Principles of delegation

Principles of delegation
See also
Lewin, Lippitt and White - basic styles of management Delegation of authority Management functions Formalization Bureaucratic leadership Management by objectives steps Front line management Management by delegation Achievement oriented leadership

Delegation of authority is described as the basic stage in management, necessary to develop of an efficient organization. It can be defined as the handing of power to others in organization which are hierarchical in nature and authority in them is delegated downwards from senior management do middle management and ordinary employees. Authority is delegated not to a specific person but to a position or role within an organization. The distribution of tasks allows managers to offload supervisors from repetitive simple work and create climate of trust in organization. On the other hand, it can led to the unnecessary bureaucracy.

Principles of delegation

Fig.1. The principles of delegation

Efficient transmission of a task or responsibility to specific employees, along with resources needed to perform desirable action requires following of several rules or principles of efficient delegation:

• delegation should be associated with the provision of the resources, support and care to employees along with tools needed to achieve objectives, and not only from the formal scheduling of tasks and results
• effective delegation requires formalization of tasks and responsibilities and good organizational structure (Principle of functional clarity)
• not every employee is ready to take the responsibility and perform the delegated task (Principle of delegation according to ability)
• employees should report only to the manager who delegated the tasks to avoid conflicts and problem with communication (Principle of unity of command)
• goal and results expected from delegated task should be clearly defined, standards of performance should be communicated to the employees (Principle of communication)
• tasks with smaller weight, routine but urgent should be delegated in the first place, similar tasks should be grouped and delegated as a group do whole department or team
• decision-making process should be performed at the level of units performing the delegated tasks to avoid time consuming consultations and communication between employee and manager (Authority level principle)
• only exceptions from delegated tasks and its results should be reported to the higher ups, managers should not be bothered with typical situations and problems which should be dealt with by employee (Principle of exception)
• strategic tasks of the great consequences for the company, activities at high risk or sensitive in nature should not be delegated (Principle of limits of delegation)
• degree of authority delegated to an individual employee should be adequate to assure their ability to accomplish the results expected of them (Principle of delegation by results expected)
• only manager who delegates the task is finally responsible for the final results delivered by the subordinates doing the task (Principle of absolute responsibility)
• degree of authority that is delegated to the task (assignment) has to be proportional to the level of responsibility (obligation to accomplish it) of employees or managers (Principle of parity of authority and responsibility)
• managers should trust the employees but at the same time should control the results and efficiency of operations (Principle of control)

References

• Moffett, J. D., & Sloman, M. S. (1991). Delegation of authority. Integrated Network Management II, 595-606.
• Tammens, E. (2012). Delegation of authority.
• Riyanto, Y. (2000). Essays on the internal and external delegation of authority in firms.
• Aghion, P., & Tirole, J. (1997). Formal and real authority in organizations. Journal of political economy, 1-29.
• Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., & Holthuis, N. (1995). Talking and working together. In Restructuring Schools (p. 157-174). Springer US.