19 Delegating II

Structure

1.    Learning Objectives

2.    Components of Delegation

3.    Principles of delegation

4.    Benefits of Delegation

5.    Summary

1.    Learning Objectives

At the end of the session learners will be able to

• Explain the components of delegation
• Explain Principles of delegation
• Explain Benefits of delegation

The people enjoy work when they are trusted and get freedom. The freedom is the fundamental ingredient of creativity. The delegation is important process which depends on the ability of manager to identify the potentiality of people, ability to trust people, ability to understand the work and its complexity and importantly the conferring authority.

Akanksha foundation’s school will be completing 25 years of its establishment and therefore wants to celebrate silver jubilee year for the institution next year. It is decided that the annual day programme will be carried out in a grand way. The school has pre-primary, primary, secondary and higher secondary sections with 3000 students and 100 teachers. Ms. Dubey is a vice principal of a school and working in the school for last 21 years. She is in charge of annual day programme so management thought that the responsibility could be given to her. Initially Ms. Dubey communicating with management people personally for every activity that is to be carried out but shortly realised that it is very difficult to plan the grand annual day programme for silver jubilee.

• Why do you think Ms. Dubey finding the planning is difficult?
• What questions she needs to answer before planning for the programme?
• List out the activities Ms Dubey will have to think for differentiating the every year annual day to the silver jubilee year annual day.
• Identify the resources Ms. Dubey has with her for completing tasks?

As we know that the delegation is not a very simple process therefore it is necessary to understand its components.

2.    Components of Delegation

Assignment of task and duties:

Assignment of task is the most important activity. The work is assigned so that people can perform task. One should understand the complexity of work/task. Divide work into small task. Identify people who can do it. As a manager you should know the competence people posses. Identify the task and competence it require and match it with the person who possess the required competence. For example if the school has a teacher who is interested in performing art so she is the right person to be the in-charge of dance , drama competitions.

Granting authorities:

only assignment of work cannot give the feeling of belongingness to people. When the affiliation for work is established then the work is no more burden but it becomes enjoyable activity and person is not tired or get bored of the work.In order to establish the affiliation for work the authority should be given. The authority will give freedom to people. The freedom will provide them opportunity to take decisions and plan out different strategies to complete the task. When one try out new ideas then the organisation develop a culture of creativity and innovations. One should keep in mind that freedom does not come in isolation it goes hand in hand with responsibility. It means granting authority will help to make people accountable and creative.

For example, the principal ask a team of teachers to organize

in house science exhibition of students. Inthe first meeting they analyzed the major task and the deadline for each task. The principal informed about the available resources like finances, human and non human resources. It was also conveyed that teachers can work in collaboration and take the decisions for completing the task. Different groups of teachers started working on different tasks likepreparing brochure, instructing studentsabout exhibition, criteria for selection etc. The teams decided the strategies and maintain deadlines. The principal keep taking a track of work after alternate days.

·Creation of accountability:

The development of sense of accountability is quite challenging job.

People are putting efforts, as a education manager, convey that their efforts are important and as a head you are aware of the efforts put up by them. Appreciate the efforts and competencies of people so that they will take responsibility. Remember these efforts are going to help for achieving goals.

Convey right to act:

When education manager give importance to opinion, idea, thought of subordinate they feel important. The feeling that ‘i am heard’ is very important. Similarly they should be convinced that they have all the right to think, make decision and act. This will help people to complete the task in their way.

Maintain the balance between the authority and freedom:

The authority assigns power. The position in the institute decides the power. The power helps in taking freedom in making decisions. When work is assign withoutfreedom then and person does not develop a sense of affiliation which leads to mechanical completion of work.

3.    Principles of delegation

The delegation process based on some principles. a. Focus on the objective of the organisation:

To meet the vision one frames goals and reach goals through the achievement of objectives. While delegating work manager focus on the priorities of objectives to be achieved and accordingly delegate work.

The goals are achieved by the completion of objectives so the Results are cumulative. The tasks can be sequential or parallel. When task is broken down into small Subtasks then the person can see the clarity in the expected outcomes

b.    Maintain the parity of Responsibility and authority:

The different types of tasks demand different types of authority. The responsibility and authority depends on the complexity of task.if the task is complex but no freedom is given then the task will not be completed because at every step subordinates are dependent on authority for decision. Therefore, as a manager one need to think of complexity and specificity of task and also responsibilities and level of authority so that people can take decision concerned with the part of task.

c.    Selection of subordinates for delegation:

As a Education Manager, its our understanding of human resources. Each human has potentials and can do some work efficiently as compare to other. Donot expect all subordinates to have every competence. One needs to focus on strengths, ability of people and requirement of tasks. This help in matching between the competency required for the task and competency possessed by individuals.

d.    Maintain adequate communication:

Communication is the fundamental part of any organisation. The communication is designed in a formal setup which gives an idea about the roles and responsibilities of people working in the institution. The communication should be able to contribute in the accomplishment of goals that are designed or set by the organizations. The communication channels need to be clearly defined and adequate. Horizontal and vertical Communication chain can be designed so that the completion of task is checked.

e.    Ensure the unity of command:

In organization there are different departments or sections which need to work in collaboration. One need to analyse vertical and horizontal set up and the communication pattern within it. This will help in clear understanding of reporting to authority.

f.     Establish climate of confidence:

Trust plays very important role in human relations. It is very important that in organization a culture of trust should be created. For this the person at authority position should respect people. Listen people attentively so that they will share their problems, information, and knowledge with authorities.

Sharing of knowledge, views, opinion, interests may help in creation of conducive environment and people will enjoy work in open environment.

g.    Help subordinates:

one must keep in mind that We got position but not that we have to order people but its our responsibility to take care of work as well as people. The manager should create teams which help in completing different tasks and help these groups as and when required.

h.    Establish strong belief in delegation:

One’s belief is extremely important to carry out any work or action. If the believes in the principle of delegation then she/he will exhibit trust and confer authority with the thought that my subordinates will be able to do it. This helps in providing freedom and responsibility to subordinates and develop conducive environment in the institution.

i.     Reward the delegation of work:

Reward the work carried out by people. When the work delegated is carried out with responsibility then the efforts and potentials should be appreciated. This will motivate team members and boost the confidence which ultimately leads to increase the efficiency of people.

4.    Benefits of Delegation

a.    Multitasks are possible:

Education institutions are meant for achieving the vision of a country. The country has to set goals for its economic and social development and achievement of those goals is possible only through education.These institutions are settling its goals on the basis of vision of nation. Hence the educational institutes are mean through which the country can meet its dreams. The individual and social development is interlinked therefore the managers of institutions should carefully plan for framing the goals and objectives and strategies for achieving the same.

The institutions perform many tasks at a time. Every task has its own objectives to achieve but different tasks directed to achieve the same vision. Delegation helps in multitasking in the institution. It helps to understand the availability of resources, identity the potentiality of the resources, arrangements /rearrangement of the resources and achieve set goals. For example development of individual personality is very complex process and therefore the school has to think on different areas of personality development and further each area is divided into more specific sub areas and then for each subarea the tasks and subtask are designed. The achievement of complex task is not a single person’s job ,it is possible only through multiple task and the achievement of multiple task is possible through delegation.

b.    Achieve the institution goals:

The institute has a vision and to achieve this people are working on different tasks. It is a collective effort to achieve institution’s goal. Therefore it is necessary to convey the goal to people working in the organization. This makes their understanding clear and also develops affiliation for the organization. Once the connection between the objectives of tasks and institution’s goal are clear that help to work in more precise way.

When school has the objective of overall development of a child or student, it includes responsibility of the cognitive, affective, the psychomotor and social development. For the cognitive development activities carried out through the teaching of different subjects which helps in the development of different types of thinking or logical thinking. The understanding of different concepts and processes help students for developing their understanding of the world through subject but how and where to use the acquired knowledge is guided by attitude and values. The values are integral part of personality for making individual responsible for her/his behaviour.

If school focuses only on cognitive development then the students’ content knowledge will be good but no certainty for the utilization of that knowledge for the society. The intention of school is not only to impart the theoretical knowledge but also to make use of the knowledge for self and society. For example, the goal of science teaching is to create awareness about the environment among students and to achieve the goal, the teacher is teaching a water management topic through individual and group project. This will help them to visit local people, interact with them, discuss problems related to scarcity of water and then organise the information and present it in the class. The pedagogical approach will help in developing cognitive, affective, psychomotor and social skills of students and will ignite the curiosity of students to learn the world around and understand the realities rather than only mugging up water management.

The various curricular and co-curricular activities organised by the school authorities time to time for cognitive, affective, psychomotor and social development of students. These activities are interlinked and therefore need to be carried out with proper delegation.

c. Different potentials of an individual can be tapped:

Every human being is unique in nature different people have different abilities and competencies. The delegation is a process which can make use of these human potentialities. Presence of potentiality in individual influences the efficiency of the work. In addition to the potential ifone has interest in a specific task then work can be completed fast. This ensures the efficiency and effectiveness of the work. The process of delegation helps manager to tap the potentials of the individual and utilise it for the development of institution. At the same time it help individual to identify own strengths and weaknesses. It can be motivating factor for an individual to improve on own performance.

d.    Utilisation of Infrastructure and human resources:

The delegation involves connecting the various resources required for completion of task. The education manager has to think of available resources while delegating tasks. It is their responsibility to ensure the availability and accessibility of resources. When the resources are made accessible to people then only they will be able to use it for performing the task otherwise the teachers will spend half of their time and energy in locating resources. For example in many schools the technology is available but not used by teachers simply because the process to acquire technology is made very lengthy. This make losses in two ways; the technological resources are damaged as not in use and secondly the teachers’ competency of using technology will deteriorate as they are not using their skills.

e.    Delegation brings responsibility:

When the work is delegated to people, it is made clear that they have freedom to make choices in completing the task. They are clear on objectives to be achieved by the institution in general and in specific to their task through different activities. When the freedom is given by the manager or principal then different teams working on different task are aware about the time for the activity and the engagement of different people in those activities. This will help them to communicate, design, redesign the task, and complete it.

f.     Development of task:

The institutions are established to set up different tasks. No doubt that repeatedly doing the same task may widen ones understanding of work but after few years one gets bored as it brings lot of mechanical aspect in to it. When the tasks are changed then person learn new skills and knowledge. Therefore, it helps an individual to prepare for new tasks. For example, every teacher has the responsibility of teaching but along with that, the principal ask to help picnic committee members. This will help the new teacher to understand the components of in organising picnic, the different aspects like communicating with parents,booking of tickets, maintaining records of each student etc. therefore the delegation helps in understanding the development of task.

g.    Staff development:

The delegation of work help individual to perform different types of work. It will also enhance the potentialities of teachers to perform different tasks.The work assigned is carried out by people and when different task is given then they make use of their old knowledge to complete new task. Sometime it may help in identifying the own interest of work, strengths etc.

h.    Ensures completion of work:

In an organization, work is broken into tasks and subtasks. That needs different types of plans in within a master plan. It gives idea about the time and the activities performed in the institution by people also know peoples engagement in different tasks. The manager gets an idea about the completion of tasks as well as new tasks coming in.

The delegation helps the manager specifically which is discussed further

• Reduces the burden of manager:The manager is responsible for overall performance of the institution. The delegation process reduces their burden for specific tasks.
•  Provides opportunity of task development: Delegation requires lot of analysis at the part of principal or manager. They divide task into subtasks, identify the skills required, analyse people and their potentiality to perform tasks. While analysing so many components and establishing its relationship they understand task from different angle and can set a path to achieve the goal by completing the tasks.
• Improves level of motivation and gives feel of satisfaction: When anyone of us perform well we feel satisfied. When the principal or manager select team members and the team complete the delegated task efficiently ,then they get a sense of achievement and satisfaction which motivate them further for designing new tasks.
• Enhances sense of responsibility and understand the task in a wider perspective: Leader is always considered as a responsible factor for accomplishment of goals. In the process of delegation the manager gets an experience of analysing people, their abilities and tasks. These activities widen their horizon of work and people. It also brings the sense of responsibility among them as the manager is responsible for final product or output. The Person gets wider perspective of work. They learn the nature of tasks, interdependence of tasks and can make changes in redesigning the tasks. People are satisfied.
• Satisfaction of People:When the work is not assigned but delegated people feel that they are important, they have some active role to play in the organisation and their presence is meaningful. When principal delegate work she/he involve people in the process of decision making related to tasks. When people are motivated then they work with enthusiasm and get satisfaction. The principal gets satisfaction when she sees people are satisfied with their accomplishment.

The delegation is a process which if implemented properly with focusing on tasks and objectives provide motivation, satisfaction to manager as well as subordinates which in turn enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.

5.    Summary

The delegation is important process which depends on the ability of manager to identify the potentiality of people, ability to trust people, ability to understand the work and its complexity and importantly the conferring authority.

Components of Delegation Assignment of task and duties

• – Granting authorities
• – Creation of accountability
• – Convey right to act
• – Maintain the balance between the authority and freedom

Principles of delegation: the delegation process based on some principles.

• – Focus on the objective of the organisation
• – Maintain the parity of Responsibility and authority
• – Selection of subordinates for delegation
• – Maintain adequate communication.
• – Ensure the unity of command
• – Establish climate of confidence
• – Help subordinates
• – Establish strong belief in delegation
• – Reward the delegation of work

Benefits of Delegation:

• – Multitasks are possible
• – Achieve the institution goals
• – Different potentials of an individual can be tapped:
• – Utilisation of Infrastructure and human resources:
• – Delegation brings responsibility
• – Development of task
• – Staff development
• – Ensures completion of work

The delegation helps the manager specifically which is discussed further

• – Reduces the burden of manager: The manager is responsible for overall performance of the institution. The delegation process reduces their burden for specific tasks.
• – Provides opportunity of task development:
• – Improves level of motivation and gives feel of satisfaction:
• – Enhances sense of responsibility and understand the task in a wider perspective:
• – Satisfaction of People

Delegation is a process which enhances the different abilities of manager as well as subordinates. The individual and institution both are benefited by delegation. Therefore if this functions of management is designed thoughtfully then the institution will function effectively and efficiently.