What is the meaning of delegation?

The delegation of authority refers to the division of labor and decision -making
responsibility to an individual that reports to a leader or manager.

It is the organizational process of a manager dividing their own work among all their
people. It involves giving them the responsibility to accomplish the tasks that are
delegated to them in the way they see fit.

Along with responsibility, they also share the corresponding amount of authority.
This ensures that tasks can be completed efficiently and that the individual feels
actually responsible for their completion.

On one level, delegation is just dividing work into tasks that others can do.

At its best, delegation is empowering people to do the work they are best suited to.
It allows them to invest themselves more in the work and develop their own skills
and abilities. It also allows the manager to do other important work that might be
more strategic or higher-level.

In other words, delegated authority is more than just parsing out work. It is truly
sharing responsibility, ownership, and decision-making. Delegated authority is
shared authority.

Delegating authority can also improve efficiency by making more employees

accountable for their own work and activities. Less time and energy is spent on
monitoring and micro-managing employees who are capable and competent. Your
team becomes more capable and able to achieve higher performance as a result.

Delegation is about entrusting another individual to do parts of your job and to

accomplish them successfully.

Central elements of how to delegate authority

There are three central elements involved in the delegation of authority:
1. Authority
In the context of a company, authority is the power and right of an individual to use
and allocate their resources efficiently.

This includes the ability to make decisions and give orders to achieve
the organizational objectives and goals.

This component should always be well-defined. Everyone with authority should

know the scope of their authority.

Essentially, it is the right to give a command, meaning the top-level management

always has the greatest authority.

There is a symbiotic relationship between authority and responsibility. So, authority,

especially authority in management, should always be accompanied by an equal
amount of responsibility if the task is to be completed successfully.

Similarly, there has long been a relationship between power and influence. Learn
what this relationship should look like in our article: Power versus influence: How to
build a legacy of leadership.

2. Responsibility
This refers to the specifics and scope of the individual to complete the task
assigned to them.

Responsibility without adequate authority can lead to:

• Discontent
• Dissatisfaction
• Conflicts
• Frustration for the individual

While authority flows from the top-down, responsibility flows from the bottom-
up. Middle management and lower-level management hold more responsibility.

3. Accountability
Unlike authority and responsibility, accountability cannot be delegated. Rather, it is
inherent in the bestowment of responsibility itself.

Anyone who sets out to accomplish a task and take on a job in a company becomes
accountable for the outcome of their efforts.
Accountability, in short, means being answerable for the end result. Accountability
arises from responsibility.

Authority flows downward, whereas accountability flows upward. The downward flow
of authority and upward flow of accountability must be the same at each position of
the management hierarchy.

The importance of delegation

Delegating has been shown to improve task efficiency and benefit the organization
in ways that aren't obvious at first.

A study by Harvard Business Review determined that delegating can

actually increase organizations’ income and overall efficiency.

Not only does delegation empower others in the organization, but it also helps
optimize the performance of the group.

Delegating empowers your team, builds trust, and motivates.

Thoughtful delegation, with support, is also a way to stretch and develop people
within the work. This is often more powerful than through periodic professional
development.

And for leaders, it helps you learn how to identify who is best suited to tackle tasks
or projects.

As outlined in a Harvard Business Review article, one team leader adopted a

delegation strategy and made the shift from simply being busy to being productive.

Of course, delegating tasks can also lighten your workload. But according to Dr.
Scott Williams, delegating does much more than just get stuff off your plate.

For one, the people who work for you will be able to develop new skills and gain
knowledge. This prepares them for more responsibility in the future.

Williams writes:

“Delegation can also be a clear sign that you respect your subordinates’ abilities
and that you trust their discretion … Employees who feel that they are trusted and
respected tend to have a higher level of commitment to their work, their
organization, and, especially, their managers.”

Delegation empowers teams by enabling them to demonstrate their capability to

take on new work.
How to delegate responsibility
There are several ways you can transfer responsibilities to employees depending on
the needs of your workplace.

You can use the following types of delegation of authority to assign tasks to
various team members in the workplace:

Departments
You can delegate the supervision of a particular department to another employee.
For example, if you’re a CEO, you could delegate authority over the entire
marketing department to the marketing director.

Projects
You can assign an employee or group of employees to complete a specific project
from start to finish.

For example, the marketing director could assign an advertising campaign to a

project manager or project lead. The project manager then assembles a team of
copywriters and designers to collaborate on the project. Each of these collabor ators
performs specific delegated duties.

The marketing director has delegated authority to the project lead. The project lead
might further delegate to the team if they are all skilled and familiar with the intent
and desired outcomes. If the collaborators are mostly freelancers or more junior
staff, the project lead may delegate tasks but hold onto authority and be more
involved in monitoring the various tasks.

Decision making
You can give one of your employees the power to make certain decisions so that
you can focus on other work. For example, as a marketing director, you could
delegate authority to the assistant marketing director to hire employees for the
department when needed.

Analysis
When you need more information, you can ask employees to complete detailed
research on the topic. If you’re a marketing project manager, you can ask someone
on the demand gen team to research demographic statistics for their advertising
campaign’s intended audience.

Administrative processes
You may also delegate administrative tasks, like data entry, to other employees.

As the marketing manager, for instance, you may assign social media monitoring to
a marketing assistant.
Job Design
Definition: The Job Design means outlining the task, duties, responsibilities,
qualifications, methods and relationships required to perform the given set of
a job. In other words, job design encompasses the components of the task
and the interaction pattern among the employees, with the intent to satisfy
both the organizational needs and the social needs of the jobholder.

The objective of a job design is to arrange the work in such a manner so as to

reduce the boredom and dissatisfaction among the employees, arising due to
the repetitive nature of the task.

There are several important methods and techniques that the management
uses while designing the jobs. These are:

Job Design
Definition: The Job Design means outlining the task, duties, responsibilities,
qualifications, methods and relationships required to perform the given set of
a job. In other words, job design encompasses the components of the task
and the interaction pattern among the employees, with the intent to satisfy
both the organizational needs and the social needs of the jobholder.

The objective of a job design is to arrange the work in such a manner so as to

reduce the boredom and dissatisfaction among the employees, arising due to
the repetitive nature of the task.

There are several important methods and techniques that the management
uses while designing the jobs. These are:
1. Job Simplification
2. Job Rotation
3. Job Enrichment
4. Job Enlargement
While designing the job, the following aspects are to be taken into the
consideration:

While designing the job, the following aspects are to be taken into the
consideration:

1. The foremost requirement for a job design is to define clearly the task an
individual is supposed to perform. A task is the piece of work assigned to the
individual and who has to perform it within the given time limits.
2. The management must decide on the level of motivation that is required to
be enforced on an individual to get the work completed successfully. Thus, the
managers must design the jobs that motivate his employees.
3. The managers must decide critically on the amount of resources that needs
to be allocated to perform a particular type of a job. Thus, the efforts should
 be made to make an optimum utilization of organizational resources while
designing the job so that the organization does not suffer any dilemma due to
the shortage of its resources.
4. When the jobs are assigned to the individual, he agrees to do it because of
the rewards attached to it. Thus, the manager must include in the job design
the compensation, bonuses, incentives, benefits and other remuneration
method for the employees.
Thus, the job should be designed with the intent to find a fit between the job
and its performer, such that the job is performed efficiently, and the performer
experiences satisfaction while performing it and give his best efforts towards
its completion.

Job Simplification
Definition: The Job Simplification means breaking the job into relatively
easier sub-parts with the intention to enhance the individual’s productivity by
minimizing the physical and mental efforts required to perform a complex job.

Once the complex task is divided into the relatively easier tasks, each task is
assigned to the individuals who perform these over and over again. By doing
the same thing again and again, the employees gain proficiencies in the jobs
assigned to them and as a result, the profitability of the organization
increases.

Under the job simplification method, the organization saves its training cost,
as a very low level of skills is required to perform the simplified jobs. Also, the
job speed increases, as the individual is required to perform a small portion of
the previously larger and complex job.

But however, by performing the same task again and again, the employees
may feel boredom and may resist the monotony. This may lead to an increase
in the employee absenteeism, mistakes and accidents, etc. Due to these
negative consequences, the overall productivity may get adversely affected,
and the organization may suffer losses as a whole.

Thus, an organization cannot resort to the job simplification every time to reap
the economic benefits. It must look at the organizational conditions prevailing
at the time of designing the job.
 Job Rotation
Definition: Job Rotation is the management technique wherein an employee
is shifted from one job role to the other, with the purpose of familiarizing him
with all the verticals of an organization.

Generally, the management trainees who are a fresher in the business world
are shifted to different job positions to make them understand the functions of
business more precisely. The purpose of a job rotation is to reduce the
monotony of work and letting an employee to acquire multi skills required for
performing different tasks in the organization.

Advantages of Job Rotation

1. Reduces the monotony of work

2. Broadens one’s knowledge and skills
3. Helps the management to explore the hidden talent of an individual
4. Helps an individual to realize his own interest
5. Helps in creating the right employee job fit
6. Developing a wider range of experience

Disadvantages of Job Rotation

1. Reduces uniformity of work

2. Fear of performing another task effectively
3. Frequent interruptions in the work
4. Misunderstanding between the team members or union.
5. Difficulty in coping with other team members
6. Fear of getting more tedious or a hectic work
 Job Enrichment
Definition: The Job Enrichment is the job design technique used to increase
the satisfaction among the employees by delegating higher authority and
responsibility to them and thereby enabling them to use their abilities to the
fullest.

In other words, job enrichment is the opportunity given to the employees to

explore their abilities when some tough task is assigned to them. The job
enrichment is the vertical restructuring of moral excellence in which more
authority, autonomy, control is given to the employees to perform a given set
of a job. This concept is in contrast to the job enlargement which considers
the horizontal restructuring, where more and more tasks get added, and the
challenge remains the same.

Thus, job enrichment is characterized by the different range of tasks and

challenges having varying levels of difficulties. The organization can realize
benefits through this job design technique in any of the following ways:

• With an increase in the employee morale, the more motivated, he gets to

produce top results and hence, the profitability of the firm increases.
• When the employees bear more responsibility for their work and results, it
becomes quite easy for the organization to operate.
• By giving authority to the employees to perform higher level jobs, the
company is preparing its employees to occupy those high-level positions in
the near future.
• Also, with the job enrichment, the number of levels in the management may
reduce, thereby minimizing the complexity of the organization.
The purpose behind the job enrichment is to motivate the employees to use
their abilities which remained unused during their course of action. Also,
through job enrichment, the monotony breaks and the employees get the
opportunity to do something new, which ultimately results in the increased
satisfaction levels.

Job Enlargement
Definition: The Job Enlargement refers to the horizontal expansion of jobs
wherein more and more activities, and tasks are added to the existing job
scope at the same level in the organization.

In other words, job enlargement means increasing the scope of duties and
responsibilities of an individual by adding the related activities to his existing
job profile and generally without any change in his authority and his level in
the hierarchy in the organization.

The purpose behind the job enlargement is to increase the employee flexibility
and reduce the monotony that occurs gradually over a period of time. Often,
the employees are not required to get the training for the task-related activities
because he is already aware of that and is doing for quite some time. But
however, if the activity added is new for an employee and is not related to his
existing job nature, then a proper training should be given to him in order to
acquaint himself with the new job conditions.

Thus, job enrichment is a job design technique which is used to broaden the
scope of the employee’s activities with the intent to increase his responsibility
and duties and minimize the boredom that he may be facing with his existing
job duties. But however, the employee can consider this approach as a
negative step taken by the management; wherein he is required to do more
task or activities for the same amount of pay.
What is Line Authority?
Line authority is the type of authority that reflects superior-subordinate relationships. This is
the most fundamental authority in an organization characterized by power of decision
making. Line authority is the predominant component used in companies with a line
organizational structure where direct lines of authority flow from top management, and the
lines of responsibility flow in the opposite direction.

Line authority is a top-down approach to management where the decisions are made by the
top management and communicated to the lower level staff in a hierarchy (a system in
which employees are ranked according to relative status). Line managers are assigned to
manage teams that operate with the intention of achieving an intended result. Organizations
with line authority allow better exertion of unified control.

Line authority is a less complicated way of allocating responsibility since every employee is
clear regarding his or her position and clear lines of authority and responsibility is allocated
to them. However, since this is a top down approach, it often results in one-way
communication. Decisions are taken by the top management and complaints and
suggestions of lower level staff may not be communicated back to the top authority. Lower
level staff are closer to the customers. Thus, their experience and suggestions should be
incorporated in decision-making.

What is Staff Authority?

Staff authority refers to the right to advice on improving the effectiveness for line
employees in performing their duties. Staff personnel are generally independent
employees who do not report to line managers, and they can be external staff who are
temporarily employed to perform a particular task. These are highly specialized individuals,
thus are employed for their expert knowledge and the ability to add value to the company.

Staff personnel may not be employed by all types of organizations. Since they are highly
specialized, the cost of recruiting them is higher. Thus, they may not be affordable for small
organizations. However, the larger the organization, the greater the need and ability to
employ staff personnel since there is a need for expertise in diversified areas. Thus, the
size of the organization is a significant factor in determining whether staff personnel should
be employed.
Staff personnel may work part time for the organization, providing their expertise. Some of
them may even provide the organization with an advisory role rather than engaging in
business operations. Staff managers complement the work of line managers since line
managers can focus more time on routine activities and related decision making when
specialized work is carried out by staff personnel. However, staff authority is not granted the
power to take decisions that will affect the company as a whole, only for the specific area
that they are responsible for.

It is vital that both line and staff personnel work closely in collaboration to ensure efficiency
of operations. However, in practice, conflicts between line and staff personnel can be seen
due to sometimes overlapping duties which intern reduces the effectiveness of both.
 Span of Management
Definition: The Span of Management refers to the number of subordinates
who can be managed efficiently by a superior. Simply, the manager having
the group of subordinates who report him directly is called as the span of
management.

The Span of Management has two implications:

1. Influences the complexities of the individual manager’s job

2. Determine the shape or configuration of the Organization
The span of management is related to the horizontal levels of the organization
structure. There is a wide and a narrow span of management. With the wider
span, there will be less hierarchical levels, and thus, the organizational
structure would be flatter. Whereas, with the narrow span, the hierarchical
levels increases, hence the organizational structure would be tall.

Span of Management
Definition: The Span of Management refers to the number of subordinates
who can be managed efficiently by a superior. Simply, the manager having
the group of subordinates who report him directly is called as the span of
management.

The Span of Management has two implications:

1. Influences the complexities of the individual manager’s job

2. Determine the shape or configuration of the Organization
The span of management is related to the horizontal levels of the organization
structure. There is a wide and a narrow span of management. With the wider
span, there will be less hierarchical levels, and thus, the organizational
 structure would be flatter. Whereas, with the narrow span, the hierarchical
levels increases, hence the organizational structure would be tall.

Both these organizational structures have their advantages and the

disadvantages. But however the tall organizational structure imposes more
challenges:

• Since the span is narrow, which means less number of subordinates under
one superior, requires more managers to be employed in the organization.
Thus, it would be very expensive in terms of the salaries to be paid to each
senior.
• With more levels in the hierarchy, the communication suffers drastically. It
takes a lot of time to reach the appropriate points, and hence the actions get
delayed.
• Lack of coordination and control because the operating staff is far away from
the top management.
The major advantage of using this structure is that the cross communication
gets facilitated, i.e., operative staff communicating with the top management.
Also, the chance of promotion increases with the availability of several job
positions.

In the case of a flatter organizational structure, where the span is wide leads
to a more complex supervisory relationship between the manager and the
subordinate. It will be very difficult for a superior to manage a large number of
subordinates at a time and also may not listen to all efficiently.
However, the benefit of using the wider span of management is that the
number of managers gets reduced in the hierarchy, and thus, the expense in
terms of remuneration is saved. Also, the subordinates feel relaxed and
develop their independent spirits in a free work environment, where the strict
supervision is absent.