EFFECTIVE DELEGATION ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE MILITARY

BY

OLOWU DAUDU YINI MALACHY

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA

Being a Paper Presented at the Departmental Seminar Organized by Department Of Business Administration

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

May, 2006

Introduction

The Growth in size, functions and administrative procedures of the military have presented a challenge to the managers of the organisation. And like any organisation, the military has its objectives, which may be broad, specific, simple or complex. For these objectives to be successfully accomplished, there should be the delegation of authority and managerial responsibility for specific functions to agencies outside the central structure. This decentralization distributes authority to the smallest practical unit but at the same time keeps reasonable controls to ensure that all units are working toward the same organisational objectives. The objectives of the decentralization is to share the responsibility for making and/or implementing decision on public services with a larger number of actors, either within the same organisation (deconcentration) or different organisations (devolution) in the public sector or with actors outside of the state sector altogether. This paper, therefore, attempts to examine the concept of delegation, control and decision-making in organisations with particular reference to the military.

Definition of Key Concepts

For our purpose the following concepts are operationally defined – effective delegation, control and decision-making. i. Effective Delegation: This may mean an effective decentralization of authority and responsibility for specific functions to units outside the central structure. The units enjoy varying degrees of