Essay: Task Delegation In Time Management: Importance, Stages, And Best Practices.

Reason for Delegation

Discuss about the Task Delegation in Time Management. 

Research shows that 50% of time management is spent in information processing whereas 80% of that information is of no use or value to the organization (Mancini, 2003). Therefore, effective time management is crucial to meeting organizational goals. Moreover, it helps create a chance to perform other tasks, especially for managers. The purpose of the paper is to conduct a research on task delegation as a component of time management.  It highlights the importance of task delegation as a tool for time management and how managers can utilize it to improve delivery. It also outlines ways of performing task delegation for the success of business operations.

As a business manager, one needs to allocate much time as possible to boost development of the service and business.  Such requires one to dedicate a significant amount of time to planning for both long and short-term needs of the organization. Therefore, if one can minimize the amount of time spent on everyday operational task, then they will be able to dedicate more time planning and growth of the organization (Leucke, 2009).  One of the best ways to achieve such is through task delegation where a manager can pass such disruptive operational responsibility to an equally capable individual. Ideally, the primary purpose of delegating is to ensure that it is allocated to the right person for the excellent outcome and reduced risk as the manager's time is organized efficiently.  Furthermore, a manager has the opportunity to develop his/her team members by boosting their motivation and morale.

A manager needs to have the bigger picture in mind of the ultimate organizational goals. Therefore, a belief that one could perform better by doing a task by themselves cannot justify the reason for not delegating a task.  However, there are important factors to be considered when delegating the task. First, one should determine whether delegating the task would allow them to focus on higher value tasks involving organizational planning (MindTools, 2016a). One of the main purposes for task delegation is to create time for important tasks. Thus, a manager needs to recognize a higher value task at hand that requires their attention before delegating routine tasks. However, delegating task to another person when the manager had ample time to handle it would be a waste of time hence a loss to the organization.

Second, the manager should determine whether by allocating the task to particular team member will help improve their experience in the area. As mentioned earlier, task delegation is also important for boosting the morale of team members through team development. Therefore, the manager should consider the importance of task to experience or expertise of an employee. He/she should determine whether the job will help enhance the experience of the worker. Such can be achieved by considering the relationship between the task and expertise or experience of the employee (MindTools, 2016b).

When to Delegate

Finally, the manager should determine whether the member can develop new innovative ideas towards the task. Successful execution of a task is vital to the overall performance of the organization. However, allocating routine tasks to the usual individuals results in similar outcomes. Therefore, there is a need to explore new ideas and ways of accomplishing the task. Thus, the manager should consider assigning the task to employees with new ideas.

Task delegation involves a logical process that allows the manager to clearly define the requirements for every stage to ensure optimized productivity (Tracy, 2014). The process also requires the manager to practice complete clarity when communicating the needs at every stage to ensure task completion. The stages include:

A manager should often have an accurate picture of every member of his or her team. Such includes understanding their know-how concerning their duties, their skill in accomplishing a task and their attitude towards the job (Julie, 1998). One can obtain such information by observing and evaluating the behaviors and competencies the employees display in diverse situations. The manager can identify the right individual by selecting those that exhibit the required behaviors to perform the task. Such can be assessed by the way such employees handle unexpected circumstances or how they deal with other team members. Moreover, the selected team member must feel that the task commensurates with their level of authority and role description. Thus besides giving them an opportunity to improve, they are also able to apply their skills and initiative.

The manager has the responsibility to provide all the information required by the team members to accomplish the task successfully. Moreover, the manager should instill a clear sense of the importance of the work and how it will impact the organization. Such can be achieved by clearly defining the expected outcome of the task being delegated which includes how the members’ and manager’s success will be measured. It will enable the team members to clearly understand the goal and expectations (Stephen, 1989). Furthermore, it can be achieved by engaging the team members through question and answer forum to facilitate their understanding.

Delegating a task to more than one individual not only consumes time but causes considerable confusion to the team members.  When many people are involved in performing different portions of a task, it becomes difficult for them to determine the beginning and end of their responsibilities. As a result, some aspects of the job are left unperformed or become duplicated as some think it is others' responsibility. Therefore, is important that an individual understands that the whole task is their sole responsibility to guarantee success. Furthermore, assigning the entire work to a person gives them the ultimate authority to ensure that it is accomplished to the expected standards. However, when the task is split and allocated to many people, everyone will feel disengaged and leave the responsibility to anyone else involved in the project (Cook, 1999). It thus results it reduced seriousness by which the task is handled hence low performance.

Stages for Successful Task Delegation

Deadlines act as a motivation and a push to accomplish a task within a given period. Therefore, it is important that the selected team member knows the timeline as well as understanding the reason for it. The team member needs to understand the reason for a particular timeframe as an assurance of their acceptance of the task.  However, circumstances, where a third party is involved, may be challenging for providing an appropriate deadline. Moreover, understanding the reason for a timeframe helps boost the motivation of the team member. For instance, a challenging or strict deadline may negatively affect a team member especially when they start doubting their ability to finish on time leading to losing of motivation.

Deadlines should also be flexible to give room for exploring all the available options to accomplishing a task (Rivera, 2007). The set timeframe should allow the team member to explore other options or develop new ideas of performing a task. Strict deadlines are set based on previous encounters or performance of a particular task. However, it does not provide room to or ample time to explore other ideas thus compromising the outcome. Moreover, it does not allow a team member to develop their knowledge and experience as they are restricted to the conventional methods of performing the task.

It involves identifying the key points regarding the work and the relevant dates for submitting feedback about progress. By carefully monitoring the job a manager can know the potential issues the team member may experience and resolve them before they become catastrophic.  The manager should often ensure that the task is on track and is ready to intervene in significant changes in the project's direction. Furthermore, it is through spaced, pre-defined, and regular review that a manager will get timely information and act accordingly before they escalate to serious levels.

Reviews can be carried out by performing task debrief regarding task completion to enable both the team member and the manager have the honest appraisal of the project.  It also helps the manager recognize his or her personal development as a way of gauging their potential. Also, a debrief will also assist the Manager measure performance regarding what went poorly, what went well, and areas that require improvement.

Giving credit to the team member who completed the task offers them personal recognition at both corporate and team level for their achievement (Tracy, 2013). Therefore, the manager should come up with a way to recognize and appreciate the effort devoted to the task by the team member. However, they should assume responsibility if the project results in failure and learn from such experience for efficient delegation in future.

Conclusion

In conclusion, effective time management allows a manager to reflect organizational and personal decisions to improve performance. Moreover, a manager can set priorities more efficiently to focus mainly on the important tasks. As a component of time management, task delegation enables the manager to accomplish such. He/she can have enough time to handle important organizational responsibilities while allocating the job to equally capable team members. Further, task delegation also helps improve team members' morale, skills and experience hence increased productivity.

Reference

Tracy, B. (2013). Delegation & supervision.

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Cook, M. (1999). Streetwise Time Management. Avon, MA: Adams Media Corporation.

Smith, P.M. (1998). Rules & Tools for Leaders. New York: Perigee Books.

Julie M. (1998). Organizing from the Inside Out,  Henry Holt and Company, LLC, New York.  

Alec M. A, (1972) The Time Trap.New York

Rivera, C. (2007). Time management. Chandni Chowk, Delhi: Global Media.

Stephen R. Covey. Fireside, (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, https://www.quickmba.com/mgmt/7hab/

Luecke, R., & McIntosh, P. (2009). The busy manager's guide to the delegation. New York: AMACOM/American Management Association.

MindTools.com. (2016a). Prioritization: Making the Best Use of Your Time and Resources. https://www.mindtools.com/ pages/article/newHTE_92.htm

MindTools.com. (2016b). To-Do Lists: The Keys to Efficiency. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_05.htm

Tracy, B. (2014). Time management.