It means conferring of specified authority by a higher to a lower authority. It is the devolution of authority by a person to his agent or subordinate subject to his right of control and supervision. Delegation may be downward, upward or sideward. Delegation is a composite process of many elements of activity. It means when someone is given a particular duty to perform, he must be given a corresponding authority to perform that duty satisfactorily. Also he would be accountable for the results and manner in which he exercises his authority.The need for delegation arises because it is not possible for a single person to carry out all the works by himself to carry out decision results. It is necessary to develop the worker by proper training to carry out decision making jobs also, for the effective and speedy implementation of programmes and policies, delegating authority has come as a solution.
It is not abdication of responsibility and doesn’t connote the transfer of final authority. The superior delegating authority doesn’t surrender his overall responsibility and retain the power of inspection , supervision, control and review. At any point of time, he can revoke his delegation and take back all the authority. Delegation of authority is more than simple assigning duties to others in detail. The essence delegation is to confer discretion upon others and to use judgement in meeting specific problems within the framework of their duties. Thus, in a delegation both the delegators have authorities vested in them at the same time.
The hindrances to delegation can be grouped as psychological or attitudinal , organisational and situational. Certain mechanism are suggested to solve this dilemma.
- Planned and regular official contact with the staff. This can bring more interaction whereby ideas and problems are exchanged and discussed.
- A systematic plan for reporting and reviewing operational records and documents.
To assess the effectiveness of a system of delegation of authority some general principles are laid down, like ,delegation of authority should be specific and be in a written form, policies , regulation and procedures should be well defined so as to assure uniformity of interpretations in the organisation. That authority which can be exercised fully and safely at lower levels should be delegated. The right to decide about the form of response to an operational challenge or problem is best to be delegated to the lowest practicable level. Delegation should follow the normal line of command and must be made to post, rather than to an individual. Authority should never be delegated to an individual, if it had not been delegated to his superior except with his implied consent. Distribution of authority at comparable levels should be uniform. All parts of the organisation should be familiar with the repositories of responsibility and authority and extent thereof. Delegations should be planned in such a way that they are integrated with the systematic development of a competent and trained staff and conforming to other operational plans and policies as well.
