Framework AAR - Delegation of Power

Authority Accountability & Responsibility: Delegation of Power
Authority Accountability &

Responsibility : Delegation of Power
Version: 1.0
Shaveta Arora
14th November 2004
Management
Development Institute
© Shaveta Arora (PG-HR-2006), 2004

Table of Contents
Table of Contents i
1 Executive Summary 1
2 Introduction 2
2.1 Traditional Conceptions for Delegation 3
2.2 Delegation & Empowerment 3
2.3 Difference between various practices 4
2.4 AAR: Aspects of Delegation 9
3 Deciding to Delegate 12
4 Barriers in Effective Delegation 13
4.1 ”I Can Do It Better Myself” 13
4.2 Inability to give Instructions 13
4.3 Bias 13
4.4 Poor Controls and Follow-Up 13
4.5 Fear of Being Shown-Up 13
4.6 Uncertainty of Authority 14
4.7 The Guilt Drive 14
4.8 Unwillingness or Give-Up Activities 14
4.9 Impatience 14
5 Components of Delegation 16
5.1 Goal Setting 16
5.2 Communication 16
5.3 Motivation 16
5.4 Supervision 16
5.5 Evaluation 16
6 Case Study: NWT Health and Social Services System’s Accountability Framework, Ottawa,
Canada 17
7 Conclusion 21
8 References 22
CONFIDENTIAL
Version: 1.0 Prepared by Shaveta Arora for MDI
14thNovember, 2004 i
1 Executive Summary
Managers have many jobs and duties that ask for skills like planning,
goal execution, employee coaching, counselling, supervision etc. A
manager’s prime goal unarguably remains to be – maximizing
productivity and efficiency. A manager needs to recognise that this
cannot be done by himself or herself alone. They are given the task of
devising & implementing ways to make things run smoothly.
In this pursuit, delegation is the most powerful and of course, a

necessary tool to achieve the above mentioned objective of
management. There are barriers to effective delegation and also
presence of risks like dilution of manager’s authority etc, cannot be
denied, which come with delegation. Amidst all these, the managers
who delegate effectively know its power and usefulness as one of the
most effective tools of management.
This document outlines various concepts of delegation, effective

delegation skills, barriers to delegation and ways to address them. The
purpose is to demonstrate use of delegation to a manager’s advantage
leading to managerial effectiveness.
CONFIDENTIAL
14th November 2004 Page 1
2 Introduction
CONFIDENTIAL
Delegation is a powerful tool which can improve system’s performance
by many folds, but only when deployed properly. There are prevailing
false notions that shroud delegation in negative connotation. Let us first
understand the traditional conceptions of delegation and then arrive at
logical definitions.
2.1 Traditional Conceptions for Delegation
Andrew Schwartz (1, 1995) has listed some of the traditional

misconceptions hindering effectiveness of delegation:-
 Distrust of Employees – This becomes a barrier when manager

carries a feeling that his or her staff is not capable of handling a
task on the table for delegation.
 Reluctance to share power – Some managers believe that

confusion gets a room to play, when power is with more than one
member of the team.
 Misunderstanding of delegation – There are managers who

thinks that delegation is a time consuming task and may severely
impact the timelines of the task.
 Fear of delegation – Many surveys have shown that there are

managers who deem delegation as a high risk proposition, a
mindset which inhibits them to go for delegation.
 Overly detail-oriented – Some has the disposition to be involved

in every step of the task, which blindfolds them towards the need &
benefits of delegation.
 My Way Only – Some tyrannies believe that their way of doing is

always best and has to be followed at all times with no exceptions.
 Perfectionism – We can hear some managers saying, “It won’t be

done right if it is done by my employees”.
2.2 Delegation & Empowerment
 Delegation – According to Schwartz (1, 1995), Delegation is a

broad framework encompassing aspects like authority,
accountability, responsibility etc. It is the entrusting of a specific
task or project by one individual to another. It is worth noting here
that delegation is usually a temporary procedure, unlike
Empowerment. Although it is very much possible for a delegated
task to evolve into permanent duty for an employee. The direction
of delegation deserves further clarification here, Delegation can
occur in any direction within an organization –
o Lateral: From a manager to another.
o Upward: A staff member to a manager.
CONFIDENTIAL
o Downward: From a manager to a staff member.
 Empowerment – A manager or leader (similar in this context ) is

responsible for bringing a group of people together , creating a
common vision and , most important, convincing, persuading,
motivating , even coercing them to peak performance. Patricia
Wilson (2, 1996) describes empowerment as a tool for apparently
the same purpose as the delegation serves. According to her,
To ‘empower’ means to enable, allow or permit. Empowerment can

be either self initiated or initiated by others. There are two aspects
to organizational empowerment:
1. Building, developing and increasing power through co-operation,

sharing and working together;
2. Making a commitment to common goals, taking risks and

demonstrating initiative and creativity.
Empowerment encourages employees to participate actively in the

decision making process. It allows them to achieve recognition,
involvement and a sense of worth in their jobs, thus improving job
satisfaction and morale.
2.3 Difference between various practices
Abraham Sagie and Meni Koslowsky (3, 2000) have differentiated

prevailing practices in a following way:
CONFIDENTIAL
Practice Phase The Subordinate(s) Group
Superior Size
Direction - Makes Perform One/

decisions Many
PDM* - Makes Make decisions One/

decisions jointly Many
jointly
Delegation 1 Gives Accept One/

temporary temporary Many
authority authority
Delegation 2 - Make decisions One/

and perform Many
them
Empower- 1 Gives Accept One/

ment continuous continuous Many
authority authority
Empower- 2 - Make decisions One/

ment and perform Many
them
Self- 1 Gives Accept Many

managing continuous continuous
team authority authority
CONFIDENTIAL
Self- 2 - Manage Many
managing themselves,
team make decisions,
and perform
them
CONFIDENTIAL
We can see from the following exhibit how Delegation differs from
PDM* in the context of various variables mentioned below:
CONFIDENTIAL
Category Variable PDM* Delegation
Supervisory/ Decision High Low

work variables Importance
Supervisory/ Supervisor Low High

work variables workload
Subordinate Job capability Lower Higher

characteristics
Subordinate Trustworthiness Lower Higher

characteristics
Subordinate Job experience Lower Higher

characteristics
Subordinate Age Younger Older

characteristics
CONFIDENTIAL
Subordinate Sex Women Men
characteristics
* Participative Decision Making (PDM)
2.4 AAR: Aspects of Delegation
 Authority – According to Steinmetz (4, 1976),
Authority is whatever influence one possesses, at any instant, that

will cause someone else to do what the authoritative individual
wants that someone to do, at that time.
This definition makes it clearly evident that authority can be

derived from many sources. Following is a partial list of the sources
from where authority comes:
o Authority of position
o Authority of competence
o Authority of personality
o Authority of character
(For the sake of brevity & maintaining scope, the paper does not
intend to go into details of all these.) Some would disagree on
whether authority can be delegated; it can be transferred for the
delegated project within a limited context. Sufficient authority
should be transferred to the delegates to enable them to command
the resources necessary to assure that results meet the delegator’s
objectives and schedule, even this means expanding the
delegatees’ authority during the given task.
 Responsibility – Responsibility consists of the obligation to

undertake specific duty or task within the organization. It can be
assigned or assumed, but the point of concern is when it is placed
upon a person. When a person is made responsible for getting out
a report, putting together a budget, developing a policy, or coming
up with a plan, the boss who made that subordinate responsible for
that task, has in essence, delegated or assigned the task to the
subordinate. Unless a person has the authority to do something, he
could not be held responsible for that. It must be recognised that
the notion of authority & responsibility are co-extensive. However,
assuming the mechanical , physical capacity for doing the job,
those who have work assigned for them , are made responsible for
doing that.
CONFIDENTIAL
Contrary to what many managers believe, the delegator retains
ultimate responsibility for the successful completion of a task.
Managers have final control over the situation, supervising it as
you see fit. The delegate, however, is responsible for meeting
specific, intermediate goals of the project.
 Accountability – Franklin G Moore once said “, Telling people to

do certain things and having them do it are two different things.”
Delegatees should be held accountable for the established goals
and must understand how their performance will be judged.
Progress reports and evaluations are useful here. Employees should
understand that their judgements, methods, and mistakes will be
evaluated, and that they can and will be replaced if their
performance is unsatisfactory. But a caveat here, within these
guidelines, manager should encourage creativity, cleverness and
originality when he or she delegates.
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
3 Deciding to Delegate
The key question one has to ask before delegating power is that
weather the task should be retained or delegated. We can understand
this concept from the old idea carrying load. Doing work is like people
carrying some loads on them. There are some things that people not
only can, but also should carry upon themselves. They might not be
ready or willing to carry the loads, but they need to do it anyway,
because it is their responsibility and the most effective action to take.
Then there is some type of work which people just can’t handle by
themselves. This is the load which one person can not bear alone. This
extra load can be called as Burden. People can’t do these tasks alone,
and it is not fair or reasonable to ask them to carry this burden. They
need assistance to carry this extra burden. So we need to understand
that is the given work a load or a burden on the other. The burden
needs to be acquired, and distributed, delegated evenly to make it sure
that no person is carrying a burden but only carrying his own load.
More clarity can be sought from Schwartz, Andrew E (1, 1995). Once
this difference between load and burden is clear, then the next
important point is to ask what tasks to delegate and to whom to
delegate. One must ask these important questions before delegating:
1. Is anyone better equipped than I am to lead this effort or make

this decision?
2. Is the risk of harm to the organization small or at least

reasonable acceptable?
3. Is this an opportunity for one or more people to advance

significantly in skills, knowledge or wisdom?
4. Is my reticence more related to personal feelings of diminishment

or insecurity than to actual concerns about the effort?
5. Do others have more time and interest than I do in the nuances

of this decision?
6. Will morale be significantly improved by power sharing?
7. Is power sharing likely to produce new ideas, perspectives or

solutions?
8. Is power sharing more likely to get a response of gratitude than

resentment?
9. Am I sure that I am not just dumping confusion, unsolvable

problems, or no-win situations into others?
CONFIDENTIAL
4 Barriers in Effective Delegation
4.1 ”I Can Do It Better Myself”
This is one of the most psychological reasons why direct supervisors

sometimes fail to assign work to their subordinates. Sometimes the
supervisor can do the job better but more often, s/he cannot. But even
if the supervisor can do it better, the time spent by him on a job which
could be done by one of his subordinates, while it is productive, means
that an equivalent amount of supervision or management time has
been lost to the company.
4.2 Inability to give Instructions
The supervisor could fail to make an effective job assignment because

s/he may not: (1) be able to give orders effectively or (2) have a clear
understanding of what s/he needs to have done. This could be because
of the fear in the supervisor that the subordinate will (1) think the
supervisor is lazy for not doing the work himself: (2) think that the
supervisor is trying to get out of doing a dirty job; or (3) reject the
supervisor, openly or covertly. Or it may be that the supervisor has a
handicap, such as speech impediment or difficulty in writing or a
serious lack of facility with words. Or s/he may be overaggressive in
speech and manner.
The supervisor must assess what the difficulties are, by checking

oneself out with someone on the same or higher level in the
organization. So, any supervisor who feels that the people don’t
understand what s/he wants done should examine just how precisely
and accurately s/he is defining performance expectations for the
subordinates in terms of quality, quantity, and timeliness or scheduling.
4.3 Bias
Many supervisors, particularly at the direct line level, often fails at

effectively utilizing the human resources available to them because of
bias or bigotry. The prejudice could be because of race, sex, nationality
etc. But all what should matter to the supervisor is whether the
subordinate be able to do the job.
4.4 Poor Controls and Follow-Up
The supervisor must have good control over the work and insist that
the subordinates follow certain minimum standard procedures. Or he
himself should design such a system because just doubting whether he
would be able to get the job well done, he’ll be putting himself in a
position of an incompetent delegator.
4.5 Fear of Being Shown-Up
CONFIDENTIAL
Any supervisor who is reluctant to delegate work to a subordinate
through a fear that the he’ll outshine her not only does not
demonstrate good managerial judgement, but also probably should not
even consider being a boss for long.
4.6 Uncertainty of Authority
Many supervisors fail to delegate work because they’re not sure that
they’ve the authority to make such assignments. Supervisors who
argue that they don’t have the authority to assign certain jobs to
certain individuals are shying away from their responsibilities.
4.7 The Guilt Drive
Supervisors sometimes don’t want to delegate work because they feel

guilty about not having anything to do themselves. But the supervisor’s
main work is to manage the people and resources and not doing the job
which a subordinate could do. Some people have a paranoid concern
about being busy; other people understand that if they’re to be
effective as managers, they will continuously be engaging in managerial
functions. Good supervisors always have something to do—planning the
next operation or evaluating the last one. Thus the supervisor who
fears that assigning work to a subordinate will leave her with nothing to
do when the boss is around, is really making self-excuses
demonstrating her insecurity as a manager.
4.8 Unwillingness or Give-Up Activities
Some supervisors are unwilling to delegate that work which they

personally enjoy doing. So, when she can’t enjoy seeing others “do”
things. She may not be able to prepare effective work assignments.
4.9 Impatience
A sense of urgency makes some supervisors do most of the work

themselves so as to accomplishing the task early. These people are
poor delegators of work because they are unwilling to accept that the
fact that getting work done takes time.
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
5 Components of Delegation
Delegation can be thought of as a process that consists of five basic
components -
5.1 Goal Setting
A manager must work with the delegate to determine the expectations

and goals that a manager can realistically set. Specifying concrete,
measurable goals and objectives that can be evaluated, is the key.
Unclear, vague goals increase the likelihood of failure. Most
importantly, put the goals in writing so that there can be no
misunderstanding. As a person clarifies what he wants in his important
relationships- a manager should do the same in his delegation
relationships.
5.2 Communication
Communication is the foundation of proper delegation. Manager needs

to give feedback to staff during delegation process. Keeping in mind the
fact that delegation is a two way communication between the delegator
and delegate. In delegation activities, manager should learn and
practice the principles of two way communication.
5.3 Motivation
Difficult or uninteresting delegated tasks sometimes require from

manager for taking measures to motivate the delegate to achieve
predetermined goals. The process of motivating employees must take
into account special considerations unique to the delegation project.
Also it will interesting to mention here that delegation also can be
motivating.
5.4 Supervision
Although delegation is designed to lighten manager’s load, but he still

needs to supervise the delegate during the process. Supervising a
delegation, however, is a delicate and tricky endeavour. Normal
supervision procedures must be modified to meet the special
circumstances of a delegation project.
5.5 Evaluation
Delegation is not a quick one step process; progress reports and

evaluations are integral parts. Manager must review the extent to
which goals were met, the operation of the process, and how the
process could be improved. Managers need to use evaluations to set
goals, communicate, supervise and motivate. Evaluations are another
means by which, to strengthen manager’s relationship with the
delegatee.
CONFIDENTIAL
6 Case Study: NWT Health and Social
Services System’s Accountability Framework, Ottawa,
Canada
While Accountability and responsibility are related to each other, they
are not the same. Responsibility carries an obligation to take action;
accountability carries an obligation to report the results of taking
action. These models were successfully implemented as “The
Accountability Framework” of National Health & Social Services System,
Canada. This framework manages the delegation of responsibility
throughout the system, and manages the accountability for results from
those responsible for providing health and social services. For more
information see reference 8.5.
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
7 Conclusion
After going through various view points about delegation, we can
conclude that delegation is not a simple skill. However with
 Planning
 Persistence
 Practice
One can reap the full benefits of delegation. Delegation not only
bolsters productivity, it also enhances job satisfaction, teamwork, and
employee’s skills. Effective delegation results in tasks being completed
by the most appropriate person and in the most efficient manner
possible.
The way work responsibility is assigned varies with the different levels
in the organization and according to the need of the work being
supervised; the behavioural principles required for success in
delegation are the same at all levels. Unfortunately people expect
different things from different individuals, at different levels in the
organization; requirements for success as an executive are different
from the requirements for success as highly competent technician.
Whatever the nature of the individual supervisors’ delegation skills, one
thing must be made very clear; in plying the skill of delegation, the
individual must know what her/his own aspirations are in respect to
getting results through other people.
CONFIDENTIAL
8 References
The following references were used in the study and the author has
tried to mention at relevant places about the same in the document.
 Schwartz, Andrew. Delegating Authority. London:

Cassell, 1994
 Wilson, Patricia. Empowering the Self-Directed

Team. Hampshire: Gower, 1994
 Sagie Abraham & Koslowsky Meni. Participation

and Empowerment Organization: Modelling,
effectiveness, and Applications. California: Sage, 2000
 Steinmetz L. Lawrence. The Art and Skill of

Delegation Philippines: Addison Wesley, 1976
 Various Authors. Accountability Framework.

http://www.hlthss.gov.nt.ca/content/Publications/Rep
orts/healthcare/AccountabilityFrameworkJan2003.pdf.
Ottawa: NWT Health and Social Services System, 2003
 Various Authors.
http://www.aresearchguide.com/. Internet: NA, 2003
CONFIDENTIAL

Framework AAR - Delegation of Power

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originalbeschreibung:

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Framework AAR - Delegation of Power

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Authority Accountability & Responsibility: Delegation of Power

Authority Accountability &

© Shaveta Arora (PG-HR-2006), 2004

In this pursuit, delegation is the most powerful and of course, a

This document outlines various concepts of delegation, effective

2.1 Traditional Conceptions for Delegation

Andrew Schwartz (1, 1995) has listed some of the traditional

 Distrust of Employees – This becomes a barrier when manager

 Reluctance to share power – Some managers believe that

 Misunderstanding of delegation – There are managers who

 Fear of delegation – Many surveys have shown that there are

 Overly detail-oriented – Some has the disposition to be involved

 My Way Only – Some tyrannies believe that their way of doing is

 Perfectionism – We can hear some managers saying, “It won’t be

2.2 Delegation & Empowerment

 Delegation – According to Schwartz (1, 1995), Delegation is a

o Lateral: From a manager to another.

o Upward: A staff member to a manager.

 Empowerment – A manager or leader (similar in this context ) is

To ‘empower’ means to enable, allow or permit. Empowerment can

1. Building, developing and increasing power through co-operation,

2. Making a commitment to common goals, taking risks and

Empowerment encourages employees to participate actively in the

2.3 Difference between various practices

Abraham Sagie and Meni Koslowsky (3, 2000) have differentiated

Direction - Makes Perform One/

PDM* - Makes Make decisions One/

Delegation 1 Gives Accept One/

Delegation 2 - Make decisions One/

Empower- 1 Gives Accept One/

Empower- 2 - Make decisions One/

Self- 1 Gives Accept Many

Supervisory/ Decision High Low

Supervisory/ Supervisor Low High

Subordinate Job capability Lower Higher

Subordinate Trustworthiness Lower Higher

Subordinate Job experience Lower Higher

Subordinate Age Younger Older

* Participative Decision Making (PDM)

2.4 AAR: Aspects of Delegation

 Authority – According to Steinmetz (4, 1976),

Authority is whatever influence one possesses, at any instant, that

This definition makes it clearly evident that authority can be

 Responsibility – Responsibility consists of the obligation to

 Accountability – Franklin G Moore once said “, Telling people to

1. Is anyone better equipped than I am to lead this effort or make

2. Is the risk of harm to the organization small or at least

3. Is this an opportunity for one or more people to advance

4. Is my reticence more related to personal feelings of diminishment

5. Do others have more time and interest than I do in the nuances

6. Will morale be significantly improved by power sharing?

7. Is power sharing likely to produce new ideas, perspectives or

8. Is power sharing more likely to get a response of gratitude than

9. Am I sure that I am not just dumping confusion, unsolvable

This is one of the most psychological reasons why direct supervisors

4.2 Inability to give Instructions

The supervisor could fail to make an effective job assignment because

The supervisor must assess what the difficulties are, by checking

Many supervisors, particularly at the direct line level, often fails at

4.4 Poor Controls and Follow-Up

4.5 Fear of Being Shown-Up

4.6 Uncertainty of Authority

4.7 The Guilt Drive