1. Manning and Curtis state that effective delegation is an
important part of multiplying effectiveness in the workplace. In your own
words, explain why delegation is an important tool for a leader to use. What
are some of the possible effects if a leader fails to delegate responsibilities
amongst other employees?
2. You have been given a list of work duties to assign to
your employees, and you want to make sure that everyone is given a task that
they can complete successfully. What factors should you take into consideration
when deciding which employees are assigned which duties? How can you
effectively present each employee with their new responsibilities? Use concepts
presented to you in this unit along with outside research to formulate you
3. Everyone is different. Leaders have to consider the
personality traits of every member of their team and adjust their leadership
tactics to suit individual needs, but it can be a time consuming task trying to
get to know each employee. As a leader, what steps would you take to understand
the personalities of your employees without wasting valuable work time? Do you
feel it is beneficial to consider the role of personality or would you rather
divide work evenly and set a list of standards and deadlines for everyone to
*Note: Please answer
each question with a minimum of 250 words, with a total of 750 words or more
for the entire assignment. Use APA format only, to include in-text citations
and references. Divide answers per question when writing the paper so I know
which answer belongs to which question. I provided the unit material as well; please
use to help answer the questions. Let me know if you have any questions or
Unformatted Attachment Preview
14. Effective Delegation and How to Assign Work
15. The Role of Personality
WHEN I WAS BUILDING MICROSOFT, I set out to create an environment where
software developers could thrive. I wanted a company where engineers liked to
work. I wanted to create a culture that encouraged them to work together, share
ideas, and remain highly
After studying Part Y
Seven, you will be able to:
Multiply personal effectiveness by delegating authority.
Know the rules for effective delegation.
Know how to give orders.
Know the types of skills needed at each level of management.
Understand the importance
of person–position fit based on personality
types and job families.
B different types of people.
• Deal effectively with
U and needs of your own personality—traditional,
• Know the strengths
participative, or individualistic.
Effective Delegation and
How to Assign Work
he effective leader is an arithmetic
artist, subtracting and dividing when less
can be more, adding and compounding to achieve a greater good. In this way,
I and improves the effectiveness of the group.
the leader enlists the energies
Consider the case of Microsoft’sG
Bill Gates and the ability he has shown to multiply
his effectiveness through the efforts of others. See www.gatesfoundation.org.
H to do their jobs better than you can. Transfer
Gates writes: “Develop your people
your skills to them. This is exciting
T but it can be threatening to a manager who worries that he is training his replacement. Smart managers like to see their employees
increase their responsibilities because
it frees the managers to tackle new or undone
Successful leadership means picking the right people for the right assignments and
developing them. These followers are not clones of the leader, but are people who
have talents that may be dormantHor underdeveloped.
In her wonderful book Jesus CEO, management author Laurie Beth Jones writes
regarding targeted selection: “Who would pick someone who smells like fish and
R tax collector? Who would pick leaders from
mud? Who would pick an unpopular
filthy wharves and toil-filled fields?
R But He did, and together they changed the
Effective leadership involves Y
seeing qualities in others unknown to themselves and
treating others in a way that brings out their best. The effective leader uses the multiplication key—the ability to delegate—to develop others and achieve more success
than would otherwise be possible.
If you have doubts as to the importance
of delegation, consider that the life span of
most businesses is one and a half generations. The pattern is this: A person starts a
business, and it lasts through his9or her working lifetime. It takes successors only half
a working generation to put the company
out of business.3
The question is why? Surely the founder does not intend this result. The answer
B of failure to delegate power. By withholding
is failure to develop people because
authority, leaders guarantee that U
their companies will have short life spans. When the
leader is unable or unwilling to develop others through effective delegation, no
provision is made for continuation of the business and its lasting success.4
In today’s downsized, fast-paced, and high-tech workplace, delegation is not only
advisable but also necessary for success. All employees need to be involved if the full
value of their skills is to be realized.
There are two ways of exerting leadership strength: One is pushing down
through intimidation; the other is pulling up through delegation. Pulling up through
delegation is infinitely more effective, and it is the chosen approach of the successful
A role model for effective delegation was Thomas Alva Edison, the Wizard of
Menlo Park and the greatest inventor of the modern age. By the end of his life,
Edison was granted 1,093 patents for his inventions, one for every 11 days of his
14 / Effective Delegation and How to Assign Work
adult life. Edison gave credit for his success to the men he worked with, a mixed
crew of dreamers, gadgeteers, and craftsmen who worked as a team. A story that is
characteristic of him is one of delegation and trust: When Edison was working on
improving his first lightbulb, to the astonishment of onlookers, he handed a finished
bulb to a younger helper, who nervously carried it upstairs step-by-step to the vacuum machine. At the last moment, the boy dropped it. The whole team had to work
another twenty-four hours to make the bulb again, but when Edison looked around
for someone to carry it upstairs, he gave it to the same boy. The gesture probably
changed the young man’s life. Edison knew more than a lightbulb was at stake.5
Delegation Success Story
Think again of the famous success story of Herb Kelleher and Southwest Airlines—
this time as an instanceW
of truly effective delegation.
Herb Kelleher may have R
built Southwest Airlines from a doodle scratched on a cocktail napkin
to the most successful airline in history, but he is the first to say he did not do it alone. Caring,
competent and committedI leadership may be required, but literally thousands of turned-on
employees were also necessary. The triggering switch: effective delegation. Two notable
examples are Jim Parker, general counsel for 15 years and now CEO, and Colleen Barrett,
originally a secretary andH
now president of the company.6
There are many reasons leaders fail to delegate. Some do not know how. Others do
, will do the job as well as they themselves will. Others do
not think their employees
not trust their employees to follow through. Still others fail to delegate because they
fear their employees will show them up by doing a better job.
S failure to delegate should be corrected for two important
Regardless of the cause,
1. Delegation gives the
Eleader time to carry out important responsibilities in the areas
of establishing direction, aligning resources, and energizing people.
R who are bored and underused come alive when important
jobs are delegated to
2. Delegation helps prepare employees for more difficult tasks and additional
Delegation is the key to multiplying the effectiveness of the leader and the group
as a whole. Exercise 14–1
2 can be used to diagnose delegation strengths and areas for
improvement. Complete the exercise based on yourself as a leader or based on a
leader you know.
Answer each of the following 25 questions. Do not debate too long over any one; go with
your first reaction.
1. Do you spend more time than you should doing work your
employees could do?
2. Do you often find yourself working while your employees are idle?
3. Do you feel you should be able to answer personally any question
about any project in your area?
4. Is your in-box usually full?
5. Do your employees take initiative to solve problems without
Do you spend more time working on details than you do on
planning and supervising?
Do your employees feel they have sufficient authority over
facilities, and other resources for which they
Have you bypassed your employees by making decisions that were
part of their jobs?
6. Does your operation function smoothly when you are absent?
10. If you were incapacitated for an extended period of time, is there
S could take your place?
someone trained who
Hpile of work requiring your action when you
11. Is there usually a big
return from an absence?
12. Have you ever assigned
R a job to an employee primarily because it
was distasteful to you?
13. Do you know the interests and goals of every person reporting to you?
Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
14. Do you make it a habit to follow up on jobs you delegate?
15. Do you delegate complete
projects as opposed to individual tasks
Do you find it difficult
3 to ask others to do things?
Do you trust your employees
to do their best in your absence?
Are your employeesU
performing below their capabilities?
16. Are your employees trained to their maximum potential?
20. Do you always give credit for a job well done?
21. Do employees refer more work to you than you delegate to them?
22. Do you support your employees when their authority is questioned?
23. Do you personally do those assignments that only you could or
24. Does work pile up at any one point in your operation?
25. Do all your employees know what is expected of them in order
7 / Multiplying Effectiveness
Give yourself 1 point for each Yes answer for numbers 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20,
22, 23, and 25:
Give yourself 1 point for each No answer for items 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, 17, 19, 21,
Record your total score here:
You follow effective delegation practices that help the efficiency and
morale of your work group. These skills maximize your effectiveness as
a leader and help develop the full potential of your employees.
Your score is OK, but nothing special if you are striving for excellence in
leadership. To improve your delegation skills, review the questions you
missed and take appropriate steps so that you will not repeat those
13 and below
Delegation weakness is reducing your effectiveness as a leader. The
overall performance of your work group is lower than it should be
because you areG
either unable or unwilling to relinquish power to
others. In addition, delegation mistakes may cause dissatisfaction
H At the minimum, they will not develop job interest
and important skills
T unless you improve in this area. Remember Andrew
Carnegie’s admonition: “It marks a big step in a supervisor’s
development to, realize that other people can be called upon to help do
a better job than one can do alone.”9
14 / Effective Delegation and How to Assign Work
Steps and Rules for Effective
Figure 14–1 shows the steps for effective delegation.
The Steps for Effective
Select the person for the task
Define the task
Gain the subordinate’s views
Give authority and resources to perform the task
I / Reward results
The following rules for effective delegation apply to leading individuals as well as
groups. Leaders who incorporate
these rules will maximize the job performance and
work morale of employees,
increase the overall productivity of their work
Use checkpoints to review progress
Share power with employees. Fight the natural fear, common to all leaders, of
losing control. Remember,
to hoard your power is to lose it. Only by delegating
authority to others and
them accountable for results will you accomplish
more and greater work.
Don’t delegate the bad jobs, saving the good ones for yourself. Don’t be like the
R calls on her or his assistant for the dirty work, late-night
supervisor who always
work, and disciplining,
R reserving for her- or himself all the easy assignments and
the ones that bring reward.
Y Effective delegation requires knowing the aptitudes
Know your employees.
and interests of all your employees. If all else is equal, assign social tasks to
employees who enjoy dealing with people, fact-finding and report preparation
to those who enjoy2investigation and writing, and hands-on work to employees
who like personal involvement.
Include idea-oriented employees in brainstorm7
ing or in formulating policies. Capitalize on the special strengths of all your
Use delegation as a3development tool. Improve the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of employeesB
by delegating tasks that are meaningful and challenging and
that raise their abilities to new levels.
Delegate work fairly among all employees. Recognize the fact that some
employees have higher capacity levels, but don’t overburden those employees
while underworking others. Delegation that is perceived as unfair lowers the
morale and performance of both the overused and underused workers.
When you delegate authority, be sure to back your employees if that authority
is questioned. When all else is equal, support your employees. If someone has
made a mistake, discuss the mistake privately; then let that person correct the
problem him- or herself.
Let employees know what decisions they have authority to make and delegate
decision making to the lowest possible level. This approach improves effectiveness
and efficiency by avoiding referrals through many departments and levels of an organization to solve a problem or receive an answer.
7 / Multiplying Effectiveness
Delegate with consistency. Don’t go on delegation campaigns, overwhelming employees sometimes and underusing them other times.
Delegate whole tasks so that employees can see projects through to completion; allow sufficient time to get jobs done. Avoid the “Zeigarnik effect,” a term
attributed to the Russian researcher Bluma Zeigarnik, in which employee morale,
commitment, and performance deteriorate because employees are not able to finish
tasks. Work that has not been started may or may not be a motivator, but unfinished
tasks almost always demotivate.11
Insist on clear communication. Obtain agreement to provide regular feedback on
progress and problems. An effective technique is to post a visible calendar with
assignment due dates marked. Clear communication and conscientious follow-up
will ensure the success of delegated tasks.
Make good use of questions when delegating work. Encourage employees to ask
questions to clarify assignments. Also, ask what you can do to help them succeed.
Explain the importance of assignments.
Show employees how assigned tasks can
satisfy important individual needs,
as advance the goals of the organization.
Learn to live with work styles that are not like your own. Establish high standards
of performance and do not tolerate low-quality work; however, balance this
requirement with the fact thatG
no two people are exactly alike, and another
person’s approach to a task may
H not be the same as your own.
Avoid delegating tasks that are pets, personal, or petty. Some tasks should not
T is a pet, that is, one unique to your own interest
be delegated: (1) If an assignment
or skill, you should do it; perhaps
, no one else will be able to do it as well; (2) if a
task is private or personal, do it yourself; otherwise, it puts an unfair burden on
your employees; (3) if a task is petty, never delegate it; to do so lowers self-respect
and the respect of your employees.
Follow the three D’s for all work—do
it, delegate it, or ditch it. Do assignments
yourself; delegate work to competent employees as soon as possible; ditch
Edon’t let assignments pile up, as they will ultimately
unimportant tasks. In any case,
reduce the efficiency of your R
When people micromanage, they create a climate of distrust. This lowers morale
and destroys creativity. The micromanager
becomes a bottleneck in the flow of
communication and decision making. By applying proven rules for effective delegation,
leaders can multiply personal effectiveness, develop employee talents, have good
2 the highest possible level of job performance.
leader–follower relations, and obtain
Assigning Work Effectively
Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, walked into an online flea market and became
inspired. She joined the companyBand was successful because she recognized opportunity, made a decision, and gave the orders to make it work. Whitman knew people
she could depend on to get the job done, and she assigned work effectively. Assigning
work effectively is one of the most important skills of the successful leader. The
following is a list of proven principles for performing this leadership task:12
Consider the availability of the employee’s time and whether this is the ideal
person to do the job. If the employee’s schedule is heavily loaded, explain the
priority level of the work. A common mistake is for the leader to assign a job to
the one who can get it done, even if this is the same person over and over again.
This practice creates three problems: (a) The overworked employee becomes
resentful; (b) the overworked employee does not know the priority of many
assignments; and (c) the abilities of underworked employees are wasted or never
14 / Effective Delegation and How to Assign Work
Use work assignments as a means of developing people. If a task does not have
to be done perfectly or within a certain time period, try giving it to an employee
who has never done it before. Besides showing you have faith in the employee,
you will be developing another person who will be familiar with the job if the
regular performer is not available.
Know exactly what you want to communicate before giving an order. Confusion on the leader’s part creates doubt and lack of confidence in employees.
If you are giving a speech to your employees, prepare and practice it so that
what you say will be clear and understandable. If you are going to have a conference with your employees, make notes of the important points you want to
cover and refer to them, if needed, during the meeting. If you are assigning a
task, rehearse for clarity, and write it down if it is complex or has more than
one part or step.
If many duties or steps are involved in an order, follow oral communication
with a note, and keep
W a copy. Keeping records of important conferences, orders,
and rules can be helpful. As a reference, a note (short and to the point) can be an
R However, don’t become memo crazy; this practice encourexcellent memory aid.
ages defensive behavior
I and wastes both time and goodwill.
Ask rather than tell,
G but leave no doubt that you expect compliance. This
approach shows both courtesy and respect. The adage “You can catch more
H you can with vinegar” applies here. You can usually
bears with honey than
obtain more cooperation
T by asking for assistance than by commanding others
to do a job.
Use the correct language for the employee’s training level. Recognize the fact
that many people will not understand your words and terms as readily as you do.
Most occupations and
S jobs have abbreviations, slang words, and technical language
that the new or untrained person will not understand. What does “one BLT without,
Hemployee, particularly if the person is from a foreign country?
rush!’’ mean to a new
For such a person, understanding
the English language may be difficult, even
without acronyms and jargon.
Make assignments in a logical sequence, using clear and concise language.
People remember things
R best that are clearly stated. If you skip around and
are vague, employees will miss the point of your message or will easily
Be considerate but never apologetic when asking someone to do a job. Imagine that a water main
2 breaks on a …
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