Patricia Miller

Management: Theory, Practice, and Application

Charmaine Perkins

Houston Campus

January 12, 2006

Delegation Paper In today’s world there are many companies that strive and become very successful and profitable. In order for any business to establish themselves and have a great tenure they must adhere to not only factors but also delegation. Today, more than ever, managers must learn to use their time effectively. As a manager, you have a multitude of responsibilities. A situation made more difficult by an environment that emphasizes change, rapid responses times, and thinking “outside of the box.” There never seems to be enough time to get it all done. If, however, you are going to have an impact, you must take control of your time and not vice versa. If you try to do it all yourself, this will never happen. You can control your time by arriving earlier, using detailed planners and schedules, or “blocking off time” to focus on special projects. You might also try prioritizing tasks or using an elaborate filing system. All of these approaches will help, but you will never maximize your effectiveness unless you learn to delegate effectively. Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, says that “effectively delegating to others is perhaps the single most powerful high-leverage activity there is.” Certainly in today’s business environment, effective delegation will help you achieve your fullest potential (as well help develop those people around you). To delegate, according to Webster, is to entrust to another, to appoint as one’s representative and to assign responsibility or authority. While the dictionary definition is sound, it seems to focus on delegation as lone, isolated event. It is more helpful to think of delegation as a process that involves a multitude of steps when done correctly. So, for our purposes, we will define delegation as assigning to others specific tasks and responsibilities along with the authority to complete those tasks or handle those responsibilities, with mutually agreed-upon methods for evaluating the completed work. Delegation has four basic benefits if done appropriately: 1) Saves time. Managers have enough to do without trying to get it all done by themselves. First and foremost, a manager’s job is to get things done through other people. A primary vehicle to accomplish this is the art of delegation. 2) Develops people. Delegating new tasks or responsibilities enhances the “benchstrength” on your team. 3) Strengthens the team. Trust between you and your associates is the foundation for all interaction. Delegation shows that you trust your associates who, in turn, demonstrate their trustworthiness. 4). Strengthens the organization. Delegation requires that you know your people well. It also brings out new ideas and creativity by asking each person to reach their fullest potential. The major hurdle in learning to delegate more effectively is dealing with the barriers. Only by recognizing and understanding these barriers can you learn to overcome them? The primary barrier, from which most of the others evolve, is the effort to resist the process of delegating tasks. The so called mental barrier. Behavioral scientists will tell us that resistance focuses either on issues of control or vulnerability. Delegating tasks and responsibilities may threaten both. You may feel a loss of control when you delegate a project and cannot monitor its progress during every stage. You may fee vulnerable if the tasks that you delegate can be done by your people with relative ease after all, why would the company need you around if your work can be delegated to your people? Successful delegators must overcome the fear associated with “letting go”. When you withhold delegation because you lack confidence in your employees, you also deny them the very opportunity they need to perform the tasks that would build their confidence. This attitude may become a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” Lack of experience is a serious barrier to delegation especially for the manager who sincerely wants to delegate tasks and responsibilities. Although time consuming as the first, you should focus on the opportunities to enhance your employees’ skills by using delegation. Patience is a requirement! As your employees assume more responsibility, the overall capability level will rise and you will have time to devote to other, more proactive, activities. If your employees try to avoid the additional responsibility of a delegated task or project, you need to find out why. Generally, there are three reasons: 1) Fear of Risk or Punishment. Some fear taking the risk associated with a delegated task because they have been punished for taking risks or making mistakes in the past. 2) Work Overload. Some may not want to worsen an already gloomy picture in terms of the amount of work they are asked to perform. 3) No Reward Expected. If risk-takers and those who seek responsibility have not been rewarded in the past, some may see no advantage in pursuing it now. The key to overcoming these barriers is to establish an environment of open, honest communication and to build confidence and trust slowly. J. Sterling Livingston of the Harvard Business School describes the “Pygmalion Effect” in this way: What a manager expects of a person and how s/he treats the person will profoundly influences the person’s performance and career progress. What’s critical in communicating expectations is not so much what is said, but what id actually done. Indifference and non committal treatment communicates low expectations and leads to inferior performance. Superior managers create high performance expectations that people can fulfill. People will not strive for high productivity unless they consider the boss’s high expectations realistic and achievable. If they are pushed to strive for unattainable goals, they eventually give up trying. Frustrated, they settle for lesser performance. Managers who desire to delegate effectively must remember that expectations need to be shared in order to obtain commitment, and that expectations must be realistic, obtainable, and challenging at the same time. The importance of self-esteem is that when a person’s self-esteem is threatened, s/he becomes distressed. This distress acts as a barrier to delegation because the employee is reluctant to accept more responsibility. People with strong self-esteem are motivated to accomplish their goals. In the movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams plays a literature teacher at a boy’s prep school in New England. He’s unconventional, but inspires his students. He pushes them to reach out and experience the world around them. “Carpe Diem!” he urges, which translates literally as “Seize the Day.” He asks them to take advantage of opportunity whenever it presents itself, because the opportunity may never come again. Delegation is a powerful tool to develop your employees and increase your value to the organization. Seizing opportunities is important. Better yet, create opportunities. Look for ways to enhance your delegation skills. Look for ways to develop your employees. The entire organization will benefit as will you! References

Unknown, 1. (2006). Effective Delegation:: Retrieved January 11, 2006 from:http://www.extension.iastate.edu/fnp/info/delegationart.html