Case Study: Delegation of Authority and Responsibility Analysis môn Principles of Management | Trường Đại học Quốc tế, Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

Introduction
Sometimes a person who is in a position to have various limitations to do a job, the amount
of work, and expertise. If these limitations cannot overcome, it will worsen the performance
of the organization. It is necessary to do the delegation of authority and responsibility or so-
called delegation. Delegation means of the act of empowering to act for another, or a group
of persons chosen to represent others1.
Case Study (1) Questions
Leo Harris, one of your assistants in a fire insurance company, is in charge of a group of
clerical workers who review changed policies, endorsements, and riders, calculate
commissions, and maintain records.
He is meticulous, and everything coming out of his group is perfect. He does not delegate
authority and responsibility, but rechecks in detail all the work turned out by his group. He
keeps turning back to them careless and inaccurate work until it is perfect. As a result, he is
busy from early morning until late at night doing detail work and neglecting his role as a supervisor.
His workers have figured him out and are taking it easy. They do slap-dash work and correct
it as often as he returns it. You are afraid that Harris is overworking and heading for a nervous
breakdown. You have told him in general terms to delegate authority and responsibility and
to discipline his group. He says that you just can’t find people anymore who have pride in
their work or concern for the company and that if he fires any of his people or they quit the
replacements would probably be worse.
1. What are some of the reasons why do people do not delegate authority and responsibility?
2. What are Harries’ responsibilities as a supervisor? 3. Which can he delegate?
4. How should he go about delegating them?
5. How can you go about developing them in him? Case Study (1) Answers
1. The cause of the reluctance to delegate authority and responsibility are:
• Insecurity. Managers are reluctant to take risks to delegate tasks, or maybe afraid
of losing power if subordinates are better in performing the task.
• Manager’s inability. Some managers can be very irregular in future planning.
• The lack of trust to subordinates.
• The manager feels that the subordinate would prefer not to have the right of decision-making.
Meanwhile, reluctance to accept the authority or responsibility are:
• Insecurity for subordinates to avoid the responsibilities and risks.
• Subordinates’ fear of being criticized or punished for making mistakes.
• Subordinates do not get enough stimulation to load additional responsibilities.
• Subordinate is lack of confidence and feel depressed when delegated with greater decision-making authority. 2.
Supervisors are people who deal directly with the manager. But in the context of
responsibility, the supervisor has a task which is no less severe. In many cases, supervisors
have strategic tasks because they directly plunge into the field to implement all the plans of the manager.
The main responsibilities of a supervisor can therefore be summarized as the following:
• To plan day-to-day activities and targets within the goals set by upper management.
• To assign specific tasks to employees.
• To oversee hour-to-hour results.
• To report daily feedback and information.
• To take immediate corrective action at the activity site.
• To train, motivate, and evaluate employees. 3.
Before delegating authority and responsibility to subordinate, a supervisor had to
know the steps of doing delegation such as deciding what to delegate, activity analysis, and
clarifying a supervisor’s assignment.
Deciding what to delegate. It has some important points. A supervisor has to provide
enough time to draw up a list of tasks that should be delegated rationally and can be
carried out by staff. A rational task includes of technical tasks, almost all his technical
tasks delegated by the supervisor to staff. Meanwhile, managerial tasks cannot be
delegated everything because the task requires supervision and authority. For
example, staff can arrange a planning, purchasing budget. But the task for approval,
recommendation, and implementation is still the supervisor’s right and authority. 4. How to delegate a staff:
• Provide enough time to draw up a list of tasks that should be delegated
rationally and can be carried out by staff. Then prepare reports continuously,
answer questions, prepare a schedule of sequential criteria necessary time
and importance to the institution.
• Choose a suitable person to perform the duties of the affluent based on
capabilities and other conditions. 5.
How to develop a staff in delegation:
• Provide direction and motivation to staff. One mistake in the delegation is
the absence of a clear direction.
• A proper supervision. A supervisor should be able to determine when and
what needs to be done by controlling the staff.
• Over-control: control too much will spoil delegates given.
• Under control: Less control will also adversely affect the delegation,
where the staff will not be productive and significantly impact the results. Conclusion
Delegation is devolved powers, authority, and responsibility to others. Works that are routine-
orientation should be delegated to others so that a supervisor can use the time to perform
his duties as a manager/supervisor.