Delegation in Supervision

Delegation in Supervision There are many responsibilities to being a supervisor. Delegation happens to be one big responsibility and obligation that needs to be handled appropriately in order for the supervisor and the company to be successful. The proper delegation of duties is a work of art and can be done either in the aspect of soft or hard delegation. Two issues that should be delegated by a supervisor are recording and stocking incoming shipments and handling small issues such as malfunctioning facilities. For a manager, the moment to delegate is when another individual or an outside organization can do a job cheaper, quicker, or in an enhanced manner than the manager can do it him or her self. Keeping the principle of delegating jobs to the right people always leads towards effective delegation. Successful managers are very vigilant about the subordinates they choose to perform a given assignment. Reverse delegation is when a manager delegates an assignment or job to a subordinate and in the end the manager winds up completing it oneself. According to Conger and Pearce (2003) reverse delegation is suitable if a subordinate is deficient in the time or capability to appropriately perform the task. Being the manager usually means that more expertise is involved and a greater level of knowledge than subordinates. Delegating tasks is important not as an offload of those that are undesirable but those that will allow for a more effective use of time. There are a number of assignments that can be easily delegated such as those that are repetitive, routine, require certain skills, and/or more suitable for another team member. Delegation also helps to improve the performance of subordinates while at the same time freeing up time for managerial tasks that are unable to be passed down the chain of command. By leading and controlling the assignment of new tasks or those of which the employee is inexperienced at performing through supervision and

References: Conger, J.A., & Pearce, C.L. (2003). Shared Leadership: Reframing the hows and whys of leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.