Whetten David A., Cameron Kim S. Developing management skills

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EMPOWERING AND DELEGATING CHAPTER 8 477

Solving Problems Through Empowerment Worksheet

For each message, write out your plan of action. This plan should include answers to the

questions listed below. Not every question is relevant to each message, but most are, and

they can guide your action plan. After you have formed your own responses, form a team

of fellow students and share these plans in turn. Provide feedback to one another on

what is especially good, what could be improved, and what could be added to each

action plan.

1. Who should be involved in resolving this issue? Will you form a team?

2. What kinds of personal mastery experiences can be provided for whomever you

involve? Can you model successful behavior?

3. What kinds of support, information, and resources can be provided?

4. How will you create emotional arousal and create confidence in others?

5. What are the main considerations in deciding if you should delegate each task?

6. If you opt for delegation, what will you do to:

Begin with the end in mind?

Delegate completely?

Allow participation?

Match authority with responsibility?

Work within the structure?

Provide support?

Maintain accountability?

Ensure consistency of delegation?

Avoid upward delegation?

Clarify consequences?

478 CHAPTER 8 EMPOWERING AND DELEGATING

INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM

Data Processing Center

DATE: 15 June

TO: Mary Ann O’Connell,

General Manager

FROM: Roosevelt Monroe,

for the Data Processing Staff

After looking over last quarter’s audit, it is clear that the number of complaints our group

is receiving from individuals throughout the company is escalating. The problem is an

obvious one to us. It is, simply, that several incompatible software systems have evolved

over the last several years in various departments, and it is becoming increasingly difficult

to coordinate across units. As you know, some data have to be retyped two or three

times into different systems because of these incompatibilities.

The trouble is, our own employees, not to mention our customers, are becoming

increasingly impatient with our slow turnaround time. They focus squarely on our group

as the bottleneck. We think the rising complaint numbers in the quarterly audit are mis-

leading, however, and they divert us from the real cause of the problem.

We’re writing this memo to you to collectively urge you to address this issue as soon as

possible. At a minimum, it should be discussed at our upcoming staff meeting on

Tuesday. So far, the data processing staff is taking the blame for not getting data

processed fast enough, yet it is really the fault of the system, not our unit.

We’ll look forward to hearing from you on Tuesday.

INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM

Human Resources Department

DATE: 15 June

TO: Mary Ann

FROM: Lucy

I was excited by your speech at the senior management meeting last week in which you

established a new challenge for all senior executives. With the new competitive envi-

ronment that we face, the vision that you articulated for our future is both exciting and

challenging and, I think, an important step forward. It really makes clear the key success

factors that should drive our business.

In particular, I think your directive for all senior executives to disseminate the vision

throughout the organization to their own subordinates is a good way to get the mes-

sage delivered. However, you made a statement in your speech that has me troubled.

You said, “We used to pay you on the basis of new accounts generated, quarterly

earnings, customer satisfaction ratings, and new product designs. Our new barome-

ter is going to be how you’re doing in disseminating the vision throughout your own

units.”

Frankly, I’m perplexed as to how we’ll ever measure this directive. As the one who has

to administer the appraisal and compensation systems, I’m not sure what criteria we’ll

MEMO

EMPOWERING AND DELEGATING CHAPTER 8 479

look for or what indicators we’ll use to determine success. I’m afraid that we’ll create

dissatisfaction if we don’t have something specific outlined. Our people, especially

those who may not perform, will think it is purely arbitrary. Do you really mean to have

us change the appraisal and compensation systems to include this new criterion? How

do you propose we measure effective performance? What would you like me to do to

support your statement? Did you mean to make the statement that you did?

This is rather urgent because I have a staff meeting Tuesday afternoon, and I

promised to have a response by then. I’ve already stalled until I had a chance to talk

to you.

COPY OF A LETTER

Midwest State University

24 May

Dear Ms. O’Connell:

I am happy to be joining Executive Development Associates after several years at

Midwest State University. As you know, leaving Midwest State has been quite trau-

matic for me, and that is what motivated me to make a request of you. I’m convinced

that the reason I didn’t receive tenure at Midwest State is because the expectations

were never clear about what my responsibilities were and what the criteria were for

success.

I know your company is very professional and employees are pretty much on their

own, but I’m feeling a need to get some specific performance requirements outlined

for me. I’m sure that I can be a good addition to your company, but I want to be clear

about what your expectations are.

I have set a meeting with you on Tuesday through your secretary. Would you please

outline a specific set of responsibilities and expectations for my job as instructor in the

training and development department? If possible, I’d like it in writing to avoid any

misunderstanding. Regardless, I’ll look forward to talking to you Tuesday.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Lester Frost

INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM

Training and Development

DATE: Monday, A.M.

TO: Mary Ann

FROM: Pam

RE: Tom Kinnir’s Jury Duty

MEMO

480 CHAPTER 8 EMPOWERING AND DELEGATING

I know you’re just getting back, but we’ve got an emergency on our hands.

I was just notified this morning by Tom that he has been selected for jury duty and

that (can you believe it) he is being sequestered! Holy cow, Mary Ann, this couldn’t

come at a worse time. As our expert on activity-based costing, Tom is the only guy

we have who can teach the topic. So what’s the trouble, you say? The trouble is that

we have over 100 corporate trainers showing up here for a seminar on Friday, and the

seminar isn’t prepared yet. Tom said that he has some notes and a few transparen-

cies on his desk, but he had planned to spend this entire week designing and prepar-

ing it. Not only don’t any of us know the topic very well, but we’re not even sure what

information we need, what data still needs to be gathered, who’s got what, and how

we go about filling in. Help! We’re counting on this seminar to make budget this quar-

ter, and we’re feeling a little ticked off at Tom for waiting until the last minute. What

do we do next?

By the way, how were the Rocky Mountains???

INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM

Outplacement Department

DATE: Monday, A.M.

TO: Mary Ann O’Connell

FROM: Aneil Mishra

RE: Pending Plant Closure

You may have missed the news over the weekend. It was announced in the paper that

Detroit Manufacturing has filed for Chapter 11 protection and that they’re closing their

Toledo plant. That means about 4,000 people will be out of work.

If we want the business, we’ve got to get moving right away. They will be looking at

proposals from outplacement firms next week. We’ve got to get our proposal

together, identify staff, determine a budget, and prepare a presentation in the next day

or two.

Sound’s like a great opportunity. I’ll stop by tomorrow when you get back.

Empowering Ourselves

In this exercise, your task is to identify ways in which the empowerment of members of

the graduating students this year in your own institution can be enhanced. You should

use the principles of empowerment in the chapter to identify specific ways in which the

empowerment of this group of people can be increased. What can be done, practically

speaking, to effect empowerment?

Make certain that you don’t merely identify what others could do, what the admin-

istration could implement, or what hypothetically could occur. Rather, identify very prac-

tical and realistic factors that could empower this graduating class. What could they do as

a group? What could you do? What personal responsibility could they take for their own

empowerment?

MEMO

EMPOWERING AND DELEGATING CHAPTER 8 481

Do not treat this exercise as hypothetical or fantasy. Actually identify behaviors that

you can implement that will enhance empowerment. Use the suggestions in the text as

well as others that you add to those lists.

Things That Can Be Done to Enhance the

Empowerment of the Graduating Class

Self-Efficacy (personal competence)

Self-Determination (personal choice)

Personal Consequence (personal impact)

Meaningfulness (personal value)

Trust (personal security)

Now form a team with three or four colleagues. Share your ideas with the group. For

each dimension of empowerment, identify the most powerful ideas you hear from the

team members. Add at least one new idea to your list. Also, identify when and how you’ll

actually implement your list. Use your team to help specify actual behaviors that you can

implement.

Deciding to Delegate

Delegation is one of the most deceiving management skills because it seems so easy to

accomplish. Just tell someone what to do, and they’ll do it, right? Unfortunately, highly

competent delegators are rare, and this exercise is designed to help you determine when

and how to delegate more effectively. To accomplish this exercise you’ll need to use the

framework in Figure 8.2.

For each of the two scenarios that follow, ask the following questions:

❏ Should I involve others or make the decision by myself?

❏ If I involve others, should I direct them to form a team, or should I consult them

individually and make the decision by myself?

❏ If I form a team, should I delegate decision-making authority to the team, or

should I consult with the team but make the decision by myself?

❏ If I delegate to the team, should I participate in the team, or should I let the

team decide?

After you have made a decision about how to handle each of these two scenarios,

form a team of colleagues. Share your decision and your rationale with the team. Reach a

consensus regarding the most appropriate strategy to use in each of these two cases. For

482 CHAPTER 8 EMPOWERING AND DELEGATING

comparison purposes, an analysis by experts for the Emergency Request case is contained

at the end of the chapter. It is provided only to enhance your team discussion. No com-

parative analysis is provided for the Biological Warfare case.

An Emergency Request

You are a general plant supervisor and seven product lines involving four of your eight

foremen must be disrupted to satisfy an emergency request from an important client. You

naturally wish to minimize the disruption. No additional personnel are available, and

time limits to complete the new project are restrictive. The plant is new and is the only

industrial plant in an economically depressed area dominated by farming. You can count

on everyone pulling his or her own weight. The wages in the plant are substantially above

farm wages, and the workers’ jobs depend on the profitability of this plant—the first new

industrial development in the area in 15 years. Your subordinates are relatively inexperi-

enced, and you have been supervising them more closely than you might if the plant had

been in a well-established industrial area and your subordinates were more experienced.

The changes involve only standard procedures and are routine for someone of your expe-

rience. Effective supervision poses no problems. Your problem is how to reschedule the

work to meet this emergency within the time limit with minimum disruption of the exist-

ing product lines. Your experience in such matters should enable you to figure out a way

of meeting the request that will minimize the disruption of existing product lines.

Biological Warfare

You are the executive vice president of a small pharmaceutical manufacturer. You have

the opportunity to bid on a contract for the Defense Department pertaining to biological

warfare. The contract is outside the mainstream of your business; however, it could make

economic sense, since you do have unused capacity in one of your plants, and the manu-

facturing processes are not dissimilar. You have written the document to accompany the

bid and now have the problem of determining the dollar value of the quotation you think

will win the job for your company. If the bid is too high, you will undoubtedly lose to one

of your competitors. If it is too low, you could lose money on the program. There are many

factors to consider in making this decision, including the cost of the new raw materials

and the additional administrative burden of relationships with a new client, not to speak

of factors that are likely to influence the bids of your competitors, such as how much they

need this particular contract. You have been busy assembling the necessary data to make

this decision, but there remain several unknowns, one of which involves the manager of

the plant in which the new products will be manufactured. Of all your subordinates, only

he can estimate the costs of adapting the present equipment to its new purpose, and his

cooperation and support will be necessary if the specifications of the contract are to be

met. However, in an initial discussion with him when you first learned of the possibility of

the contract, he seemed adamantly opposed to the idea. His experience has not particu-

larly equipped him to evaluate projects like this one, so you were not overly influenced by

his opinions. From the nature of his arguments, you inferred that his opposition was ideo-

logical rather than economic. You recall that he was once involved in a local peace orga-

nization and was one of the most vocal opponents in the company to the Vietnam and the

Persian Gulf Wars.

EMPOWERING AND DELEGATING CHAPTER 8 483

SKILL

APPLICATION

ACTIVITIES FOR EMPOWERMENT

AND DELEGATION

Suggested Assignments

1. Teach someone else (your spouse, a colleague, your boss) how to empower others

and delegate effectively. Include the principles in Table 8.5 in your discussion.

Use your own examples and illustrations.

2. Interview a manager about his or her empowerment practices. Try to determine

what is especially effective, what doesn’t work, what comes off as condescending,

and what motivates people to perform. Identify the extent to which the manager

knows and uses the principles discussed in the Skill Learning section of this chapter.

3. Think of a situation you now face with which you would like some help. It may

be a task you want to accomplish, a tough decision you need to make, or a team

you want to form. Make sure you think of something that requires the involve-

ment of other people. Write down specific things you can do to empower other

people to help you. How can you help them do what they want to do, while

simultaneously having them do what you want them to do?

4. Schedule a meeting with a manager who is not very good at empowerment.

(Finding such a person shouldn’t be difficult, because most leaders tend to be

more authoritarian and bureaucratic than empowering.) As a student who has

learned about and practiced empowerment and delegation, share what you

have learned and offer suggestions that could help this manager improve.

Application Plan and Evaluation

The intent of this exercise is to help you apply this cluster of skills in a real-life, out-of-class set-

ting. Now that you have become familiar with the behavioral guidelines that form the basis

of effective skill performance, you will improve most by trying out those guidelines in an

everyday context. Unlike a classroom activity, in which feedback is immediate and others can

assist you with their evaluations, this skill application activity is one you must accomplish and

evaluate on your own. There are two parts to this activity. Part 1 helps prepare you to apply

the skill. Part 2 helps you evaluate and improve on your experience. Be sure to write down

answers to each item. Don’t short-circuit the process by skipping steps.

484 CHAPTER 8 EMPOWERING AND DELEGATING

Part 1. Planning

1. Write down the two or three aspects of this skill that are most important to you.

These may be areas of weakness, areas you most want to improve, or areas that

are most salient to a problem you face right now. Identify the specific aspects of

this skill that you want to apply.

2. Now identify the setting or the situation in which you will apply this skill.

Establish a plan for performance by actually writing down a description of the

situation. Who else will be involved? When will you do it? Where will it be

done?

Circumstances:

Who else?

When?

Where?

3. Identify the specific behaviors in which you will engage to apply this skill.

Operationalize your skill performance.

4. What are the indicators of successful performance? How will you know you

have been effective? What will indicate you have performed competently?

Part 2. Evaluation

5. After you have completed your implementation, record the results. What hap-

pened? How successful were you? What was the effect on others?

6. How can you improve? What modifications can you make next time? What

will you do differently in a similar situation in the future?

7. Looking back on your whole skill practice and application experience, what

have you learned? What has been surprising? In what ways might this experi-

ence help you in the long term?

EMPOWERING AND DELEGATING CHAPTER 8 485

SCORING KEYS

AND

COMPARISON DATA

Effective Empowerment and Delegation

Scoring Key

SKILL AREA ITEMS ASSESSMENT

PRE-POST-

Personal mastery experiences 1, 2 ______ ______

Modeling 3, 4 ______ ______

Providing support 5, 6 ______ ______

Arousing positive emotions 7, 8 ______ ______

Providing information 9, 10 ______ ______

Providing resources 11, 12 ______ ______

Organizing teams 13, 14 ______ ______

Creating confidence 15, 16 ______ ______

Delegating work 17–26 ______ ______

Total Score ______ ______

Comparison Data (N = 5,000 Students)

Compare your scores to three standards:

1. The maximum possible score = 156.

2. The scores of other students in the class.

3. Norm data from more than 5,000 business school students.

Pre-Test Post-Test

129.54 = mean = 138.03

139 or above = top quartile = 149 or above

130–138 = second quartile = 140–148

121–129 = third quartile = 129–139

120 or below = bottom quartile = 128 or below

Personal Empowerment

Scoring Key

SKILL AREA ITEMS MEAN (TOTAL ÷4)

Self-efficacy (competence) 2, 7, 12, 17 _________

Self-determination (choice) 3, 8, 13, 18 _________

Personal consequence (impact) 4, 9, 14, 19 _________

Meaningfulness (value) 1, 6, 11, 16 _________

Trust (security) 5, 10, 15, 20 _________

486 CHAPTER 8 EMPOWERING AND DELEGATING

Comparison Data (N = 4500 students)

TOP THIRD SECOND BOTTOM

SKILL AREA MEAN QUARTILE QUARTILE QUARTILE QUARTILE

Self-efficacy 6.14 6.75 or above 6.25–6.74 5.75–6.24 5.74 or below

(competence)

Self-determination 5.87 6.50 or above 6.00–6.49 5.25–5.99 5.24 or below

(choice)

Personal control 5.61 6.50 or above 5.75–6.49 5.00–5.74 4.99 or below

(impact)

Meaningfulness 5.90 6.75 or above 6.00–6.74 5.50–5.99 5.49 or below

(value)

Trust 5.50 6.25 or above 5.75–6.24 5.00–5.74 4.99 or below

(security)

SKILL PRACTICE

Deciding to Delegate: Analysis of “An Emergency Request”

QUESTION:ANALYSIS:

Is it a group or individual problem? Group because the task affects

subordinates.

Is there a quality requirement? Yes, because one way is better than

another.

Does the manager have needed Yes; the manager has experience.

information?

Is the problem structured or Structured, because routine changes

unstructured? are required.

Do subordinates have to accept the No, because they have no discretion

decision? in implementation.

Are subordinates likely to accept the Yes, because close supervision is

decision? accepted.

Does everyone share a common goal? Yes; all want the firm to be profitable.

Is conflict among subordinates likely? No, since there is no investment in

a prior alternative.

Do subordinates have needed information? No; subordinates are inexperienced.

Choice: Make an individual decision if time is the important factor. If training of subordi-

nates is the important factor, form a team and participate in the team’s discussions.