CONCLUSION

On large, complex projects the Project Manager may have several staff working for

them, such as Assistant Site Managers, Section Engineers, Engineers, Safety Advisors,

Quality Managers, and Supervisors. It’s impossible for the Project Manager to attend to

all the tasks, so it’s therefore necessary to delegate tasks to members of their team.

I've seen projects where the Project Manager has tried to do everything, often leading

to disaster because they take on too many responsibilities, resulting in tasks being

completed late, done badly, or forgotten altogether. This leads to frustration in the rest

of the project team, since they are left waiting for materials or equipment, which the

Project Manager was supposed to organise. Furthermore, members of the team may

feel overlooked and not trusted to manage their section of work, resulting in poor

morale and productivity.

Frequently I hear excuses as to why a task has not been delegated such as; ‘it will take

longer to show them than if I did it myself’. Yet how will the other person ever learn if

they are not taught? Time spent training the person now, will, in the future, be time well

spent, since hopefully the person will be able to do the task unaided.
I also hear comments like the person is ‘useless’ or ‘incapable of doing the task’. Are

they really useless, or is it because they've not been shown what to do? Do they have

the appropriate training and experience to fulfill the role expected of them? If they are

genuinely useless, why are they still employed and what’s being done to replace them?

Of course, the opposite of not delegating tasks is to delegate everything, or to delegate

inappropriate tasks.