Delegation

Essay by lilstacks23University, Bachelor'sA, January 2008

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Delegation � PAGE �6�

Delegation

Leslie Stacks

MGT 330

Wynell King

September 13, 2006

Delegation

In an organizational setting, there are levels of authority at every level of the organization. There must be checks and balances on every level so that there can be assurance that the job is being done correctly. The fact that an employee is in a position of authority does not indicate that he or she is capable of doing every task set before him or her. Sometimes, people in authority have to assign others to do certain parts of the tasks that they have been given to complete. This is called delegation.

As defined by Derek Stockley (2005), delegation is "The assignment of responsibility and accountability for specific outcomes or achievements to a specific individual or organization unit." Delegation does not totally take the responsibility of the task off of the leader. He or she must still monitor the progress and the delegated person must still report to the leader.

Delegation simply gives the leader a way to get more work done by spreading the responsibility throughout the establishment.

An employee being delegated for a task should be given enough authority to be able to carry out the task. Managers should be careful when giving authority to subordinates. The manager needs to think out how much authority the employee really needs to complete the task. This is not say that every employee will take advantage of the positions in which they are put, but the realization is that the manager is still ultimately responsible for what the subordinate does in this situation (Bateman and Snell, 2004) That is why a manager should know his or her subordinates and delegate to the ones that are the most dependable and trustworthy. One can never be sure exactly...