Delegation: Bear Stearns & Co.

It is understood that it is impractical for a manager to handle all of the work of the department directly. At Bear Stearns & Co., in order to meet the organization's goals, focus on objectives, and ensure that all work is accomplished, he or she must delegate authority. Authority is the legitimate power of a manager to direct subordinates to take action within the scope of the manager's position. By extension, this power, or a part thereof, is delegated and used in the name of a manager. Delegation is the downward transfer of formal authority from superior to subordinate. The subordinate is empowered to act for the manager, while the manager remains accountable for the outcome. Delegation of authority is a person-to-person relationship requiring trust, commitment, and contracting between the manager and the subordinate.

The manager should assist in developing subordinates in order to strengthen the organization and my company is known for providing opportunities for subordinates to get further certification or to continue there academics. The manager should give up the authority to make decisions that are best made by subordinates. At my firm that isn’t always the case, more often than not managers make decisions without the input of the team and they end up with situations that lower there productivity or cause less than favorable working conditions. The manager should allow subordinates the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them however, at my firm subordinates are caught in the middle of office politics. In Bear Stearns & Co.’s effort to secure the most talented managers and subordinates, they are often brought over from other competitors companies. However this can cause rifts in my observation as there are two major groups brought over from Prudential and Oppenheimer in our department that vies for recognition of superior management and skills. Instead of making decisions that are best for the firm, the end result is usually one trying to out-shine the other which, does allow for the implementation of new and creative ideas but sometimes result in less than favorable ones. When a task is delegated the manager supervises the subordinates’ decision-making although they shouldn’t, according to author Gemmy Allen managers should allow subordinates the opportunity to develop their own skills. Some of our department managers are convinced that the best way for subordinates to learn is by telling them how to solve a problem. This results in those subordinates becoming dependent on the manager. The managers are not always quick to allow subordinates the opportunity to achieve and when they do take into consideration some of the subordinates ideas he or she may not be credited for it.

Authors of management books and I believe that an organization's most valuable resource is its people. By empowering subordinates who perform delegated jobs with the authority to manage those jobs, managers free themselves to manage more effectively. Successfully training future managers means delegating authority. This gives subordinates the concrete skills, experience, and the resulting confidence to develop themselves for higher positions. Delegation provides better managers and a higher degree of efficiency. Thus, collective effort, resulting in the organization's growth, is dependent on delegation of authority.

From a subordinate point of view accepting task delegated can be very beneficial in terms of promotion or recognition. There can be pitfalls associated with accepting all delegated assignments in the form of the Peter Principle. The Peter Principle states that the subordinates who do a good job will be continually promoted until they have risen to a level of management at which there skills are no longer suitable for the new kinds of tasks required. Thus, all subordinates rise to their level of incompetence, where they are of no further use to the organization and need to be bypassed. Another factor for a subordinate to consider when taking on tasks is whether the task is more than they can handle. My rule of thumb in questionable situations these is to be pessimistic when estimating the time involved in each step of the project. If the deadline is unrealistic a subordinate should let the manager know as soon as possible that more time is needed. Point out the conflicts in the work schedule and ask the manager to prioritize assignments.

Equally important to authority is the idea that when a subordinate is given responsibility for a job, he or she must also be given the degree of authority necessary to carry it out. Thus, for effective delegation, the authority granted to a subordinate must equal the assigned responsibility. Upon accepting the delegated task, the subordinate has incurred an obligation to perform the assigned work and to properly utilize