Delegation

The hardest skill for a manager to master sometimes is delegation. It is a skill that, at the root, is fundamental in the ultimate success in whatever endeavor one would encounter. Delegation is very important, especially in the business that I am in, the parcel industry. United Parcel Service is a multibillion dollar corporation where I am currently employed. Within its structure, without those who can properly delegate, it would be virtually impossible to manage its many processes effectively. It actually starts at the top of the chain, the corporate level. Within our corporate setting, we have different elements that are rolled up into what one would call a balanced scorecard. The scorecard consists of four major elements, business, people, turnover, and technology. Regional Managers role out the elements that is pertinent to their particular sector of the operation. These are delegated to those at the district level (managers). The hierarchy is as follows……Corporate, regional, district, division, center. I personally fall into the category under center management. The center manager rolls out tasks to the full-time supervisors who then, in turn, roll out tasks to me as a part time supervisor. The jobs and tasks that I am personally responsible for directly correlate with those who are at the top of the chain, just at a smaller portion. The absolute key in delegation would be to have solid controls in place for accountability. You will notice that this will be a recurring theme within this paper. Without accountability within the infrastructure, can there really be success in delegation in any industry?

There are several ways delegation can by more effective with regards to planning, leading or controlling. One of the very first measures that must be in place is good checklists. With the constant demands to get more out of your work force with the fewest dollars spent on overhead, it is essential that one has a checklist at every level in order to ensure that nothing goes undone. To those who are in charge, there is nothing more negligible that mismanagement of labor; waste. The most difficult task, if not properly controlled and managed, can be the difference in having one’s job and ultimate termination. Here is an example. At UPS, it is the responsibility of the part-time unload supervisor to check the yard to make sure that there are no trailers that are due for our particular destination that go unprocessed. Let us go a step further. Because of the completive nature of the business, it is imperative the absolute best service possible be given to every customer. Our motto simply stated, “Every package everyday.” We, in turn guarantee service on every package, no matter the level of service, whether it is an international next day air early A.M. (most expensive service offered) to our basic service level, which is ground. Regardless of the level, we commit to a package being delivered to its destination at the appointed time. On average, we refund our customers $47.53 per package on packages not delivered by the time specified at the time of billing. This is why it is so crucial to have checklists in place for every management person at every level. This illustration will show you. Recently, there was a trailer on our property that was behind our facility. Usually when you find this, it is a trailer that is in transit to another location that is awaiting further coordination. This particular day, there were two part-time supervisors who were suppose to check the yard and the paperwork for every trailer to make sure that there was not a trailer for our destination to be processed. Apparently, no one checked, and it was for our center. Their immediate supervisor was on vacation. He actually reports to the center manager. Inevitably, it was the job of the center manager to make sure that there was another FT supervisor in place to check off the part-time supervisors’ checklists. The result was that we didn’t realize the trailer was on the yard until the next shift of supervisors arrived. By then, it was too late. We missed service on nearly 1000 packages, which cost our company nearly a half of million dollars in returned fees and labor. In contrast to how we may think, this slip travels uphill and, eventually, the Regional Mgr must answer about why we were going to lose this type of money, not to mention the business and potential customers we were going to lose. How