Delegation Paper

Delegation is the handing of a task over to another person, usually a subordinate. Delegation is the assignment of authority and responsibility to another person to carry out specific activities and allows a subordinate to make decisions. For example, delegation is a shift of decision-making authority from one organizational level to a lower one (Wikipedia, 2006).

Responsibility, authority and accountability are three key factors when delegating work. Responsibility means that a person is assigned a task that he or she is supposed to carry out. When delegating work responsibilities, the manager also should delegate to the subordinate enough authority to get the job done. Authority, recall, means that the person has the power and the right to make decisions, give orders, draw upon resources and do whatever else is necessary to fulfill the responsibility. As a manager delegates responsibilities, subordinates are held accountable for achieving results. Accountability means that the subordinate's manager has the right to expect the subordinate to perform the job, and the right to take corrective action if the subordinate fails to do so. Ultimately, the responsibility remains with the manager for the actions of their subordinates as well as for themselves (Bateman & Snell, 2004).

One would think that the delegation of responsibilities would be one of the more important factors in order for management to be successful in their own jobs as well as their employees, but in the organization that one is employed, upper management lacks good delegation techniques. For example one's supervisor delegates job responsibilities not to develop or motivate the individual but uses one's delegation authority on the factor that he or she does not want to do that particular job because of either the lack of job knowledge or just sheer laziness. The supervisor that abuses such delegation authority causes frustration, confusion and demotivation in the employees. This in turn leads to poor performance on the employee's part and loss of morale within and for the company. This will lead to low productivity and the possibility of higher pay-outs for sick leave pay.

For the other managers within the organization, one can only assume that he or she delegates properly by what is told to oneself. The only true way to find the truth would be to survey these manager's subordinates but then again, one would be jeopardizing one's rapport with other managers.

Any organization can benefit very much in following the four functions of management because these four functions is a strategic plan and goal for an organization to be successful. Planning is where the initial process comes into play to assist the organization in brainstorming ideas to determine and achieve the organization's goals. The head of the organization delegates to executive managers to brainstorm to produce ideas and thoughts. When the planning is accomplished, thoughts are written onto paper and discussed or debated with the head of the organization and management staff. A meeting is held to decipher if the thoughts are realistic and if those thoughts can be implemented within the organization.

Next comes the part of organizing to coordinate and assemble all the resources needed to achieve the goal. This is where the head of the organization gathers the resources from the planning process and assigns each department head the specific task that is associated with their department.