Delegation as One of the Most Important Management Skills - Essay Example

Delegating Delegation is one of the most important management skills that are necessary to be acquired by the managers in order to execute all the activities of an organization. There is no way all the activities of supervision of the organization's activities can be executed by the manager alone, and for this case, he appoints one of their entrusted employees to see that work is done accordingly on their behalf. A successful delegation saves time, develops people, grooms a successor, and motivates. For this case, delegation is a very helpful aid for planning, personal development and seeking and encouraging promotion. Its how to grow in a job as delegations enables staff to gain experience to higher responsibilities. Delegating is a critical skill for supervisors. Ultimately, the supervisor retains responsibility for the attainment of the goals, but chooses to achieve the goals by delegating to someone else. In the Adult Training and Employment Services (ATES) at The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation there are several Managers who delegate to their employees. In supported employment the supervisor delegates to three employment specialist. The supervisor assists in developing employees in order to strengthen the organization. Although the employment specialist job role is an emerging profession, few managers can refute the importance of these direct service staff to the overall performance of their supported employment programs. The supervisor in supported employment uses the three R's: risk, responsibility, and rewards in delegating staff. The three R's contribute to staff job challenges by setting in motion a supervisory style which encourages and rewards staff creativity, innovation, and governorship of their work. A risk adds an element of excitement to a job and encourages staff curiosity and learning. Supervisors can encourage their employees to take responsibility for their jobs by establishing measurable performance goals and operating guidelines. The supervisor takes every opportunity to promote the good works of the staff and assure they receive proper recognition for a job well done. The supervisor assists in developing employees in order to strengthen the organization. He or she gives up the authority to make decisions that are best made by subordinates. This means that the supervisor allows subordinates the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. He or she does not supervise subordinates' decision-making, but allows them the opportunity to develop their own skills. The supervisor lets subordinates know that he or she is willing to help, but not willing to do their jobs for them. The supervisor is not convinced that the best way for employees to learn is by telling them how to solve a problem. This results in those subordinates becoming dependent on the supervisor. The supervisor allows employees the opportunity to achieve and be credited for it. Equally important to delegate is the idea that when a subordinate is given responsibility for a job, they must also be given the degree of how to perform the job and how to carry it out. For effective delegating the authority granted given to an employee must equal the assigned task. The key to delegating is to delegate gradually. When it comes to delegation, the manager can not delegate their duties to everyone they work with. They delegate their duties to responsible employees within the organization whom they can depend up that those duties will be attended to with a lot of professionalism. When one is delegated a certain task, he take full responsibility of performing it with diligence and ensures that they work hand in hand with other employees within the organization to ensure that organizational goals and objectives are achieved. Delegation is a term that was used even in the ancient days where someone was given full responsibility of certain activities or to run a certain activities on behalf the owner and in turn report to him, about all the activities that took place while he was away. For this case, when one delegates his duties and activities, he expect in return to be given an account of all the happening toward executing those activities according to laid down rules and regulations of the organization. So for this case, when the management delegates certain activities to some of their employees, he do not expect them to do them alone, they can as well be supervising others in executing those roles and responsibility. For this case, the delegated person with those kinds of activities is accountable to the person who delegated him the responsibility and it is him to ensure that he takes fully responsibility in the execution for failure to ensure that the duties are carried out accordingly; he is accountable for his negligence. 1 Let's take for example a large organization such as a company. The company is owned by shareholders who are the main contributors of capital, and since they cannot run the company all of them, they elect directors to run it on their behalf. So for this case, they delegate the running of the company to the directors. On the other hand, since the directors are not well trained in running an organization, they hire a chief executive officer to run the organization on their behalf. So for this case, the delegate their mandate to the chief executive officer to run the organization and ensure that the organizational goals and objectives are achieve in their absence. Since the chief executive office cannot be able to execute all activities in the firm, he in turn hires some other senior officer to assist him run the organization. For this case, he delegates the mandate he acquired from the directors to his assistance to help him run the organization. These officers in turn delegate their responsibility to other officers who will be working under them to execute some duties who will be reporting to him. For this case, they must constantly check that the duties and responsibilities are executed accordingly toward the achievement of the organizational goals and objectives, otherwise, they will be held accountable for their negligence. 2 Delegation of activities in an organization can be used effectively within the organization when the management ensures that they delegate their duties and responsibility to the right people who are well trained in the kind of work they are assigning them. In this case, they are assured that the activity will be executed in a professional way according to the laid down rules and regulations of the organization. For this case, delegation of duties and responsibility can be used as a tool to ensure that the organization goals and objectives are achieved according to the laid down rules and regulation of the organization. When certain activities are delegate to certain worker in the organization, it is done on merit and the management assigns these duties and responsibilities taking into consideration their qualification and experiences in that kind of a job. For this case, delegation can be used a tool in planning, organizing, leading within the organization and the management will rest assured that organizational goals and objectives will eventually be achieved. 3 In order to effectively be in a position to delegate, one must be in position with good management skills besides being a specialized in the area or department he delegated to manage or run. For this case, the person who delegates must be well qualified for the position he hold and must be a leader himself. Being a leader is not by qualification alone, one must possess some talents of being able to order others to do something and they follow his commands according. Another skill that is required to be in possession of someone who is in position to delegate is that the person must be well behaved thereby showing good example to others. Within an organization, the juniors tends to follow the examples of their seniors and they is no way the senior would be expecting their juniors to be well behaves if they themselves are not showing a well behaved examples to them. For effective delegation, one must be having excellent communication skills, both written and oral. With this kind of skills, one will be in a position to communicate to their juniors with confidence. The manager is also able to issue directives to his juniors that will not create confusion in their understanding. There is no way a manager can delegate his duties and responsibilities if he has a poor communication skills since he will be issuing distorted information to his junior staff. Another skill that is necessary for delegation is power to reward and punish. The manager should be in a position to reward those employees that have shown excellent performance in their duties and responsibility. The reward could take many forms like monetary value, promotion or even other fringe benefits that would be extended to them due to their hard working. On the other hand, the manager should be in a position to punish undesirable behavior in their employees since they are hindering the achievement of the organizational goals and objectives. Punishment would not only be administered when someone has shown undesirable behaviors, it can also be administered if one is not showing any sign of improving or is not hand working enough where else he or she has a lot potential to work hand. Punishment would take the form of withdrawing some fringe benefits accorded to them, fines or even withholding their promotion until they show sign or improving the services they render to the company. 4 For effective delegation also, the management should also be able to plan their activities and foresee the future of the company. For this case, they need to perform a feasibility study for them to come up with an idea, what brings about success in other well performing companies so that they can implement them in their organization. Success of an organization solely depends on delegation and if it not accorded the first priority by the management, then the achievement of the organizational goals and objectives will be in question. References Dale, M. (2001): The Art of HRD: Developing Management Skills , Vol. 3, New Delhi, Crest Publishing House Maund, L. (2001): An Introduction to Human to Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Palgrave: Macmillan Sparrow, P. and Hilltop, J. (1994): European Human Resource Management in Transition: New York: Prentice Hall Read More