Project Management

MA HRM

Prof Assem Tharwat

Professor
Synergy Univeristy Dubai
Chapter 5

Delegation
 Topics
 1- Meaning of Effective Delegation
 2- Benefits of Learning Delegation
 3- Barriers to Delegation
 4- Principles of Delegation
 5- Golden Rules of Delegation
 6- Delegate and outsource
 Meaning of Effective Delegation
 Effective delegation refers to the art and science of
transferring responsibility for the performance of a task to a
competent subordinate and ensuring that your assigned
task is completed on time and in a successful manner.

 The hallmark of good leadership is effective delegation. And

to delegate your tasks effectively, you need to do two
things. One is to relinquish the responsibility of the task to
your subordinate. The other is to be accountable for the
outcome of the assigned task.
Benefits of Learning Delegation
 Benefits for Managers
 1. Less stress
 If delegation is done effectively, it allows managers to take
something off their list of tasks to do, so they can
concentrate on other tasks that require their attention. As a
result, they should feel less stressed.
 2. Better time management
 By delegating, managers can free up their time and focus
on other tasks that only they can do.
 3. More trust
 Once a manager has successfully delegated to their team
members, the manager will become more aware of the
team members’ abilities As a result, trust should increase.
 Benefits for Employees
 1. Knowledge and skills development
By being put in charge of tasks that they would have not otherwise
have been doing, staff increase their knowledge and develop
their skills.

 2. Confidence
If they receive the trust of a manager to carry out a task and carry it
out successfully, the staff will feel more confident to take on new
challenges in the future.

 3. Motivation
By feeling trusted and empowered, staff will be more motivated to
work for a company. Motivation is, in fact, essential for staff
retention, one of the biggest costs for any business.
Benefits for the Company or Organization
 1. Teamwork
 If managers trust their team and team members are motivated to work for that
manager, teamwork can only improve.

 2. Productivity & efficiency

 As managers free up their time to do things that are more relevant to their jobs
and team members learn a variety of new skills, productivity and efficiency
increase.

 3. Employees’ satisfaction
 Managers will be more satisfied because they will be less stressed and team
members will feel more valued as they are trusted and have more development
opportunities.

 4. Innovation
 Through delegation, you put in charge of projects different people who otherwise
might not have had a chance to be involved. As a result, new people may come
up with different solutions, therefore helping to drive innovation.
Barriers to Delegation
 1. Fear
 Many obstacles to delegation are due to fear. As a
manager, it may be your fear that things may not work out
or even fear that you might be seen as redundant if you
delegate your tasks to other people or that other people
may be doing things better than you.
 In actual fact, the role of a manager is not to be able to do
everything but to be able to find the best people to carry out
a job.
 Your role is to manage people and to help them shine.
 The thing that will make you stand out as a leader is your
ability to put together high-performing teams.
 2. Lack of trust
 This is when you do not trust that staff in your team can do
a good job.
 If you work with a team though, you have to be able to trust
other people. It may be that you do not trust them because
you had previous bad experiences. Instead of letting those
experiences put you off though, you should learn from
them.
 Analyze what you did, any mistakes you made (for
example, choosing the wrong people or not communicating
clearly), and try to do better the next time.
 3. Control
 Some managers want to control everything. Maybe they are
perfectionists and think that there is only one way to do things
(their way) and everything has to be perfect.
 However, being a leader means leading, inspiring, and trusting
people. If you follow your team members’ every movement, you
will be stressed and they will feel oppressed.
 You need to let go.
 Accept that people might make mistakes and that there are many
ways to do things.
 A way to deal with the fear of losing control, and also with a lack
of trust, is to start delegating small tasks at first and then let go.
 Then, as team members accomplish the simple tasks, gradually
allocate more important tasks.
 4. Poor ability
 This can refer to the manager’s lack of ability and experience
with delegating. In this case, delegating is a skill that can be
learned.

 Also, the poor ability may refer to your team who may not have
the skills you need. If this is the case, you can arrange for them
to receive training.
 If you need skills that nobody in your team can be trained in, then
you need to hire someone with the required skills.
 If you have done everything you can, as a manager, and also
provided training but your team still does not cooperate, what do
you do?
 If you are sure that you are supporting your team as much as you
can but they have a bad attitude, then the only choice is to
proceed with disciplinary measures.
 5. Feeling guilty

 You may not feel comfortable giving orders. Maybe you

have recently been promoted and the people you are
leading are your previous co-workers. In this case, they will
probably trust you more.
 Also, delegating does not have to look like you are giving
orders but more like you trust somebody to do something
important for you and the company. Sell the delegation as a
development opportunity.
 You may think that your team members are overworked
and you do not want to give them any extra tasks.
 5. Feeling guilty
In this case, look at the way things are done in your
department.
Is there any way to make processes more efficient?
Are there any tasks that can be automated?
Are there any activities that could be minimized or
eliminated?
Is there anything that could be outsourced?
Can you add any additional team members?
Giving your staff different tasks to do could help them as
they may enjoy a new challenge. So, do not be afraid to make
changes.
 6. Too busy to delegate
 Delegating can be time-consuming. It takes time to plan the
delegation process, explain things clearly to your
employees and follow things up. So, sometimes it is
tempting to just do things yourself.

 This attitude may save time in the short run, but in the long
run, it is destructive.

 If you do everything, your staff will always feel dependent

on you, they will feel that they are not trusted and you will
not have the time to focus on vision, strategy, and team
development, which is what a manager should do, because
you will be too busy doing things that you could delegate.
 Five Principles of Delegation
 Determine what functions can be delegated.
 Clarify the desired result.
 Identify the right time to delegate a task.
 Chose the right person to delegate a task to.
 Provide the right supervision.
 Step 1: Determine What Functions can be
Delegated
 Knowing the right tasks to delegate to your staff should be the first step
in your delegation efforts. Just because you are the boss in your
workplace does not mean you can delegate any tasks to your
subordinate.
 Is the task you want to delegate personal, confidential, or sensitive in
nature? Does it require your personal expertise or personal leadership?
If yes, carry out the tasks by yourself. No matter the circumstances, you
should sign all relevant legal papers yourself or hire a competent
attorney to do so on your behalf.
 If at all you want to delegate your work to others, make sure the tasks
are so simple but tedious that anyone can do them.
 Apart from transferring all time-consuming tasks that require little skill to
your workers, you should also delegate tasks you are not passionate
about, such as sending emails to customers, booking flights for
business trips, scheduling meetings, and making copies of documents.
 Step 2: Clarify the Desired Results
 Once you’ve determined the functions you want to
delegate, ask yourself this question: What outcome do I
expect from the tasks I want to delegate to my
subordinates? Before delegating authority to your workers,
you should clarify your goals, deadlines, targets, and
standards. Doing this will allow your workers to find a more
creative way to accomplish your task on time.

 Keep in mind that the best way to clarify your desired result
is to write down your S.M.A.R.T goals. Read on to learn
what each word in the acronym means.
SMART Goals
 SMART Goals
 Specific
Your desired result should specify an area of improvement. For
instance, you can tell your subordinate that to improve the
sales revenues of department X. The moment you specify
what you want your employees to improve, they will know
what is at stake and begin to mobilize resources to meet
your needs.

 Measurable
Any task you delegate to others must be quantifiable. You
should use percentage or numbers to indicate the progress
you desire from the task you are delegating. Do you want
sales revenues of department X to increase by Y%? Do you
want 5000 bags of product X to be distributed to customers?
 SMART Goals
 Attainable
 While you are dreaming big and aiming for the star, make sure
you are realistic in your measurable goals. Don’t delegate tasks
that are impossible to achieve based on existing limitations and
available resources. Make sure you do your research or ask
people around to know whether a task is achievable or not.

 Relevant
 Remember, all great results are sensible, simple, and significant.
Don’t delegate tasks that are immoral, illegal, or irrelevant.
Instead, delegate tasks that are reasonable and worthwhile.
More importantly, make sure that you delegate only tasks that
align with the objectives of your organization.
 SMART Goals
 Time-Bound
 Always give your employees a deadline when you delegate tasks
to them. The deadline may be in years, months, days, hours, or
minutes.

 In a nutshell, after you’ve written down your SMART goals, your

desired results should be like these:
 “I was hoping you could improve the sales revenues of
department X by Y% in Z days.”
 “I was hoping you could print X copies of this document in Y
days.”
Step 3: Identify the Right Time to Delegate a Task
 The next step – after clarifying your desired result – is to
identify the right time to delegate a task. You should never
delegate a task to subordinates that lack the skills to
complete your work successfully. Give such employees
some time to learn the ropes and strengthen their skills
before you assign an activity to them.

 It would also be in your best interest not to assign your

tasks to subordinates who are sick or not in the right frame
of mind. If your favourite worker is overloaded with
responsibilities, find another staff to handle your task or wait
until this competent person is available to work on your
project.
 Step 4: Chose the Right Person to Delegate a
Certain Task to

 Not everyone in your workplace will be able to complete

your work professionally.

 All subordinates in your company have their unique

strengths and weaknesses.

 Some workers have keen eyes for details, while some

employees are highly proficient in thinking out of the box.

 As a manager, your job is to identify the best candidate

whose strengths and expertise align with the tasks you
want to delegate.
 Step 5: Provide the Right Supervision
 This is perhaps the most difficult principles of delegation in
management. If you’ve chosen the right person to delegate your task
to, put your faith in that person. Let go of perfectionism. Your
subordinates can never be as perfect as you. If the candidate can
complete your work 70-80% satisfactorily, that’s fine. You can fine-tune
the work later to meet your taste.
 Also, resist the urge to micromanage the person you delegated the task
to. Doing so will lower the person’s morale or make the person feel
incompetent, according to a study carried out by Accountemps, an
accounting firm. Instead of criticizing every minor mistake of the project,
the author of the HBR Guide to Office Politics, Karen Dillon, advises
that you should give the person the right amount of autonomy and trust
that person with the process.
 Of course, mistakes will likely happen when you assign your so-called
simple project to your subordinates. Don’t worry. They will learn from
the blunders and become more competent in the future.
 Three Golden Rules of Delegation of Authority

 There are three golden rules you should

always stick to when you are delegating your
tasks to others. There is no way you can
implement the principles of delegation in
management without following these laws:
 1- Communicate Often
 2- Engender Trust
 3- Don’t Micromanage
 Rule 1: Communicate Often
 All effective delegators have one thing in common. They often communicate
with whom they are delegating their work. So, be clear and concise when
talking to your employees about the work you want to delegate. Don’t use
jargon or ambiguous words when providing details of the assigned tasks to
your staff. Apart from that, your voice tone must be warm and friendly when
you are communicating with them.
 Also, make sure you choose the right communication platform when
transferring your responsibility to your staff. For complex tasks, you discuss
with them in person rather than chatting on social media networks. However,
if you feel the task is simple and easy to understand, you can talk to the
person on the phone.
 At the end of your delegation discussion with your employees, you should
ask them questions about the assigned tasks. This will help you know to
know whether or not they understand the task details. It’s also your
responsibility to tell them to ask you any questions they do not understand
about the task you are assigning to them. The more effectively you
communicate more often with your subordinates, the more they will be
motivated to contribute to the company’s success.
 Rule 2: Engender Trust
 Engendering trust among your workers is essential to your ability
to delegate tasks to them effectively. To engender trust, you
need to treat your subordinates the same way you treat your
friend or loved ones. Don’t blame or accuse them. Instead, ask
them what they need to meet your needs. Giving them the
flexibility to take risks and the freedom to try out a new way of
accomplishing your task will make them respect you and
perceive you as an effective delegator.

 Keep in mind that it’s very wrong to attack the personality of your
subordinates when you are commenting on the work you
assigned to them. For example, rather than saying, “You are a
failure. You failed to complete the tasks successfully,” say, “I
noticed you forgot to carry this aspect of the task. Could you
please do it for me?”
Discover How the Trust Formula Can Help You to
Improve Your Trust with People.
 Nine years ago we moved to our current house. Our neighbours,
both teachers, invited us in on our moving day. We had a beer.
Great. Everything was perfect.
 Roll forward to last summer. We share a fence with our
neighbour. My dad and I rebuilt it, using the black carpet-type
stuff that goes under the gravel to stop the weeds. All was good.
 ‘Are you going away for the weekend?’ asks our neighbour the
following weekend. ‘Yep,’ I replied. ‘A cheeky run to France for
the day.’ We came back later that night and I noticed he’d rebuilt
the fence. Apparently, something to do with the black carpet
stuff, osmosis, and I’m sure E=MC2 was mentioned, though I
had lost my 10 commandments by that point, especially ‘love thy
neighbour’. We fell out.
 An Equation for Trust
 Some bright spark has now defined trust, with an equation. This is very
useful because I can now explain what my intuition has been telling me
about trusting people.
 The trust formula has four parts: credibility, reliability, intimacy, and self-
orientation. In the equation, the first three traits are added together and
then divided against the latter.
 An Equation for Trust
 Each part has its piece to play in helping us to understand who we do
and do not trust, and why:

 Credibility: If I ask you a question and you are supposed to be the

expert on that topic, and you answer it well, then you are credible.

 Reliability: If I ask you to do something, we agree a time for you to do

it by, and you deliver on that promise, you are reliable.

 Intimacy: Don’t worry, this is not about hugging. This is about going
beyond the transactional. Do you know a bit about me? Whether I have
kids, for example?

 Self-orientation: Ever been in a conversation where it’s all about them

talking about them? Yes? That’s self-orientation.
 Rule 3: Don’t Micromanage
 Delegation and micromanagement are like water and oil. Both
don’t mix well. There is no way you can micromanage your
staff and still be an effective delegator.
 Micromanagement limits the capacity of your subordinates.
You are sending a wrong signal to those whom you are
delegating your work to when you are keeping close tabs on
them. You are indirectly telling them that they are incompetent
and unqualified to meet your needs.

 Wondering how to know when you are micromanaging? Here

are the top ten signs you’ve become a micromanager.
 If you show any of the coming symptoms of a micromanager,
it’s time to let go. No principles of delegation of authority can
help you if you keep on micromanaging your staff.
 Rule 3: Don’t Micromanage
 1- Always complain about your employees’ small mistakes.
 2- Over-communicate your desired results to your employees.
 3- Always ask your workers to update you or seek your approval
before making any changes to the assigned tasks.
 4- Prefer to be cc’d on emails.
 5- Are hyper-aware of everything your employees are doing and
what they are up to.
 6- Always regret delegating your tasks to your subordinates.
 7- Are never satisfied with your workers’ deliverables.
 8- Think no one but you in the workplace is perfect.
 9- Discourage your workers’ use of creative methods to complete
your work.
 10- Are bossy, pompous, and self-centered.
 Final Thoughts on the Principles of Delegation
 Effective delegation is an important feature of good
managers. As a manager, your efforts to become a good
manager rests on the five principles of delegation of
authority: selecting the right task, clarifying the desired
result, choosing the right circumstance, identifying the right
person for the task, and providing the right supervision.

 Regardless of the delegating strategy you adopt, make sure

you often communicate with your staff, engender trust
among your workers, and avoid all the signs of a
micromanager.
 Questions - Вопросы

Discussions - Обсуждения
Thanks for Your Attention and
interaction
Спасибо за внимание и
взаимодействие

YES, WE CAN DO IT 
ДА, МЫ МОЖЕМ ЭТО

NOTHING IS IMPOSIBLE
НИЧЕГО НЕВОЗМОЖНОГО