelled to do a piece of work is useless. It means that the requisite and relevant authority in accordance with the duty assigned must be delegated, whether it is authority of knowledge or position.

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Creation of Obligation or Accountability Accountability means holding an individual answerable for final result. The subordinate is held accountable to superior. Accountability originates, because the manager has a right to require an accounting for the authority delegated and task assigned to a subordinate.

Accountability, according to Allen is “The obligation to carry out responsibility and exercise authority in terms performance standard established.”Dalton E.Me Farland has put it is as “Accountability refer to the fact that each person who is given authority must recognize that the executive above him will judge the quality of his performance.”

The delegate is accountable to superior for the piece of work delegated to him. Likewise the superior will also be accountable before his superior for the entire work even if he subordinate delegated a part of it. It means delegation is the art of getting work done effectively, not escaping from accountability to superior. Accountability on the part of delegation means giving explanation of work delegated to him his superior.

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Delegation is an art by which the management multiples itself. Manager is able to get a lot of work done through employees under their command by delegating duty and authority. Delegation of authority is an art, which the manager learns by experiences and practice, even then the following principles make delegation effective

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Principle of division of work.

Principle of parity of authority & responsibility.

Principle of functioning definition.

Principle of unity of command.

Principle of absolute responsibility.

Principle of scalar chain.

Principle of authority level.

Principle of delegation by result expected.

PRINCIPES OF PRINCIPES OF DELEGATIONDELEGATION

Principles OfDelegation

Principles of division of work: The delegation of authority is based upon the elementary principal of division of work. Large scale and complex nature of business requires division of work into parts and sub parts and assigned the task to suitable employees. It requires that the manager must share its task with the subordinates and also grant the requisite authority, so that task may be performed smoothly.

Principles of parity of authority and responsibility: The delegate can be perform delegated work efficiently, if the relevant and requisite authority regarding work delegated is also granted to him. Authority should be in accordance with job and work assigned. For example, if production manager has been asked to increase production by 1000 unit per month, he should also be granted authority to purchase requisite raw material and appoint additional staff.

Principal of functional definitions: There should be a clear and define explanation of duty assigned and authority delegated to delegate, so that he may work within limits of his authority.

Principal of unity of command The delegate should receive order and instruction from the superior who has delegated authority and he should be answerable to him

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alone, other wise, disobediences, duplication of work or incomplete work will be the result.

Principal of absolute responsibility: The manager cannot escape from accountability even after delegation of authority and responsibility. He will be accountable for the failure of his superiors. The delegate will be accountable to his superior and will be required to give explanation about the job delegated to him. For example, if the teacher will be accountable to the principal and the principal in turn will be accountable to the directorate of education. The spirit of his principal is that the original officer should establish and maintain constant contact with the delegate and issue necessary instruction from time to time in case of defaults.

Principal of scalar chain: Delegation of authority and assigning of duty should be retained by higher order manager and only routine authorities should remain higher level and ordinary authorities at lower level.

Principal of delegation by result expected: The original officer must take it clear to the delegate, what result is expected from him. If subordinate knows the detail of the work entrusted

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to him and the standard of performance expected from him, he will perform his work carefully and diligently.

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Advantages and objectives of decentralisation can be enumerated as under:

Reduces workload of executive Enables prompt decision-making

Develop democratic system.

Helps in maintaining effective control over employees

Provides incentive to young executive.

Increase the morale of employees.

Develop co-ordination at different levels between work, worker, and management.

Works as a source of getting efficient executives.

Provides cordial atmosphere of work.

Enables easy specialization and diversification.

Provides better service to customers.

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IMPORATNCE / ADVANTAGE IMPORATNCE / ADVANTAGE OF OF

Difficulty in making proper co-ordination due to large number of decision- making authorities.

Limited scope –It cannot be in all sorts of work i.e., planning, accounting etc.

Delay in taking important decisions.

Complete decentralization is not possible.

Carelessness of top executive due to centralisation of work and authorities.

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DISADVANTAGES OFDISADVANTAGES OF DECENTRALISATIONDECENTRALISATION

Delegation of authority means sharing of work and corresponding authority with the subordinates, whereas decentralization is systematic delegation of authority at all level of management in all the departments. Decentralisation is rightly said to be the extension of delegation to the lower level.

Let us take an example to explain how delegated authority may be extend to decentralized authority. Suppose the General Manager himself makes all appointments in the organization. He feels over burdened and transfer authority of making routine appointments to personnel manager. It is the delegation of authority. After some time the personnel manager feels overburdened and requests the general manager to give him some relief. The manager disperses this authority to all the departmental heads throughout the organization. It becomes now the case of decentralisation.

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HOW DELEGATED AUTHORITYHOW DELEGATED AUTHORITYBE EXTENDED TOBE EXTENDED TO

DECENTRALISED AUTHORITYDECENTRALISED AUTHORITY

BAJAJ AUTOWORKS LTD.In BAJAJ AUTOWORKS LTD. company the

chairman of the company delegates a job for producing 200 bikes to the production manager of the company. Then the production manager delegates the same job to the foreman of the company, and the foreman to the workers of the company. In this way the job is delegated from the top level management to the lower level management but the authority remains with the chairman only.

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