SHAHEED BHAGAT SINGH EVENING

COLLEGE
DELHI UNIVERSITY
MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS
 DELEGATION AND
DECENTRALISATION OF AUTHORITY
Name- Divyansh
Roll no.- 2023/1020
Submitted to:- Prof.
Kavita Yadav
 INTRODUCTION

CONCEPT OF DELEGATION OF
AUTHORITY

agenda IMPORTANCE OF DELEGATION OF

AUTHORITY

PROCESS OF DELEGATION

PRINCIPLES OF DELEGATION

DIFFICULTIES IN DELGATION
INTRODUCTION
Authority
Authority is the legitimate right of a superior to command and require
his subordinates to perform certain activities. According to Henry
Fayol authority is "the right to give orders and the power to
exact obedience". A manager's authority is his privilege to take
decisions and the power to enforce those decisions. Authority also
involves the right to use organizational resources. "Applied to the
managerial job authority is the power to command others to act or
not to act in a manner deemed by the possessor of the authority to
further enterprise for departmental purpose." Allen defines authority
as "the sum of powers and rights and entrusted to make
possible the performance of the work delegated". Thus
authority is the right to decide or act and thereby guide the actions of
others
Responsibilit
y
The term 'responsibility' has been interpreted in two different ways.
Some writers define it as duty while others call it an obligation.
According to Mcfarland, "responsibility is the duties and
activities assigned to a position or to an executive". However in
a more comprehensive sense responsibility can be defined as the
obligation of a subordinate to perform the duties or activities
assigned to him.

According to Haimann, "responsibility is the obligation of subordinate

to perform the duty as required by his superior". Responsibility should
be differentiated from duty which is merely a task or a function to be
performed. Responsibility is the obligation to perform the assigned
duties faithfully. When a duty is assigned to a subordinate it becomes
his obligation to perform the assigned task to the best of his ability
and as per the instructions of the superior. The responsibility is the
obligation to perform certain functions and achieve certain results. It
is a liability for the proper discharge of duties.
Accountabilit
y
Accountability refers to the obligation of an individual to report
formally to his superior for the proper discharge of his responsibility. It
is the answerability of a subordinate to render an account of his
activities to his superior. The person who accepts responsibility is
accountable for the performance of the assigned duties. "To be
accountable is to be answerable for once conduct in respect to
obligation fulfilled or unfulfilled". Accountability is the obligation of an
individual to keep his superior informed of his use of authority and
accomplishment of assigned tasks. Accountability grows out of the
responsibility and goes hand in hand with it. Just as responsibility is a
derivative of authority accountability is a derivative of responsibility.
HAWTHORNE
EXPERIMENTS
Delegation
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE
EXPERIMENTS AND THEIR IMPACT
CONCEPT OF DELEGATION
A manager in an organization cannot himself do all the work
necessary for the accomplishment of organizational objectives.
Therefore, he assigns some part of his work to his subordinates and
gives them necessary authority. This process of granting authority to
the subordinates and exacting responsibility from them is known as
delegation of authority. According to Allen, delegation is "the
process a manager follows in dividing the work assigned to
him so that he performs that part which only he, because of
his unique organizational placement, can perform effectively
and so that he can get others to help him with what remains".
Delegation is the act of passing authority from one manager or
organizational unit to another for the purpose of accomplishing jobs.

Delegation takes place "when one person gives another the

right to perform work on his behalf and in his name and the
second person accepts a corresponding duty or obligation to
do what is required of him". Delegation takes place when
authority is vested in a subordinate by a superior.
IMPORTANCE OF DELEGATION
Following are some of the important advantages of delegation:-

1. Delegation relieves the manager from heavy workload:

Delegation enables him to concentrate on important functions like
planning and control. A manager can delegate routine decisions to
subordinates and can deal with vital policy issues himself.
2. Delegation leads to better decisions: Decisions are taken by
subordinates closest to the scene of action. Generally, they have a
better view of the situation than their superior.
3. Delegation speeds up decision making: Subordinates are
authorized to take the necessary decision on the spot. They need
not check with their superiors. Valuable time is saved in dealing
with problems as no cumbersome information systems are
involved.
4. Improves motivation and morale of subordinates: Delegation
satisfies the demands for recognition and responsibility. It is one of
the best techniques for satisfying ego needs and for motivating
subordinates to better performance.
PROCESS OF DELEGATION
The elements or steps involved in the process of delegation are as
follows:

1. Assignment of duties: First of all, a manager assigns duties or

tasks to his subordinates. The duties or functions to be performed
by a subordinate must be defined in clear and precise terms. The
results are targets which the subordinates are expected to achieve
or should also be specified. Expression of duties in terms of
functions or targets will enable the subordinates to know by what
standards their performance will be evaluated.
2. Granting of authority: Adequate authority is delegated to
subordinates to enable them to perform the assigned duties.
Subordinates are given the right to use resources to hire and fire
people, to represent the superior, etc.
3. Creation of an obligation: The third stage involves exaction of
responsibility from the subordinates for accomplishing the
assigned tasks. Once a person accepts a duty and the authority for
it, he becomes responsible for the satisfactory performance of his
PRINCIPLES OF DELEGATION
There are some basic principles that serve as guidelines for effective
delegation of authority. These principles are given below:

• Functional definition: The function and goals of every position

and its relationship with other positions should be clearly defined.
The duties, objectives and policies must be fully explained to the
subordinates.
• Parity of authority and responsibility: Authority should be co-
terminus and co-extensive with the responsibility of the
subordinate. It is unfair to hold a person responsible for result
when he is not given adequate authority. Responsibility without
authority causes frustration and authority without responsibility
leads to misuse of power.
• Absoluteness of responsibility: Responsibility is absolute and it
cannot be delegated. An executive cannot abdicate his obligation
to his own superior by delegating his authority. Rather his
responsibility is increased because he becomes accountable for
the actions of his coordinates in addition to his own action.
• Delegation by results expected: Authority should be delegated
• Unity of command: Every person should receive orders from and be
accountable to be only one superior. No person can simultaneously
serve two masters well. If a person is responsible to two superiors,
confusion and friction occurs.
• Authority level principle: Subordinates should be permitted to
exercise discretion and judgment within limits of delegated authority.
Only those matters should be referred to the higher level which
cannot be dealt with effectively at the lower levels. This is also known
as exception principle.
• Clarity of delgation: The limits of authority delegated to
subordinates must be clearly defined. Clear limits of authority will
enable subordinates to know their area of operation and the extent of
freedom of action and to exercise initiative.
• Completeness of delegation: A Ummll the necessary tasks in the
enterprise should be assigned. Unassigned tasks or gaps will result in
lack of desired performance. At the same time, there should be no
overlaps and splits, responsibility for the same task should not be
assigned to more than one individual or organizational unit.
Otherwise there will be confusion of authority and responsibility.
DIFFICULTIES IN DELEGATION
Delegation of authority appears to be a simple process. But in
practice several psychological and organizational obstacles arise in
effective delegation of authority. These barriers or hurdles to effective
delegation may arise both due to the superior in the subordinates.

On the part of the superior

• Lack of willingness to let go: A manager may like to dominate

decision making at every step. His love for authority and his fear of
loss of power hamper the process of delegation. He is unwilling to
delegate authority.
• Lack of receptiveness: Some managers have temperamental
aversion to taking a chance. They suffer from the fallacy, they
have an inflated sense of their own worth and do not give their
subordinates the authority to take decisions. Such a manager
consider himself indispensable. He does not welcome ideas of
others and wants to perform all tasks himself.
• Lack of confidence in subordinates: A manager is reluctant to
delegate when he does not have confidence in the capacity and
On the part of subordinate

• Lack of self-confidence: A subordinate will hesitate to

accept responsibility of delegation when he does not have
confidence in his own capacity and initiative.
• Lack of information and resources: A subordinate may
be reluctant to accept a new assignment if he feels that
adequate information assistance and resources are not
available to help him discharge his duties properly.
Subordinates may be already overburdened with work.
• Lack of positive incentives: In the absence of personal
gain, subordinates may be unwilling to shoulder extra
responsibility. The positive incentives may be financial or
non-financial eg:- recognition, praise, promotion, etc.
• Fear of criticism: When a subordinate is afraid of
committing mistakes and cannot tolerate criticism for
mistakes, he avoids accepting delegation. He likes to play it
safe.
• Dependence on the boss: Some subordinates prefer to
REFERENCES
E- REFERENCES BOOK REFERENCES

• https://ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/hrmp02/chapter/h • New era of

awthorne-experiment/ management by
Richard L. Daft
• HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL
• Mangement Principles
LIBRARY and Applications by Dr.
• https://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/hawthorne/04.h
tml#four Shruti Mathur & Dr.
C.B. Gupta
Thank you!
Name- Divyansh
Roll no.- 2023/1020
Submitted to:- Prof.
Kavita Yadav