Delegating

Running head: Effective Delegating within my Organization

Delegating:

A Managers responsibility

Diana M. Ries

University of Phoenix

How Delegation is Handled Within My Organization

Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines delegation as "the act of empowering to act for another" or "a group of persons chosen to represent others." (Merriam-Webster's, 1999, p.305). At The Villages Regional Hospital, management has many tiers. The many tiers are due to the wide variety of services offered within the hospital. Therefore, many directors must be delegated out to different levels of staff so all the needs of the company and its customers are met.

At the top, there is the main administration of the hospital, which consists of the officers of the corporation. These officers are responsible for the strategic planning necessary to run a successful hospital. Some major concerns for these officers are finances, legal matters, and the overall general operation. These officers are not necessarily healthcare professionals. However, because of this fact, these officers need to delegate responsibilities to a Director of Nursing and a Chief of Medicine who possess healthcare, medical knowledge. The work delegated to these professionals is to lead the medical staff in the policies and procedures of patient care. Yet due to the vast array of patient needs, specialized departments within the facility are developed. Directors are assigned to handle specific areas and are called Department Directors. Department Directors have been delegated by the administration to handle the issues specific to their departments and report back to administration on the progress of the strategic goals. However, since directors cannot be continually present in a 24-hour facility, the directors and administration have delegated nursing supervisors and charge nurses to assist in the management of the department when they are unavailable. This level of management, also referred to as frontline managers, is responsible for micromanaging the general staff during specific shifts. These frontline managers are responsible for the day-to-day activities that will enable the organization to meet its strategic goals. The final tier in patient care is the nurse delegating responsibility to the nurse's aides to assist them with patient care.

Management Responsibilities in Delegating

"Management is the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals." (Bateman & Snell, 2004, p.14). Within my organization are the basic levels of management. From top level managers whose primary focus is to set strategic goals and oversee the progress of these goals, to middle-level managers whose main responsibility is translating their goals and plans into different objectives, activities, etc. to achieve the strategic goals, to frontline managers where most of the grunt work is done and the overall daily activities are monitored and controlled.

Effective Delegating in Planning, Organizing, Leading, Controlling

Delegation can be used in the functions of management in planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. In planning, senior management performs strategic planning, which determines what the company goal are and the image they want to portray. This planning involves long-term goals and objectives as in growth and development, new products, consumers, etc. These goals are then delegated to operating managers to develop functional plans such as short-term goals and how to achieve the strategic goal. Finally, the employees are the ones who have the responsibility to oversee the plan; do they have the resources to achieve their portion of the plan, do they have the training and skills necessary to achieve these goals? "Organizing is assembling and coordinating the human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals." (Bateman & Snell, 2004, p. 15). To be effective in this step of management, managers can delegate the different areas such as financial, physical, etc. to others to achieve this goal. Within my organization, these different departments each have its own director to accomplish these goals. Each director then delegates to the frontline managers how these goals are to be accomplished. The leading management function is delegated all the way from top management down to the employees. Each group along this continuum has a responsibility to be a leader. Controlling "monitors progress and