How to delegate effectively in an organization?

The perfect delegation happens when you are at your office, and for the whole day, no body calls or enters your office, but everything is going well.

A few steps to be followed:

Here is a very good report on delegation.

Yes delegation is one of the important tasks a transformational leadership style believe in. However, you as a leader, should monitor from time to time what happened to those tasks and follow up their results. I mean accountability is necessary. Also, such delegations should be documented well and kept within firm's memory.

For the non-management people, a good example of "delegation" is a Conference, where the Organizer plays the role of "leader". The organizer cannot do all tasks at the same time - so he/she delegates the conference activities into Publication, Hotel/Accommodation, Registration, Reception, Publicity, Web-Page, Help, Transportation - committees. The sub-committees perform various tasks and the organizer monitors progress regularly. This is a simple example of "delegation" in carrying out multi-tasks at the same time. - Sundar

To delegate effectively in an organization, a manager should define the task to be delegated first, then select the right individual who is trustworthy.

Dear Sundar

Delegating tasks is a regular part of what managers do. According to Wikipedia, "Delegation is the partnership of authority and responsibility to another person to carry out specific activities. It is one of the core concepts of management leadership." What this means is that delegation involves TRUSTING others. As simple as this may sound, it can be a terrifying prospect for some managers. It involves empowering others to make decisions independently and assume responsibility for certain tasks. Of course, if something goes wrong, the manager is still ultimately responsible.

In my opinion effective delegation involves the delegation of work to reporting staff members in such a way that their skills are enhanced. Effective delegation allows an employee to increase their ability to make decisions and contribute to organization success.

Effective delegation is not just giving employees more work to do, although sometimes there is more work to do.

To delegate effectively, the boss must first have confidence and trust in the subordinate. The boss must delegate with commensurate authority and resources So That the subordinate Can perform the assignment effectively.

Dear Justin Gabriel - Thank you for the reply. Yes, the boss must have confident and trust on the subordinate & also delegation is done in such a way that there is no 'role ambiguity' or 'role conflict', when the subordinate performs the delegated task. Encouragement & motivation are given at the times of 360^o or 720^o appraisal.

Best wishes, Sundar

A general rule in delegation principles, "Authority can be delegated, but responsibility cannot be delegated".

Yes Mahfuz

The rule you cite is universally valid. Neither competence, can not be delegated.

If you are competent and confident, then you can delegate effectively.

You are right Mehdi: "No news, is best news".

Nageswara Rao is an excellent writer and he puts his views in a comprehensive style. I am sure that his students will enjoy his lectures in the University of Northern Iowa. I visited Iowa State University long ago, when a friend (Dr. Wolfgang Kliemann) invited me. Iowa is a very quiet state in USA. Best wishes, Sundar

Mehdi,

Your view regarding the perfect delegation is fastidious, but  -unfortunately - perfection seems not to exist. We are all trying to reach it. At least, we should do our best. Thanks.

Subash's reply on delegation by leaders of an organization:

"If you are competent and confident, then you can delegate effectively."

I like the conditional "if" very much in the above reply! - Sundar

Dear Sundar,

I also noticed that conditional "If", but I consider that it is valid for any hypothesis that we - as researchers - are operating with. Always in our assumptions there is at least one prior condition to be fulfilled.

Nice and very interesting subject. Do you know any case study that can be done with students on this topic?

In order for delegation to be effective managers need to develop a style of management that encourage empowerment of employees, then delegate authority to those individuals who are capable, willing to participate and responsible which means they have the inner feeling of obligation to accomplish the tasks delegated to them, delegation is highly connected to other managerial topics such as training and development, motivation, communication, organizational design and structure etc.. very interesting topics, for further cases from an Arab context you can check

The best indicator of delegation is to see how things are going on at the workplace when the  manager is away  and everything is going as it would have gone on when s/he was present there. This means that you have delegated authority to the right person, who is competent, and s/he has actually taken the right decisions in furtherance of the authority that has been delegated on to her/him.. 

Delegation of Authority refers to the granting of power to another employee to act on behalf of one for an agreed purpose. To provide a framework, the one who has been delegated authority to, should effectively manage the duties delegated to him.

“After passing the responsibilities the manager also shares some of his authority, i.e., power to make decision with his subordinates so that the responsibilities can be carried on properly. To make sure that his subordinates perform all the work effectively and efficiently in the expected manner the manager creates accountability and this whole process is known as delegation”.

More details through looking at the link here-under:

Delegation depends upon the types and quality of staff we have, their skills and ability to perform the job, and the work culture of team spirit in the organization. Without delegation it is also difficult. As the accountability remains with us, we need to be careful when delegating the authority.

It is very necessary for the efficient manager to delegation authority. But at the same time, there are many fears, such as, the lack of definition of common goals to be achieved and nonexistence of atmosphere of team work and mutual trust.

Understand what types of tasks can and cannot be assigned or delegated to others. Define the tasks clearly. Pick the right person (delegatee) to do the tasks. Ask the person if they wish to do the tasks. If they agree, define the terms of the work, transfer decision making authority and responsibility temporarily. Don't bother them too much. Agree on periodic feedback sessions and timelines for tasks completion schedules. Once the tasks are completed by the delegatee, the delegator must reclaim authority.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

This is an interesting question, and from I have read, there have already been some interesting answers. I think managers who delegate effectively explain what they want, provide some directions, and give a clear idea and indication of how the result should be. There are certain situations when someone perhaps should not delegate: a crisis, when there is significant risk, or when it is highly confidential. Last, I think a good manager should thank and reward the other employees, when they successfully perform the tasks that they have been delegated... That way, in the future, it will be easier to delegate work to them again. 

How to delegate effectively in organization?

delegate is not easy, but to do so requires: that we have a good organization interne.D'ailleurs , not all tasks are not.The delegate leader must focus on tasks such as managing business. What is important is not therefore make tools , is to have the information necessary to make decisions. He can entrust the tasks of audits and data collection. To him then analyze them .

Delegate , it does not get rid of a stain , it's a rather spend another spot while controlling that has entrusted autrui.On forwards first, then we do try , then entrust as and measure that has had received explanations before trying .

After having inspired confidence and be reassured , then delegate .

Delegation is a synonym of trust finally

Hi ,

I would discuss with you people what are the problems or issues you might face under delegation with organization or business and where it will be?

Thanks a lot.

Hi

I was intrigued by your question. I have a few of initial thoughts that I hope might be helpful to you...

1. To truly delegate something, requires trust. Trust between leaders and their teams might be an interesting aspect of your research?

2. In some organisations, the words 'delegate' and 'delegation' are used a lot - but in practice tasks are assigned and closely monitored, with reporting requirements and even intervention/instruction too. As a consequence, it might be worth exploring what people understand by the expression 'delegate', as the concept may actually mean different things in different organisations / sectors.

3. What is the relationship in organisations between delegation and accountability?

As I say, these were just a few thoughts, that I hope are helpful.

First we should identify the two concepts, Accountability and Responsibility.

Only responsibility can be deligate.