Delegation of Authority
The function may either be a line function or a staff
function; but still it requires decision making. As one person cannot plan,
execute and control all the tasks in the functions, owing to the limitations of
time and capacity, it is necessary that the decision making is not centralized
at one point.
Handing over limited authority of decision making to the
subordinates is called delegation. The concept of delegation is based on the
premise that an individual can take decisions if supported by information,
knowledge and guidance, and is motivate enough to perform. The concept of delegation accepts the
responsibility of non-performance of the delegated person or the mistakes made
by him. Hence, most routine types of
decisions are delegated with the support of rules, conditions and the method of
decision making.
The failure in delegation occurs not because of the lack of
understanding of the principle of delegation, but because of the inability to
implement it into practice. A lot
depends upon the ability of the manager to delegate and upon the capabilities of
the subordinates to use the authority. The manager is not able to delegate, if
he does not have a positive attitude towards delegation, if he is not receptive
to the subordinates' ideas and is not willing to accept the risk of failure or
mistakes of his subordinates. A failure to use the delegated authority emanates
from a lack of communication, guidance, training and motivation.
