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Delegating as a Manager
Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
Delegating as a Manager
DELEGATION AND
EMPOWERMENT

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Delegating as a Manager
Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
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Delegating as a Manager
Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Delegating as a Manager
Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
Delegation is not just a technique for dealing with people on
a one-to-one basis. It can also be a leadership style, a
problem-solving technique and an organisational strategy.
As a leadership style, it contrasts with other styles such as
the directive and consultative. As a problem-solving
technique, it can be used in any situation where you want to
help people. As a strategy, it is a key concept in how many
organisations think and plan today. Style, technique and
strategy make the delegation idea.

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Delegating as a Manager
Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
HOW TO MANAGE PEOPLE
A management philosophy is the thinking that underlies
management attitudes at work. In the 20th century there
were three different philosophies about how people should
be managed, each one being in the ascendant at different
periods of the century and represented by different styles of
motor car manufacturing.
1900's to 1940's: The Directive style as represented by the
Ford Motor company's assembly line approach to making
cars.
1940's to 1980's: The Democratic style as represented by
the Volvo approach to making cars.
1980's onwards: The Delegated style as represented by the
Japanese Nissan approach to making cars.

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MTL Course Topics
MANAGEMENT STYLES
The development of organisational philosophies during the
20th century mirrors the development of organisations
themselves. When young and growing, organisations tend
to be Directive in style. When they become established and
larger, they tend to be more Democratic. In time, as parts of
the organisation go their own individual ways, the
organisation adopts a Delegated style.
1. Directive: The Directive style is controlling,
entrepreneurial, individual-based and dictatorial. It is
the relationship of father to child.
2. Democratic: The Democratic style is specialised,
communicating, organising, systems-based, managerial,
nurturing. It is the relationship of mother to child.
3. Delegated: The Delegated style is self-managing, hands-
off, based on teams and team leadership. It is the
relationship of adult to adult.

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Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
THE FORD MODEL
The following summarises the Directive philosophy of
management as represented by the Ford model.
Organisational philosophy: Profit; capitalist; economic;
workers are motivated by money only.
Management style: Management role is to control
everything.
Production: Standardised; measured; repetitive;
mechanistic.
Environment: Stable, predictable, monopolistic.
Workers: ...output is measurable.
Customer tie-in: Product-led, the customer is only
interested in price. "You can have any colour as long as it's
black" (Ford slogan)
Country of origin: USA
Organisational example: Ford, General Motors

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Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
THE VOLVO MODEL
The following summarises the Democratic philosophy of
management as represented by the Volvo model.
Organisational philosophy: Organisations have a social
dimension; workers are organised around semi-autonomous
teams.
Management style: Consultative and democratic.
Production: Standardised and measured but includes job
rotation, job enrichment, the building of whole cars by
teams.
Environment: Relatively stable; increasingly competitive.
Workers: ...teamwork.
Customer tie-in: Room for variation.
Country of origin: Scandinavia

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MTL Course Topics
THE VOLVO STYLE
This is the text of a Volvo advertisement that appeared in
April 1990. It summarises the social approach to managing.
"Henry Ford started the assembly plant. Now Volvo has
stopped it. For natural reasons.
Inside Volvo's latest car plant at Udevalla on Sweden's west
coast is "the greatest step forward in the history of modern
car production."
The assembly line is gone; instead a small team builds a
complete car. The team see themselves as a family. Their
way of making cars is more natural and often more efficient
than the traditional assembly line. They confirm Volvo's
belief that responsibility, involvement, comradeship and joy
increase work satisfaction and raise product quality.
Volvo's thinking is quite natural: build a car with
commitment, pay attention to quality and the customer will
soon notice the difference."

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Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
THE NISSAN MODEL
The following summarises the Delegated philosophy of
management as represented by the Nissan model.
Organisational philosophy: Organisations exist to fulfil long-
term missions for the benefit of the community.
Management style: Delegated and empowered.
Production: High use of technology. Self-managed, highly
trained and educated groups.
Environment: Unstable and changing.
Workers: The difference that makes the difference.
Customer tie-in: Total quality; right first time; zero defects;
quality first.
Country of origin: Japan

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THE NISSAN STYLE
In Japanese organisations, the "company" means "family"
and employees are like children in the family. Japanese
organisational charts show only collective units, not
individual positions or title or names. The business goal is to
survive and motivation comes from belonging to the group.
Competition is a sin and co-operation is all. The employee's
sense of identification comes from the group's prestige
within the organisation. Training, loyalty, sacrifice and
diligence are looked on as key qualities. Loyalty to the group
is a respected personal attribute, akin to personal integrity
in the West.
Work groups provide social bonds of great importance.
People don't want to be left out. Daily routines are about
group routines. When a Japanese worker retires, he rarely
misses the work but invariably misses the group.

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Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
PHILOSOPHY IN ACTION
The delegated style of management can be seen in...
1. allowing employees to participate in decisions instead
of shutting them out
2. open communications instead of closed
3. managers as helpers instead of controllers
4. person-centred learning instead of manager-centred
telling
5. teamwork instead of individualism
6. problem-solving counselling instead of discipline
7. facilitating group development instead of telling the
group what to do.
Moving to a delegated management style can happen in one
of two ways: through the natural evolution of the
organisation or through a major change in culture and
philosophy. In today's world of rapid change, the option of
taking time to evolve is less and less a viable one.

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MTL Course Topics
THE LIONS’ LAWS
Twenty-four hours before leaving on their first tour of South
Africa since the end of apartheid, the British Lions rugby
team produced a list of rules of conduct to see them
through the tour.
Unlike their counterparts in the English cricket teams, the
rules were not given to them by management but were
drawn up by the team themselves. The list was summarised
under 21 bullet points covering areas such as "discipline",
"cohesion", and "no cliques". For example, under
"discipline", the team decided there would be no alcohol
before any match; under "no cliques", they agreed that at
any social function or when travelling, they would aim to sit
next to someone they didn't know well.
The rules were printed and given to all 47 members of the
touring party. There were few serious problems on the tour
and contrary to expectations, the team won the series.

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Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
INTRAPRENEURING
One of the logical consequences of the Delegating
management style is that self-managing teams will develop
within the organisation and start to see themselves as mini-
businesses within it. Geoffrey Pinchot in his book
"Intrapreneurship" calls such teams internal entrepreneurs
or intrapreneurs.
Pinchot says that such a culture can be fostered by...
1. leaders who protect and encourage innovation
2. leaders who encourage others to become leaders
3. leaders who create a central vision and provide justice
so that others can be free to work out their ideas safely
4. leaders who create a sense of community by sharing
information, problems and rewards.
"The alternative to corporate bureaucracy is not merely
training your people to behave in an empowering way...but
in developing a system of freedoms we call free intraprise."

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Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
EVERYONE A LEADER
Delegated forms of management not only blur the boundary
between leaders and followers, they create the paradox that
everyone in the team is their own leader.
The mark of the leader is the application of skills such as
working out a personal vision that ties in with that of the
organisation; developing values in line with the vision; and
through commitment and enthusiasm setting the pace for
others to follow.
"Mention the word leadership and the vast majority of folks
think of Gandhi or Churchill or Iacocca. In doing so, they
raise the concept to a level where it seems relevant to a
handful of people at most. But leadership with a small "l" is
of incredible importance. Needless to say, it would greatly
help if we could get more people to think of leadership in
the small "l" sense and not just the larger-than-life capital
"L" sense." (John Kotter)

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Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
I - WE - YOU
The evolution of management styles from directive through
democratic to delegated is the evolution from what "I, the
boss" wants to what "we, the organisation" wants to what
"you, the team" wants.
1. When the management style is "I", others have little say
in how things are done. This means that the boss rules
or the rules rule. Suggestions from the team fall on deaf
ears and soon dry up.
2. When the management style is "we", everything about
the job is open for discussion, even if the final decisions
are made by management alone.
3. When the management style is "you", it is the views and
actions of the team that matter most. The manager now
acts as facilitator, motivator and supporter to the team.
The application of these styles can be made to any
management activity including planning and review.

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MTL Course Topics
THE DELEGATING PLANNER
Planning has traditionally been a management preserve
since it is closely tied in to the acquisition and use of
resources. Yet planning can be quite easily delegated to
members of the team if they know what's required.
Individuals who make their own day-to-day plans have a
greater sense of ownership. Team planning can be
immeasurably superior to what one manager alone can do.
The command-and-tell manager says: "There's an extra
order that's just come in. We'll have to work this weekend. I
know you didn't really want to, but, Joe, you and Ann will
have to do Saturday."
The delegating manager says: "There's an extra order that's
just come in. Thornton's are an important customer as you
know. Can I leave you to work out the best plan? Let me
know what you decide."

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MTL Course Topics
DELEGATING PROBLEMS
Many workplace problems arise because management
ignore the contribution from the people closest to the
problem.
The command-and-tell manager says: "That's the third
week running we've been late with Thornton's order. Joe,
I've decided you'll have to go on packing; and Ann, you'll
have to go on QC."
The delegating manager says: "That's the third week
running we've been late with Thornton's order. What's gone
wrong?“
"As a manager it is very tempting to tell others what to do.
They come to us with a problem and if we solve it we feel
smart. However, we have failed in two ways. Firstly, we have
failed to grow them by taking their problem away from
them; and secondly, in this rapidly-changing world, we are
taking a big risk giving them yesterday's solutions to today's
problems." (Sir John Harvey-Jones)

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Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
ANN AND PHIL
Ann is an established supervisor who uses delegation as her
primary way of managing her team. Phil is a new team
leader.
Phil: Ann, can you explain how you do delegating?
Ann: Well, I don't really think about how I do it, Mark. It's
second nature most of the time.
Phil: How do you mean?
Ann: Well, if I get any problems with the team, I'll always
leave my mind open and see what they've got to say first.
Take Julia, for example. I knew she'd started taking time off
which was a bit unusual for her. When I asked her what was
wrong, she eventually told me she was having problems at
home. That's when I could have come on strong. But I
didn't. I asked her outright what she wanted me to do and
that's when she came up with the idea about the job share
idea. Which works fine.
Phil: I see.
Ann: It's really about keeping an open mind and telling
yourself that where others are concerned they know far
more about their problem than you're ever going to.

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MTL Course Topics
DELEGATING REVIEWS
When an individual or the team appraise their own
performance, it is invariably a more honest and useful way
of reviewing than appraisal by someone else such as the
team leader or manager. A combination that works
particularly well is for managers to provide statistics and
facts and for the team to draw conclusions from them.
The command-and-tell manager says: "The output figures
for last week were 20% below plan. I've looked at the
records. I think we could do a lot better on downtime. From
next week, I want to hear about any downtime above five
minutes."
The delegating manager says: "The output figures for last
week were 20% below plan. Why do you think that
happened?"

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Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Delegating as a Manager
Delegation and Empowerment
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn