5. The subordinate is directed to review the situation and take appropriate action. The manager asks to be notified of the action after it has occurred. 6. The highest level of delegation allows the subordinate to make the decisions and take action. The subordinate advises the manager at regularly scheduled reporting times of what has occured. It is important to select the level of delegation that is appropriate for each employee. The first two levels of delegation are most suitable for new employees unfamiliar with the organization. Play Number Two: Get the Lay of the Land Managers need to examine the internal and external lay of the land. The internal lay of the land is more than an organizational chart. It requires a shared knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of all the team players. One technique to assist managers in learning the internal 'lay of the land is called management-bywalking-around. Abbreviated to MBWA, this simple technique allows managers to observe first hand how the organization functions and performs. Knowing the lay of the land internally is only part of it. Managers must know the external lay of the land as well. One must identify these players-the people and organizations that affect your agency, or that your agency affects. The list may vary depending on the game-the projects of the moment. Mangers need to make a point of keeping in touch with external players-their clients, constituencies, and supporters. Keeping the external players informed on a regular basis will go a long way when soliciting external help on a project. Play Number Three: Set Priorities Management means getting things done through people. Determining just what it is that needs getting done and by when doesn't happen by magic. A manager must set the goals so the efforts of the team have direction, purpose and focus. In an era of reduced resources, managers must strive extra hard to preserve comfortable working conditions and bearable workloads. By drawing all the players into the game plan a manager can have more effective plans with priorities shared by the whole team. Page 14 RAIN Fall/Winter 1986 Delta Airlines is an organization that has been successful at setting priorities and drawing all the employees into the process. The management of Delta Airlines is composed of a committee of nine people. Because Delta views the employees as the experts on what needs to be done to best serve the company's customers, all employeers are part of the game plan. Over an eighteen month period the nine committee members meet with the employees in large groups. The purpose of the meetings is to get feedback. The questions asked of the employees are: 1. What should I know about your job? 2. What are some of the problems you see that we need to do something about? 3. What are the oppotunities I need to know about? 4. What do you need to know from me to better do your job? Taking the feedback garnered from a collection process, such as Delta uses, and adding to it less formal feedback from internal and external players will give a manager and the management team a list of opportunities, issues and problems that require attention. The critical issue is determining where the resources of the organization should be directed in order to address that list. CarefyJ selection of "doable" actions is the best use of the organization's resources. Questions to consider in making that selection are: 1. How significant is it to the organization? 2. Huw much influence do I have over it? 3. What is the likelihood for a successful action? 4. How much time will it take to correct it or act on it? 5. How much will it cost? Balancing the answers to these questions can lead to a realistic appraisal of the opportunities, problems, and issues facing the organization. This is the kind of information that is essential in order to set realistic, "doable" priorities. Managers, in this era of fewer resources, must focus their energies on these "doable" priorities and deploy their limited resources selectively and with great care. Play Number Four: Build the Team With any team the players change. They move to other teams, lose interest, or get sidelined for any number of reasons. Managers must work at keeping the regular team functioning and scout for new
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