Delegation is the assignment of responsibility or authority to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. It is one of the core concepts of management leadership.
However, the person who delegated the work remains accountable for the outcome of the delegated work. Delegation empowers a subordinate to make decisions, i.e. it is a shift of decision-making authority from one organizational level to a lower one. Delegation, if properly done, is not abdication. The opposite of effective delegation is micromanagement, where a manager provides too much input, direction, and review of delegated work. In general, delegation is good and can save money and time, help in building skills, and motivate people. Poor delegation, on the other hand, might cause frustration and confusion to all the involved parties. Some agents however do not favour a delegation and consider the power of making a decision rather stressful.
Delegation is one of the most important management skills. These logical rules and techniques will help you to delegate well (and will help you to help your manager when you are being delegated a task or new responsibility - delegation is a two-way process!). Good delegation saves you time, develops your people, grooms a successor, and motivates. Poor
delegation will cause you frustration, demotivates and confuses the other person, and fails to achieve the task or purpose itself. So it's a management skill that's worth improving. Here are the simple steps to follow if you want to get delegation right, with different levels of delegation freedom that you can offer.
Delegation is a very helpful aid for succession planning, personal development - and seeking and encouraging promotion. It is how we grow in the job - delegation enables us to gain experience to take on higher responsibilities. Delegation is vital for effective leadership
Delegation and SMART, or SMARTER
A simple delegation rule is the SMART acronym, or better still, SMARTER. It's a quick checklist for proper delegation. Delegated tasks must be:
Specific
Measurable
Agreed
Realistic
Timebound
Ethical
Recorded
Traditional interpretations of the SMARTER acronym use 'Exciting' or 'Enjoyable', however, although a high level of motivation often results when a person achieves and is given recognition for a particular delegated task, which in itself can be exciting and enjoyable In truth, let's be honest, it is not always possible to ensure that all delegated work is truly 'exciting' or 'enjoyable' for the recipient. More importantly, the 'Ethical' aspect is fundamental to everything that we do, assuming you subscribe to such philosophy.
The Steps of Successful Delegation
1. Define the task
2. Select the individual or team 3. Assess ability and training needs 4. Explain the reasons
5. State required results 6. Consider resources required 7. Agree deadlines
8. Support and communicate 9. Feedback on results
Levels of Delegation - Examples
These examples of different delegation levels progressively offer, encourage and enable more delegated freedom. Level 1 is the lowest level
of delegated freedom (basically none). Level 10 is the highest level typically (and rarely) found in organizations.
a. "Wait to be told." or "Do exactly what I say." or "Follow these instructions precisely."
b. "Look into this and tell me the situation. I'll decide."
c. "Look into this and tell me the situation. We'll decide together."
d. "Tell me the situation and what help you need from me in assessing and handling it.
e. "Give me your analysis of the situation (reasons, options, pros and cons) and recommendation.
f. "Decide and let me know your decision, and wait for my go-ahead before proceeding."
g. "Decide and let me know your decision, then go ahead unless I say not to."
h. "Decide and take action"
i. "Decide and take action."
j. "Decide where action needs to be taken and manage the situation accordingly."
What to Delegate
There is always the question of what to delegate and what to do yourself, and you must take a long term view on this: you want to delegate as much as possible to develop you staff to be as good as you are now.
The starting point is to consider the activities you used to do before you were promoted. You used to do them when you were more junior, so someone junior can do them now. Tasks in which you have experience are the easiest for you to explain to others and so to train them to take over. You thus use your experience to ensure that the task is done well, rather than to actually perform the task yourself. In this way you gain time for your other duties and someone else becomes as good as your once were (increasing the strength of the group). Tasks in which your staffs have more experience must be delegated to them. This does not mean that you relinquish responsibility because they are expert, but it does mean that the default decision should be theirs. To be a good manager though, you should ensure that they spend some time in explaining these decisions to you so that you learn their criteria.
Decisions are a normal managerial function: these too should be delegated - especially if they are important to the staff. In practice, you will need to establish the boundaries of these decisions so that you can live with the outcome, but this will only take you a little time while the delegation of the remainder of the task will save you much more.
Delegation may be direct or indirect. Direct delegation is usually “verbal direction by the RN delegator regarding an activity or task in a specific nursing care situation”. In this case, the RN decides which staff member is capable of performing the specific task or activity. Indirect delegation is “an approved listing of activities or tasks that have been established in policies and procedures of the health care institution or facility”
The Five Rights of Delegation
1. Right task
2. Right circumstances 3. Right person
4. Right direction/communication 5. Right supervision/evaluation Supervision
Supervision is more direct and requires directly overseeing the work or performance of others. Supervision includes checking with individuals throughout the day to see what activities have been completed and what may still need to be finished.
Factors for Determining if Client Care Activity should be Delegated
• Potential for harm to the patient
• Complexity of the nursing activity
• Extent of problem solving and innovation required
• Predictability of outcome
• Extent of interaction Barriers to Delegation
Many nurses, particularly new ones, have difficulty delegating. The reasons for this include experience issues, licensure issues, and quality- of-care issues.
ITQ
What steps makes a successful delegation?
Feedback
The following steps makes a successful delegation. These include defining the task, Select the individual or team, Assess ability and training needs, Explain the reasons, State required results, Consider resources required, Agree deadlines, Support and communicate, and Feedback on results.
Study Session Summary
In this Study Session, We stated the functions of staffing as well as the objectives and steps of staffing. Lastly, we discussed performance evaluation and explained the concept of delegation of responsibility
Summary
Assessment
Assessment
SAQ 5.1 (tests Learning Outcome 5.1)
What is Delegation? How does it improve Nursing Care
Bibliography
Reading
http://www.managementstudyguide.com/staffing-function.htm http://www.slideshare.net/ChiKititay/nursing-leadership-and- management-staffing
Study Session 6
Functions and Components of Management Motivation
Introduction
Motivation is the general desire or willingness of someone to do something. In this study session, we will examine the concept of motivation. We will also discuss the process of motivation and list its type. To conclude, we will examine forms and various strategies for motivation.
Learning Outcomes
Outcomes
When you have studied this session, you should be able to:
6.1 Define motivation
6.2 Discuss the process of motivation 6.3 List the types of motivation
6.4 Examine forms and various strategies for motivation
Terminology
Motivation The reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way
Reinforcement The process of encouraging or establishing a belief or pattern of behaviour, especially by encouragement or reward