A Critic on the Article: Delegation as a Leadership Style Tips for Effective Delegation By: Susan M.

Heathfield

This article gives us an insight as to what managers do in an organization as their style of leadership. For the discussion of this article, let us first have a review on what a manager does or what the managerial functions. Basically, a manager plans, organizes, directs and controls. The functions of management uniquely describe managers jobs. The most commonly cited functions of management are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, although some identify additional functions. The functions of management define the process of management as distinct from accounting, finance, marketing, and other business functions. According to Henri Fayol, the first person to identify elements or functions of management in his classic 1916 book Administration Industrielle et Generale. Fayol defined five functions, or elements of management: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. Fayol argued that these functions were universal, in the sense that all managers performed them in the course of their jobs, whether the managers worked in business, military, government, religious, or philanthropic undertakings. Fayol defined planning in terms of forecasting future conditions, setting objectives, and developing means to attain objectives. He recognized that effective planning must also take into account unexpected contingencies that might arise and did not advocate rigid and inflexible plans. He further defined, organizing as making provision for structuring of activities and relationships within the firm and also the recruiting, evaluation, and training of personnel.

According to Fayol, commanding as managerial functions concerned the personal supervision of subordinates and involved inspiring them to put forth unified effort to achieve objectives. Fayol then emphasized the importance of managers understanding the people who worked for them, setting a good example, treating a subordinates in a manner consistent with firm policy, delegating, and communicating through meetings and conferences. Moreover, Fayol saw the function of coordination as harmonizing all of the various activities of the firm. He defined the control function in terms of ensuring that everything occurs within the parameters of the plan and accompanying principles. The purpose of control was to identify deviations from objectives and plans and to take corrective action. Delegation as the main topic of the article is an indispensable component of a good organization. The manager assigns responsibility and defines the authority and accountability. According to the article, successful delegation of authority as a leadership style takes time and energy, but its worth the time and energy to help employee involvement and employee empowerment succeed as a leadership style. Its worth the time and energy to help employees succeed, develops, and meets their expectations. Managers through this style build employees self-confidence and people who feel successful usually are successful.