Delegation How managers in an organization delegate as part of their management responsibilities

Delegation results in more competent managers. It is not feasible to organize all the responsibilities of the department directly by the manager. With a view to achieving the objectives of the organization it is quite necessary to concentrate on its goals and to see that all the works are performed skillfully, that entails the delegation of the powers by the managers. The powers of the managers here signify to the legal influence of the managers within the vicinity of their positions to steer the junior staffs in desired directions. With the increase in scale, such authority of the managers or a fraction thereof is delegated and utilized in the name of the manager. Delegation in general refers to downward flow of powers from higher authority to lower ones. The delegation vests the employees with necessary authorities to act on behalf of the managers, where as the ultimate liability for the results rests with the managers. (Allen, 1998)

The delegation thus entails inter-personal relationship necessitating confidence, obligation and agreement between the manager and the employee. The process of delegation involves five phases viz. preparing, planning, discussing, auditing and appreciating. The first phase - preparation involves the sorting out of the authority whether to be delegated or not. This involves identification of the authorities that can suitably be delegated to the subordinates if seen to be performed by them better. Besides the tasks providing better know-how to the subordinates needs to be delegated. The tasks that involve low risks for the performance of the jobs of the managers need to be delegated. The managers often delegate the task if those are not liked by them to be performed. However, manager should not resort to delegation of such authorities that entails the breach of confidence.

The first phase of the delegation preparing thus involves confirmation of the objectives of the delegation, specification of the jobs necessary to be performed and identifying the persons suitable for its performance. Planning refers to the conference with the selected subordinates to make them understand about the task and to ask them to work out a necessary plan of action. Andrew Carnegie once observed that the underlying fact for the success is in not doing one's own work but in recognition of the suitable personnel for its performance. Confidence of the managers and employees in fulfilling the commitment is considered to be vital. The next stage Discussing involves appraisal of the goals of the tasks vis-a-vis the action plan formulated by the subordinates, various inherent impediments and the methods to address such impediments. (Allen, 1998)

The managers need to explain and hear the feed back of the employees ensuring better understanding of the employees. The elucidations for the delegation involve the desired objectives, detailed procedures, availability of the resources and consequences etc. Delegation thus involves agreement between the manager and employee delineating the detailed procedures for the completion of the work. The desired standards and time limits are settled down. The employee is required to be aware of the expectations of the managers of their skills and the mode evaluation of their performance. Auditing involves securitization of the progress of the delegation and making adjustments in response to unforeseen problems. Appreciating is approval of the accomplished tasks and recognizing the efforts of the subordinates. (Allen, 1998)

How delegation could be used more effectively in planning, organization, leading, or controlling within the organization.

Efficient delegation is considered to be an important instrument which some of the managers are not confident enough in using it. This however, is attributed to the lack of necessary experience more particularly in case of new managers, hesitations in transferring the work that one personally enjoys performing, and the stigmatized attachment to the conventional principle, 'If you want something done right, do-it-yourself'. (Smith, 2002)) Effective delegations entail various immediate advantages for managers and the entire organization. This enables the managers for effective resource mobilization and accomplishes better results than they could have alone. With distribution of the responsibilities managers can concentrate on the important task effectively in stead of handing several less important jobs inefficiently. Consequently, there is an enhancement in their management and leadership potential at the same time increasing the skill of other subordinates to succeed them. (Tgazda, 2002)

The delegation makes the managers possible to achieve more jobs than they could have done by themselves and it also assists the organization by developing people that know how to address the situations as they contemplate....

Management refers to making the people do the work rather than doing them by their own. With effective delegation the managers could make the subordinates understand that the managers really have confidence on them. This will encourage them to enhance their skills and develop experience so as to enhance the productive dependency of organization and managers on them. By maintaining their high standards and insisting upon taking the new challenges they by the way attain new skills of defining the problems correctly and develop appropriately. Effective delegation by infusing the underlying principles of the division of labor reduces the time consumed by the subordinates. By allowing them to bring out the solutions rather than problems the subordinates now have adequate time to think to plan and to do and one and ones team will be able to accomplish more. (Delegating Responsibility (Part One of Two))
Thus for the organization as a whole the delegation enhances productivity and releases new lines of communication. It infuses the sense of responsibility on the subordinates and allows them to speak up and suggest new ideas to improve the work process. It enhances the quality of decision-making that allows the organization to become more responsive -- the quality essential to compete in the contemporary market. (Tgazda, 2002) One of the main apprehensions that arouse fear among the managers is that by delegating authorities the manager loses control. However, this is not considered true. If the manager imparts training to the subordinates for accomplishing the job in the way he himself would have done, then they will be exercising control. And since they are prone to face many more similar incidents exemplifying the exertion of control then the control is seen to be exerted more diversely and more quickly than the manager himself thinks of exercising. Technically speaking, when maintenance of control is considered truly a matter of concern then the manager needs to allocate the control mechanisms so as to enable corresponding and autonomous processing. (The Art of Delegation)

What skills are necessary for effective delegation?

Delegation of the jobs effectively to the employees needs to be one of the most critical but most advantageous jobs of a good manager. (Business leadership skills: delegating tasks effectively to your employees) Delegation of authorities is considered to be a challenging skill of managers. (Delegating to Employees) Delegation is considered crucial skill in case of managers since it not only facilitates the performance of the jobs but also helpful in sticking to the schedules and produce the desired deliverable. It is also important for effective and resourceful leadership. (Delegate: It's Easier than you think (2003) This is considered to be an effective means of assisting the people for future leadership roles and providing some free time for concentrating on other important tasks. (Delegating Responsibility)

Distribution of responsibilities as a result of the delegation makes people interested and enthusiastic and creates a sense of involvement which does not seem to be obtainable by any other means. (Delegating Responsibility) Delegation necessitates confidence. Thus understanding the employees comprehensively makes it easier to trust them and delegate tasks. In case the manager do not understand the employees fully, then it is necessary to quickly grasp about the magnitude of their dependency and one of the most effective means of determining this is by delegating the authority to them. Delegation is also considered as an effective instrument of the development employees since the employees gain insight and experience into tasks previously completed by management. (Business leadership skills: delegating tasks effectively to your employees)

Delegation also involves working in collaboration with the employees to establish goals, bestowing them with sufficient authority and responsibility to attain the goals more often giving them substantial freedom in deciding how the goals will be attained remaining available as a resource to assist them achieve the goals, evaluating their performance issues and rewarding their performance. The ultimate responsibility of the manager in attainment of goals rests with the manager; however, he chooses to attain the goals by delegating the same to somebody else. Delegation sometimes becomes critical for novice managers to adopt since they involve transfer of control or struggle to have confidence in the abilities of others. However, the managers that is competent enough to effectively delegate finds a great deal of time for concentration on other issues, assist their subordinates in developing expertise skills and also develop their own leadership skills those are considered to be crucial for solving of problems, achievement of goals and learning. (Delegating to Employees)

The personal approaches in delegation by managers…