Factors which affects the delegation of authority can be discussed under the head of delegation delegated and organisation factors:
Factors in Delegator (Superior):
The qualities of superior managers play an important part in determining the kind of functional and social equilibrium that will be achieved in the superior subordinate relationships and consequently the delegation of authority.
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A Superior Manager is likely to delegate less authority in the following situations:
Maintenance of Tight Control:
A manager does not delegate authority because he wants to maintain tight control over the operations assigned to him. He likes to be the busy and security created by work piled high on his desk.
Doing tangible work is a pleasurable activity, whereas spending one’s time, thinking, planning and other less tangible is a difficult process. The manager may become habituated to the constant contact of subordinate bringing matters to them for approval.
Love for Authority:
A superior is unlikely to delegate his authority especially if he is autocrat. Such a manager has intense desire to influence others, to make his importance felt in the organisation, and to see that his subordinates come frequently to get their decisions approved. Such desires on the part of the manager keep him away from delegation of adequate authority to his subordinates irrespective of their needs.
Personality of Superior:
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Personality factors of superior also affect the degree of delegation of authority. For example, an autocrat superior will delegate less authority as compared to a democrat. Similarly, a superior believing in the application of modern management techniques like to delegate adequately. A superior coming from the rank and file may delegate less.
Similarly, a manager who has not been delegated adequate authority in his career is likely to delegate less.
Fear of Subordinates:
A manager may not delegate adequate authority because of fears of subordinates. The fear of a subordinate’s growth may be real. It can take two forms. First, the subordinate might show that he can perform the superior’s work so well that he becomes entitled to his position, status, title, or prestige.
Second, the subordinate’s increasing ability might earn him a promotion to some other part of the organisation and the superior may lose the best subordinate. In this case, the superior may think about defensive behaviour. He simply fails to delegate the kind of authority that would have had such a result.
Fear of Exposure:
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A superior manager, specially a weak one, may not like to delegate simply because adequate delegation may reveal managerial shortcomings being practised. This may happen especially when the superior has poor operating procedure, methods, and practices.
Attitudes toward Subordinates:
Delegation of authority is a particular kind of trust between superior and his subordinates. Therefore, his attitudes towards subordinates, and their attitudes towards him become important in the process of delegation.
Negative attitudes work against delegation of authority in several ways. First, if a superior has lack of confidence in his subordinate’s capacity, he will not like to delegate them authority.
Second, the superior may feel that his subordinates just do not require more authority than they have been delegated. Such feeling may result into inadequate delegation of authority. Third the superior may not have good interpersonal relationships with subordinates which may result into less delegation of authority.
The various factors discussed above either make a superior blind to the need for adequate delegation of authority or he may be aware about the concept of Public Administration. Power, Authority, significance of authority delegation but he may withhold’ it because he simply does not like to delegate.
