Organising Test - 4

Elements of delegation are 

• Authority
• Responsibility
• Accountability

       Responsibility is derived from authority and accountability is derived from responsibility.

Principle of Absoluteness applies to Accountabilty. It means it can never be passed or delegated. The superior always remain accountable for the work delegated to the subordinates.

Accountability is the obligation to complete the job or to meet the responsibility.  It arises from responsibility.

Delegation begins with sharing of responsibilities with the subordinates. Superior deliberately passes some of his responsibilities to his subordinates. After passing responsibilities the superior shares his authorities.

Authority is the right to take decision due to formal managerial position. It determines superior subordinate relationship. It flows downward from superior to subordinate.

Authority arises from formal job positions. It flows from top to bottom.  Superior communicates his decisions to subordinates expecting compliance from him as per his directions. Thus it involves right to command.

Under decentralisation, the authority is systematically divided at every level of management. The management is entrusted with operational authority to take decisions on jobs assigned to them.

Authority delegated should be matched with the responsibility. If authority delegated is more than the responsibility then it will be misused. Therefore the authority should be taken back to match with responsibility.

Decentralisation refers to distribution of power and authority at every level of management. Thus it increases the role of subordinates and provides them more autonomy.

The managers can not perform all the tasks on their own. To reduce their burden, managers delegate their less important work to their subordinates. So that the managers can concentrate on their important work.