Delegation, Authority and Responsibility: A Reconfiguration of an old Paradigm

Management is often defined in simple terms as getting things accomplished through people. At the core of management practice is a process that involves assigning tasks to others (delegation), granting these individuals the right to accomplish them (authority) and holding them accountable for accomplishing the tasks (responsibility). The foundation of the delegation process rests on two widely held assumptions that have been raised to the level of tenets, maxims or even “principles” of management. These assumptions are that the delegation of a task does not release the delegator from the responsibility for task completion (“the absoluteness of responsibility”) and the idea that authority should equal responsibility (“the parity of responsibility and authority”). The purpose of this paper is to examine the inherent inconsistency and incompatibility of the tenets of management, to propose a reconfiguration of the delegation process more consistent with reality and to discuss how managers can enhance not only their performance but also the organization’s performance through an alternative model of management incorporating personal power.