UNIT – I Lesson 1 HRM – AN OVERVIEW Lesson Outline Nature of ...

3.21 Delegation as a tool for employee development:
Delegation means conferring, entrusting or allocating a particular assignment to a person
based on realistic assessment of the latter’s abilities and motivation. It is not merely
passing off any job, but to let some one take over the control of what a manager continues
to be responsible for. Delegation is said to have taken place when a superior gives a
subordinate the discretion to make decisions and the responsibility for completion of
specific activities. Authority, Responsibility and accountability are considered as the three
limbs of effective delegation that should be matching and on par in magnitude with each
other. Delegation could simultaneously be enabling, energizing as well as empowering to
people.
3.22 Theoretical Foundations of Delegation
The classical principle of delegation states that decisions should be made as low an
organization level as possible. Management By Exception (MBE) involves delegation. It
hints at Frederick W Taylor’s exception principle, which stated that managers should
control by giving major attention to mainly to the exceptional cases and situations. Larry
Greiner’s model of life cycle of an organization includes a period in which the growth
happens through delegation after a highly directive top management evokes resentment
and cry for autonomy among the rank and file employees in the organization.
The life cycle theory of leadership developed by Paul Hersey and Kenneth
Blanchard focuses on the maturity of the followers as a contingency variable affecting the
style of leadership and the possibility of delegation by a leader. According to this
viewpoint, the extent to which a leader adopts a delegating style, which involves low
degrees of consideration for task as well as for people, depends on both the job maturity
and psychological maturity of the members of any work group. The maturity is gauged by
the extent to which they are both able and willing to be accountable for their responsibility
towards task performance and require little guidance and direction. Degree of delegation
could be gradually increased to suit the progress of an employee.
A manager who delegates authority does not permanently dispose of it, but
continues to share the responsibility for completion of the task. Delegated authority
therefore can always be regained. Delegation could be general or specific, in oral or
written form. Delegation is essential for proper performances, as no person can perform all
the work by himself. Besides reducing the burden of higher-level managers and thereby