Chapter 8: Delegation Case
Part 1: The Mini Case “Minding the Store.”
Question 1: The guidelines related to empowerment that was violated by Ken Hoffman and Cummings.
Providing support
If people are to feel empowered in an organization, managers should encourage them, praise them, back them, reassure them and express approval of them. Having supportive and responsive managers in an organization is a crucial part of empowerment. Managers can empower others through engendering a feeling that they are accepted, valued asset, and that they are an essential part of the overall organization objective and mission.
Ken Hoffman as the boss of Ruth Cummings did not support her in any way. He never encouraged her, supported her nor reassured her. All that he does was to criticize Ruth in every action that she took be it right or wrong. For instance, when Ruth acted accordingly by referring a customer to their main store, he reacted angrily without first enquiring why Ruth took that step.
Arousing positive emotions
Emotional arousal implies replacing negative emotions such as anxiety, fear, or crabbiness with positive emotions such as passion, excitement, or anticipation. To empower people in an organization, managers help make the work environment attractive and fun. Ken Hoffman did not arouse any positive emotions since he made the work environment for Ruth Cummings to be harsh and unattractive.
Modelling
Another means to empower people is to model or demonstrate the correct behavior that they are to perform. The manager may serve as a role model by demonstrating desired behaviors. It helps people to presume that a task is do-able, that a job is within their capabilities, and that success is possible. Ken Hoffman did not act as a role model to Ruth Cummings since he did not demonstrate desired behaviors towards her.
It is obvious from the mini case that Ken Hoffman was the main person who violated the guidelines related to empowerment. However, Ruth Cummings also to some extent violated these guidelines, for example; she was not good at providing information. Information is one of the essential managerial tools. A manager enhances his or her power base by involving others in the pursuit of desirable outcomes. Ruth Cummings did not involve even her boss Ken Hoffman in most of the decisions. For instance, in the hiring of an administrative assistant who was to handle the inventories she did not mind involving her boss in that decision.
Question 5: Advice to give Ken and Ruth
Part 2: “Changing the Portfolio.”
Question 1
The decision to make changes in the current selection criteria should not be made by me alone. This is because the approach to take requires knowledge of the equity market, which I lack since my specialty is in the bond market. Therefore, I should involve my staff members who are specialists in different segments of the equity market in order to come up with the best decision.
Question 2
The alternative that should be used in making the decision is consulting with the team but making a decision by myself. This alternative will ensure that I come up with the right decision since the team has the sufficient information regarding the decision to be made. In addition, this alternative will also save time and also motivation among them will also increase.
Question 3
The most important considerations in deciding whom to involve in a task include relevant information or skills possessed by the individuals, whether their inclusion in the task completion is of importance, whether it will result in personal development for team members, the time for completion of the task, and whether their inclusion will result in conflicts increase among members of the team.
Question 4
Employees should be adequately empowered. This will develop a sense of self-efficacy, personal control, self-determination, trust and meaning among them. This will result in better acceptance of delegated tasks, enhanced motivation and morale, improved efficiency and coordination, strengthened relationships and successful task performance.
In order to attain the appropriate level of empowerment, it is important to foster self-efficacy or sense of competence through fostering personal mastery experiences and pointing out successful role models. It is also important to foster self-determination and meaningfulness or a sense of value by clarifying vision and values and relating to something of inherent value.
