Understanding Delegation: A Key Aspect of Management and Leadership

Delegation is a process associated with the assigning of duties, authority or responsibilities to an individual. They are assignments in the form of responsibilities that have to be accomplished for a specific purpose. It is a great aspect of management leadership. Despite the assignment of tasks to other individuals, the person that did the delegation still has some accountability over the particular task, and the achievement of the tasks reflects back to them. In management, delegation is very important in shifting the decision-making process to subordinates and is beneficial in empowering them (The Process of Delegation, 2017).

Process of Delegation

With delegation comes a certain level of authority to the task. It is completely different form micromanagement whereby a manager delegates a task and still has input and influence in the decision making associated with the task. The process of delegation occurs in a series of steps that include; assignment, transfer acceptance and accountability (Process of Delegation of Authority, 2017).

Assignment

This is the first step and is associated with the decisions about the duties that require delegation.  It occurs in the form of establishment of a list of task that needs to be worked on then defining the targets to be achieved by the tasks.  They are the made based on the employment roles of the subordinates (Process of Delegation of Authority, 2017).

Transfer

After the establishment of the task, the transfer of authority to the subordinate takes. Place. This is associated the full transfer authority of the task to the subordinate. The task will, therefore, be under the control of the subordinate where they will have to make decisions associated with accomplishing the targets based on the tasks. One important factor is that a manager needs to ensure that the authority transferred to the subordinate is specific to the task otherwise there is a likelihood of misuse of authority when too much is given (Process of Delegation of Authority, 2017).

Acceptance

The third step is the choice by the subordinate to either accept the assignment and authority or not. Acceptance is associated with accepting the tasks form the superior. Accepting the task means being responsible for the authority and working on the tasks to meet that targets specified by the superior. Sometimes subordinates reject delegation because they may lack the capacity in the form of expertise to perform the task or meet the targets that are associated with the tasks (Process of Delegation of Authority, 2017).

Accountability

Once the acceptance is made by the subordinate, then it is followed by the last stage which is accountability. This is associated with the subordinate creating obligations to be responsible and carrying out the tasks. It involves carrying out the operations of the task, making crucial decisions associated with it and making sure that the set targets are achieved effectively. The subordinate accepts the duties that come with the task, and there is limited to no influence or interference from the superior (Process of Delegation of Authority, 2017).

Conclusion

The delegation, therefore, differs from micromanagement because it offers full authority to the subordinate.  Another aspect is that when it is properly done, then it is not abdication. It is a great aspect of management and leadership. It is effective in saving time and costs since responsibilities can be done with less time when delegated to more than one person as compared to when a single individual does them all. It is a very good method of motivating subordinates and helps build the confidence and skills in management and decision making. When it is not properly done, then it leads to great levels of confusion and frustration (The Process of Delegation, 2017).