DELEGATE POWER, OR KEEP IT CLOSE?
Summary:
Samantha Parks owner and CEO of SPARKS, a small agency that develops marketing strategies for high-fashion firms took care of most of the projects from start to end. As the firm expands she realizes that the work needs to be delegated so that it may not be totally dependent kind of a situation. There are two thoughts in this case, one is top executives need to stay close to the core of the business and another is outsourcing and delegating as much as you can so that executives can focus their attention towards most important decision making and control aspects.
Facts:
1) Samantha kept a tight rein on her business. 2) A hairstyling chain wants a new marketing and promotion strategy. 3) Should Samantha delegate or handle as usual? 4) As the firm is growing she would not be capable of handling many aspects.
Analyzing:
Delegation in general means giving responsibilities to co-workers. Samantha’s firm grew to extent where she has to delegate certain actions to her employees. The delegation should be appropriate for the success. The employee to whom the responsibility is given should be motivated. There is indeed a risk if the employee is not capable. It is important that Samantha herself identifies the importance and criticality of the project. If the project is important than she should take responsibility. Moreover Samantha should be aware of her capability. She can involve the employees in the delegation process so that the task can be understood. She may control the overall project by participating in the critical work but the participation should be in the way to advise and help the employee. She should not impose any constraint.
Conceptual background behind the case:
Power refers to the capacity of a person to influence the behavior of the other. Power becomes strong if there is more dependency.
Bases of power:
Legitimate power: the power which comes with the structural position in the organization.
Samantha has the legitimate power as she is the owner and CEO of the firm.
Expert power: skill, knowledge and expertise of a person is a power to influence the behaviour of other. In the case Samantha took care of major projects so she has skills, knowledge and if she delegates in a proper way she could actually get the job done.
Power tactics:
Tactics is the means which people use to translate their power into action. The important effective tactics are rational persuasion, inspirational appeal and consultation.
Rational persuasion: logical arguments and evidence demonstration to persuade.
Inspirational appeal: appealing the target with values, needs, and aspirations
Consultation: consulting with target so that the involvement may bring out the desired result.
Possible solutions:
Samantha should use the tactics to delegate the work to the subordinate. She has the power but to utilize it in a proper way is important. Above tactics can help her. By logical and evidence demonstration she can make employees to understand the work and act accordingly. Inspiring is also required to motivate the employee through their values and hopes. Consulting is the most powerful tool used because employee feels his importance and his behaviour changes towards the work.
Pressure is also one of the tactic but it is applied at last because it creates a kind of cautious in the minds of the employees and this may lead to failure.
Q/A
1 I would prioritize things based on the importance and requirement. Any project requires planning and organizing tasks into correct order so these parts of the project should not be delegated. Prioritizing is also important to control the task done by subordinates. I would like my employees to participate in the planning process and a group discussion would bring on some ideas. Employees are skilled so they may be able to help or suggest.
2 it is a very tough decision because employees are creative, skilled and if Samantha interferes they may not like it or feel responsible in doing anything. If we delegate things we should let people do it in their way. We can supervise or guide them. 3 executives in the organization takes care of the decision making , planning so they can control the project by delegating the work. Yes, they have the right to do it because if they do everything then employees will feel that are jus puppets in the company. Another concept is the unity of command which tells that if you delegate work then manager get a right to do thing in their way and any interruption would spoil work line. This happens when subordinates receives command from manager and executives.
4 planning, organizing, creative to some extent should not be delegated because customers or clients have many expectations. To fulfill that top executives should take care of the critical issues.
Delegation depends on the top executives whether they want full authority or not. Some people have ego because of their position and they don’t delegate until it is required. So any firm or company requires delegation at one point of time in the business to run it effectively. -------------------THANK YOU-----------------