REFLECTION-PROBLEM-BASED ASSESMENT ON DELEGATION
Reflection-Problem-Based Assessment on Delegation
Delegation, according to me, is one style of leadership that requires maximum attention. I have always thought that its pros outdo its cons but according to current issues that are arising in the management and leadership sector, I doubt what I have always thought. Organizations have benefited from this style of leadership and on the other hand, other agencies have faced challenges due to poor delegation. I have always known that delegation is in two ways between a delegator and a delegatee, but I had the wrong impression that any leader is eligible to delegate. In management, delegation is referred to as the process of transferring some duties and responsibilities from a superior to an employee. However, the delegator ought to have the right to assign these duties and responsibilities. Over the years, it has always come to my attention that more pressure is mounted on to the person to whom work is delegated to. Once an individual is entrusted with certain duties, he or she faces a challenge in that more effort is required to deliver excellent work, worth earning him or her credit. In the earlier years, delegation in many organizations has been considered as the best means of preparing employees for greater responsibilities. Delegation saves time, motivates individuals as they try to give good results and finally, delegation prepares future leaders (Adair, 2009). In the recent years, the act of delegating responsibilities has been a call for concern in many organizations, leading to my persistence in reading more on leadership and delegation. It is evident that leaders have misused their powers by delegating duties carelessly without using the right procedures. I believe that this being an issue, it can be blamed on poor leadership. I think that delegation can make a turnaround of events and lead to an excellent performance but before then, both leaders and employees should use the right procedures when delegating.
Adair J. (2009) stated that for any leader to be categorized as a successful leader he or she must know their employees and other staff members, understand them, motivate as well as trusting them. According to me, I have always considered a successful leader to be the one whose organization or group gives positive results always, but this is not true. Any manager can realize positive results, but the results trace back to the employees and not the leader himself or herself. For an effective delegation, the leader needs to verify and confirm what to delegate. Abernethy, Bouwens and Van Lent (2010) argue that leaders most likely tackle the hardest and most important issues whereas employees tackle the simple ones to understand work. After determining the work to delegate, I think the leader will have an easy time trying to explain and communicate the delegated duties. Secondly, the leader should have a follow up on the commissioned work to ensure success. Following up on any delegated duties should be conducted in a more professional manner so that the subordinate may not think that the manager is trying to supervise him or her. The subordinate needs to have the feeling that full responsibility has been granted.
According to Tannenbaum & Schmidt’s Leadership Continuum,Jowah(2013) argues that a manager’s leadership behavior mostly relies on the type of skills the followers portray. However, the scholars of this theory decided to focus more on delegation and freedom when it comes to decision making. In most cases, the leader tables issues and leaves them for discussion by the different teams and in the process solutions arise. In the inspirational leadership, the leaders are supposed to be at the forefront in assisting employees to carry out their activities. Leaders should inspire those who still have a chance of making the best out of this life. In servant leadership the leaders lead by example, their work is to serve everybody without discrimination. When it comes to delegation, the leader knows who exactly is best in carrying out certain responsibilities, but this is possible only for those leaders who are outgoing and who interact with employees most frequently. An extrovert leader seems to understand and know more about their fellow staff members as well as those people working under him or her. Extroverts stand a chance of achieving more than the introverts.
Manager’s example on delegation
In the managerial level, leadership skills are a must, especially in every growing organization. As a manager, delegation process should be monitored with care. The leader should deal with the most important issues and delegate the less important to the eligible employees. Time is saved and eventually leads to increased productivity. In the early twentieth century, organizations had not grown that much and therefore the number of workers was minimal. The leaders would delegate work to staff members who were eligible and who could deliver within the stipulated time. Blame games could hardly find their way into the organization due to the respect that both parties had for each other. Employees could undertake their duties with diligence and care even with minimal or no supervision at all. On the contrary, organizations today have gone global; population has increased hence the need to delegate powers, duties and responsibilities. However much the necessity of delegation is, the more reluctant today's generation has become. Maximum supervision and follow-up of the delegated work by the leaders need to be maintained to get to understand the progress of the projects. Russell and Gregory (2002) in their work have discussed on servant leadership in organizations. According to these two authors, Servant leadership is whereby the leaders takes the front line in engaging employees in carrying out activities and leads by example.
Leaders of the twentieth century are well remembered for their ability to get involved in carrying out of projects together with other staff members and employees. However, ‘a can’t do won’t do’ attitude has been noted amongst the current generation leaders who cares less about others but not themselves. The spirit that I used to see in leaders as they tried to fight for freedom of all and growth of the economy has long been dead. In the hierarchical model of leadership, the leader has been viewed as the only person eligible to make decisions. Employees work under him or her, and their ideas have been ignored despite some of them being excellent. Today’s managers have delegated their duties, but the issue arises where these managers fail to use the correct procedures. The negligence that is portrayed by these managers during delegation process gives negative results. Delegation process in today’s economy is blamed for any adverse outcomes that may arise.
Employee’s example on delegation
As a subordinate, it is my duty to work under instructions of my leader. Any delegated work that has been assigned to me must conform to the goals and objectives of the ongoing project. Whether there is supervision or not, as an employee, I should give it all. However, communication between the leader and the worker is vital to in case of clarification purposes. Carver (2011) tries to compare the effectiveness of employees’ behavior towards delegation style of leadership in both non-profit and public organizations. In non-profit organizations, employees work from deep down their hearts without the pressure of competing with other organizations. Any delegated work is performed through the willingness of the employees, and this leads to better results. In other agencies, employees work anticipating payments at the end of the set period. If work is delegated and there is no sign of compensation for that work, the employee will not be motivated towards completion of that work. To make delegation successful, employees should consider working under minimal supervision and have confidence with their work.
Delegation increases knowledge drives and prepares staff and subordinates towards better performance. I believe that the employees should be given ample time for them to complete their work. Employees deserve to be rewarded, praised and given credit to areas that they deserve. Paying makes the employees work even harder because they get motivated, and they have the good feeling that they are elite. Adair (2009) argues that employees worked well when they got motivated and given freedom of decision making. To solve any issues to do with the delegation, employees should accept duties that are within their level of expertise to avoid any inconveniences that may arise. All in all, delegation prepares the workers for what is in store for them in future. The employees are instilled with knowledge and skills to carry out leadership activities in future.
Bibliography
Abernethy, M.A., Bouwens, J. and Van Lent, L., 2010. Leadership and control system design. Management Accounting Research, 21(1), pp.2-16.
Adair, J., 2009. The inspirational leader: How to motivate, encourage and achieve success. Kogan Page Publishers.
Carver, J., 2011. Boards that make a difference: A new design for leadership in nonprofit and public organizations (Vol. 6). John Wiley & Sons.
Russell, R.F. and Gregory Stone, A., 2002. A review of servant leadership attributes: Developing a practical model. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 23(3), pp.145-157.
Jowah, L.E., 2013. Followership; The Forgotten Kingmaker for Effective Leadership. Journal of US-China Public Administration, 10(7), pp.708-719.
