1.0       INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this standard procedure is to describe the process and methods for delegating authority.  The question of whether to delegate or not is often considered a personal choice on the part of many managers. In reality, there is no choice.  The Department Managers, Lead person cannot be successful in managing for the lowest possible cost, highest possible productivity, and maximized profit for Your Company, without delegation of authority and sharing responsibility to perform, along with structuring the accountability to perform through performance evaluations.  A basic principle of organizational management states that “sufficient authority shall be delegated to a manager to take the necessary action or actions to accomplish the Company’s objectives,” such as “ Sales Volumes, Inventories, Productivity, Project Completion within budget estimates, with client satisfaction.  Delegation of authority is one of the most frequently violated principles of organization.  The essence of the principle is that when an employee receives an assignment, he/she should automatically be granted the power of authority to carry the assignment to its completion.  To ensure the effectiveness for the process of delegation, it is very important that the employee have one and only one “boss” giving directions and delegating.  The employee should be given a direct explanation of who he/she is responsible to for the assignment. If this is not done, conflicting orders will result in confusion and loss of productivity and profitability.

 

 

2.0       PRINCIPLES OF DELEGATION

Choose an employee capable of performing the task and/or position responsibilities and give him/her the authority to perform the responsibility, and then also establish accountability for that performance by periodically conducting performance evaluations.  Clearly communicate the task to be performed.  Owner, General Manager, Managers, and Administrator together with the employee must agree on:

A.  Scope of assignment.

B.   Specific results to achieve.

C.  Time schedule for completion.

D.  Standard for successful performance measurement.

 

Delegate the jobs alternating to each team. (as long as the team can maintain schedule).  Train and develop your Operations, Assembly and Manufacturing Teams, to work together as an entity to accomplish the Pro-Active management of the company goals, with controls by the Administrative departments.  The most effective way to increase your span of authority (i.e. manage more responsibility, or take on more business), or to increase your discretionary time, is to have someone trained to fill some or all of your responsibilities when it becomes necessary.  Every attempt must be made to share responsibility gradually. Some positions simply require a passing of time for responsibility to grow naturally.  Avoid transferring responsibilities overnight. Be conscious of the amount of time that is needed to master an area of responsibility.  Delegate in advance.  Do not wait until a project, task or responsibility becomes a problem before delegating.  Every attempt must be made to delegate the task/project/assignment or responsibility as a whole.  Whenever possible delegate the entire project and/or functional responsibility to one responsible lead person, rather than assigning parts to many individuals.delegation must be done to achieve specific results.Consciously attempt to avoid listing your own method & style for the project scope, or function, rather attempt to detail the specific results required for the successful completion of assignments and/or function responsibility.  All functional departments within the organization must be informed of the shared responsibility and authority delegation levels within the organization.  This will ensure the full cooperation of all the personnel within the organization. Employees will

understand the shared responsibility, the authority delegated, and the accountability established within the organization.  Let the managers manage.  Follow up to determine the results achieved giving intermittent performance feedback whenever possible and appropriate.

 

3.0       SUMMARY

Develop and detail all results expected, the time frame, and any limits on authority to be exercised and used.  To avoid miscommunication, put into writing the results expected and any time frame agreed upon.  Allow the projects, tasks, and responsibilities shared to be performed according to the style of the lead person they are delegated to, within established Company policy and standard procedures, and hold them accountable for the results expected.  The successful lead persons and managers will effectively delegate. A successful business will be managed by managers who are not afraid to delegate. The manager who fails to delegate will be doomed to being “MANAGED BY ACTIVITIES” rather than being a “MANAGER OF ACTIVITIES”.  DELEGATION IS NOT ABDICATION !!  Authority can be delegated and responsibility shared, however the ultimate responsibility to see that the task is completed cannot be delegated. FOLLOW THROUGH WITH PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS!!  To determine what responsibilities should be shared, perform the following analysis. 

 

List all actions or tasks that you perform and determine which tasks should be appropriately delegated to subordinate functions and subordinate personnel.  Utilize the attached Daily Time Log for a period of time to determine what responsibility can be shared and which tasks should be delegated.  When delegating a task and/or sharing a responsibility to a subordinate function ask:

 

A.                 What level of authority is required?

B.                 Which subordinate function is closest to the situation?

C.                 Does the subordinate have the necessary skill & experience to assume the responsibility, or is additional training or coaching required?

D.                 How much coaching time will be required?

E.                  Is the task or responsibility clearly defined?

F.                  How can the accountability be evaluated?

 

Your task and/or responsibility list should be reduced by at least 50%.  Perform the above analysis at least annually, and more often if you find insufficient time to effectively manage your functional responsibility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAKE A LIST - HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE FOR DELEGATION - SOMEONE ELSE CAN DO IT!

A: TASKS THAT MAY NOT BE DELEGATED

B: TASKS THAT MAY BE DELEGATED

C: TASKS THAT MUST BE                                         DELEGATED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


DAILY TIME LOG TO RECORD DOWN-TIME: 

 

EMPLOYEE NAME:                            

 

DATE:                             

Time of Day

Task or Activity

Interruption

Time Lost

7:00

 

 

 

7:30

 

 

 

8:00

 

 

 

8:30

 

 

 

9:00

 

 

 

9:30

 

 

 

10:00

 

 

 

10:30

 

 

 

11:00

 

 

 

11:30

 

 

 

12:00

 

 

 

12:30

 

 

 

1:00

 

 

 

1:30

 

 

 

2:00

 

 

 

2:30

 

 

 

3:00

 

 

 

3:30

 

 

 

4:00

 

 

 

4:30

 

 

 

5:00

 

 

 

5:30

 

 

 

6:00

 

 

 

6:30

 

 

 

7:00

 

 

 

Interruption Code Definitions:

 

1.   ________________________________  4.   ___________________________

2.   ________________________________  5.   ___________________________

3.   ________________________________  6.   ___________________________


 

4.0 WHO’S GOT THE MONKEY?

How lack of delegation & established accountability keeps the monkey on your back and Techniques for taking the monkey off your back.  The effectiveness of decision authority not delegated to the appropriate level.  This analogy underscores the value of assigning, delegating and controlling - HOW MANY MONKEY’S DO Y0U HAVE?

 

In any organization, the manager’s, bosses, peers and subordinates, in return for their active support, impose some requirements, just as the Manager imposes some requirements upon them when they are drawing upon his or her support.  These demands constitute so much of the Manager’s time that successful leadership hinges on an ability to control this “monkey on the back” effectively.  Mr. Oncken is Chairman of the Board of the William Oncken Company of Texas, Inc., a management consulting firm.  Mr. Wass is President of the Company.

Why is it that managers are typically running out of time while their subordinates are typically running out of work?  In this article, we shall explore the meaning of management time as it relates to the interaction between managers and their bosses, their own peers and their subordinates.  Specifically, we shall deal with three different kinds of management time:

Boss-Imposes-Time: To accomplish those activities which the boss requires and which the manager cannot disregard without direct and swift penalty.

 

System-Imposed-Time: To accommodate those requests to the manager for active support from his or her peers.  This assistance must also be provided lest there be penalties, though not always direct or swift.

 

Self-Imposed-Time: To do those things which the manager originates or agrees to do.  A certain portion of this kind of time, however, will be taken by subordinates and is called “subordinate-imposed-time.”  The remaining portion will  be his or her own and is called “discretionary time.”  Self-imposed time is not subject to penalty since neither the boss nor the system can discipline the manager for not doing what they did not know the manager had intended to do in the first place.

 

The management of time necessitates that management get control over the timing and content of what they do.  Since what the bosses and system impose on them are backed up by penalty, managers cannot tamper with those requirements.  Thus their self-imposed time becomes their major area of concern.

The manager’s strategy is therefore to increase the “discretionary” component of their self-imposed activities.  Most managers spend much more subordinate-imposed time than they even faintly realize.  Hence we shall use a monkey-on-the-back analogy to examine how subordinate-imposed-time comes into being and what the superior can do about it.

WHERE IS THE MONKEY?

Let us imagine that a manager is walking down the hall and he notices one of his subordinates, Jones, coming up the hallway.  When they are abreast of one another, Jones greets the manager with “Good Morning.  By the way, we’ve got a problem.  You see....”  As Jones continues, the manager recognizes in this problem the same two characteristics common to all the problems his subordinates gratuitously bring to his attention.  Namely, the manager knows (a) enough to get involved, but (b) not enough to make the on-the-spot decision expected of him.  Eventually, the manager says “So glad you brought this up.  I’m in a rush right now.  Meanwhile, let me think about it and I’ll let you know.”  Then he and Jones part Company.

Let us analyze what just happened.  Before the two of them met, on whose back was the “monkey”?  The subordinates.  After they parted, on whose back was the “monkey”?  The managers.  Subordinate-imposed time begins the moment a monkey successfully executes a leap from the back of the subordinate to the back of his or her superior and does not end until the monkey is returned to its proper owner for care and feeding.

In accepting the monkey, the manager has voluntarily assumed a position subordinate to his subordinate.  That is, he allowed Jones to make him subordinate by doing two things a subordinate is generally expected to do for his boss - the manager accepted a responsibility from his subordinate, and the manager promised Jones a progress report.

The subordinate, to make sure the manager does not miss the point, will later stick his or her head in the manager’s office and cheerily query “How’s it coming?”  (This is called “supervision.”)

Or let us imagine again, in concluding a working conference with another subordinate, Johnson, the manager’s parting words are “Fine. Send me a memo on that.”

Let us analyze this one.  The monkey is now on the subordinate’s back because the next move is his, but is poised for a leap.  Watch that monkey!  Johnson dutifully writes the requested memo and drops it in his out basket.  Shortly thereafter, the manager plucks the requested memo from his or her in basket or from his or her desk and reads it.  Whose move is it now?  The Manager’s.  If he or she does not make a move soon, the manager will get a follow-up memo from the subordinate (another form of the subordinate supervising the manager instead of the manager supervising the subordinate).  The longer the manager delays, the more frustrated the subordinate will become (he or she will be “spinning their wheels”) and the more guilty the manager will feel and (his or her backlog of subordinate-imposed time will be mounting).

Or suppose once again that at a meeting with a third subordinate, Smith, the manager agrees to provide all the necessary