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Coordination
and delegation
Last
updated on 28.9.08
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COORDINATION
AS A MANAGEMENT FUNCTION
Introduction
coordination
is considered as an essential element of administration .
Co-ordination is the integration, synchronisation or orderly pattern
of group efforts in the institution towards the accomplishment of
common objectives. To ensure a harmonious and smooth working of an
organisation with a number of its divisions ,department or its units ,
the activities in all the areas are required to be pulled
together , unified and blended so as to give them a commonness
and purpose.
Definitions
-
"Co-ordination
is the orderly synchronisation of efforts to provide the proper
amount, timing, and directing execution resulting in harmonious
and and unified actions to a stated objective"
-
"Co-ordination
is the integration of several parts into an orderly whole
to achieve the purpose of undertaking"
-
"Co-ordination
is the integrating process in an orderly pattern of group efforts
in an organisation toward the accomplishment of a common objective"
The
concept of co-ordination is much broader than that of co-operation.
Both these have to go side by side. Co-ordination is only a means to
an end and not an end itself.
Principles
of co-ordination
-
As
the thinking function of management precedes the doing function,
co-ordination endeavour must sort at the planning stage, otherwise
it becomes impossible to secure co-ordination of activities and
efforts in the execution of work.
-
There
is need for importance of direct personal contact in removing
misunderstanding and conflict between departments.
-
Co-ordination
is continual activity that permeates through each each managerial
function.
-
There
should be an integration of all efforts, actions and interests
toward a common purpose. For this co-ordination call for the
establishment of a reciprocal relationship among all pertinent
factors by way of balancing, blending and joining together the
factors with one another.
Need
for co-ordination
-
Diverse
and specialised activities-total
activities of an organisation are divided into several units and
subunits on the basis of either product specialisation. Every
manager tends to concentrate his attention on activities and
objectives of has own department. Hence co-ordination is needed to
prevent and discourage too much concentration on one aspect of
work.
-
Empire
building- to
exaggerate self importance and personal motive is deeply
implanted in human nature. This motive causes the individual
department to be isolated from others, thus turning it as a
separate entity. So co-ordination is needed to curb the growing
tendency towards the empire building.
-
Personal
rivalries and prejudice-human
organisation give rise in course of time to the development of
personality politics among members. Under such situation,
co-ordination is deliberately damaged by the members of the rival
group. The perceptual conflict between line and staff positions or
between personnel is a pointer to this problem
-
Conflict
of interests- subordination
of individual interest to general interest acts as a bar to
co-ordination. This subordination may arise from a number of
causes by a laziness, incompetence and ambition as well as lack of
loyalty, integrity or initiative on the part of employees. There
is need for co-ordination to avoid conflicts or overlapping in the
work of employees or units or as organisation.
Techniques
of co-ordination
-
Communications-effective
communication is arranged not only by building a network of
communication systems but by allowing wide participation also in
the decision making on the part of the affected persons.
-
Orderly
plans- standing
plans like policies and procedures, standing orders and
instructions communicate the expected pattern of behaviour
required for co-ordinated action. Because of checking, observation
and guidance involved and supervision, it aids much in developing
co-ordinated efforts.
-
Supervision-
effective supervision aids in co-ordination much in developing co-ordinated
effort by checking, observation and guidance.
-
Leadership-leadership
provides individual motivation and persuades the group to have
identity of interests and outlook in group efforts.
-
Departmentation-departmentation
arranges for necessary correlation and interconnection of
activities in an analytical manner by assigning duties and
delegating authority in different positions is the work of
departmentation.
-
Direct
contact-it
permits the management members to exchange their ideas, prejudices
and problems as well as to understand each others.
Types
of co-ordination
-
Internal
co-ordination-
it
refers to the blending of all efforts and activities and forces
operating within an organisation or enterprise.
-
External
co-ordination-
the blending of all efforts and activities and forces operating
outside the enterprise or organisation which contribute to
achieving the goals and objective of the organisation.
Internal
co-ordination
-
Planning-
it
is a well thought out course of action to be taken for realising
certain objectives through the available means, a good
plan requires a perfect harmonisation between mean and ends
and this in itself is an ct of co-ordination. To reach
ends all plans include a programme mapping out the orderly course
of action. To draw up an orderly course of action, all activities
and efforts are to be interlinked, and desired for their guidance
toward the desired end.
-
Organisation
– organisation
is set up with the primary purpose of securing co-ordination
particularly interdepartmental and interpersonal. Departments and
divisions are established to ensure a smooth flow of work without
friction, failing or delaying.
-
Direction
– direction
is concerned with making the human efforts more effective and
productive through leadership, guidance, motivation, communication
and supervision. Managers directing the efforts of employees
towards a common goal. Supervision is a cementing force for
securing better performance from workers. Supervisor gives
assistance, advice or direction to obtain cohesive group efforts
-
Control-control
ensures the realisation of planned objectives through the process
of work evaluation. The work progress is analysed and appraised in
terms of quantity, quality, time use and cost.
External
co-ordination
There
are 3 interesting parties-the customers, employees and the owners
whose conflicting needs and demands have to be satisfied by managers
of any business.
-
Consumers
desire an uninterrupted supply of quality goods and services at
fair process and expect a steady improvement in the quality of
goods and services so as to give them a higher standard of living.
-
Employees-demand
fair wages ,congenial working conditions ,steady employment
satisfaction from the work as well as protection against hazards
of accidents and sickness or old age
-
Owners
–want
conservation of assets, efficient and continuous operation of
business, fair returns on the investments and accurate information
on several aspects of business.
-
Other
enterprise –
an
enterprise affects and is affected in turn by the activities of
other enterprises particularly those in the same line of business.
An enterprise purchase materials and services from other
enterprises. Many enterprises are chained together by their
customer –buyer relationships. Non-availability
of materials may lead to forced stoppages of production on the
part of some enterprise.
-
Government
regulations-the
government at city, state or central level exerts potent forces
that are to be recognised by all managers. Regulatory measures of
government become so extensive that no enterprise can stay in
business without becoming thoroughly familiar with the
socioeconomic trends which produce these restrictive regulations.
Compliance with various laws relating to tax, tariff, labour etc
is necessary
-
General
business economy-enterprises
must adjust themselves with the swings of the trade cycle through
economic forecasting and trend study.
-
Technology
advances-an
enterprise must secure the benefit of new technology which is
being made continually available in our society through research
and interventions .technological advances contribute significantly
towards the reduction of cost and the improvement of productivity.
Without introducing new technological changes an enterprise cannot
go ahead.
Importance
of co-ordination
-
Quintessence
of management:
in
a sense, management is primarily a task of co-ordination of all
efforts, forces and activities that affect the enterprise from
within and without it.
-
Creative
force-
group efforts when co-ordinated create a result greater than the
sum total of the individual and isolated. This composite effort is
brought about by executive action on human relation and
leadership.
-
Unity
of direction-
co-ordination ensures unity if direction by way of securing
spontaneous collaboration on the part of different departments.
-
High
employee morale-
co-ordination tones up the general level of employee morale and
provides satisfaction.
Hindrances
to co-ordination
-
The
uncertainty of the future, as to the behaviour of the individual
and the people.
-
The
lack of knowledge, experience, wisdom and character among leaders
and their confused and conflicting ideas and objectives.
-
The
lack of administration skill and technique.
-
The
vast number of variables involved and the incompleteness of human
knowledge, particularly with regard to men and life.
-
The
lack of orderly methods of developing new ideas and programmes.
-
Size
and complexity, personality and political factors.
-
Lack
of leaders with wisdom and knowledge pertaining to public
administration
-
The
accelerated expansion of public administration of international
dimension.
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DELEGATION
AS MANAGEMENT FUNCTION
Delegation
is getting the work done by others or as directing the performance of one
or more people to accomplish organisational goals.
Definitions
-
"Delegation
is defined as the transfer of responsibility for the
performance of a task from one person to another"
-
"Transferring
to a competent individual the authority to perform a
selected nursing task in a selected nursing situation . The nurse
retains accountability for delegation"
5
Rights to delegation
National
Council of State Board
of Nursing in the US
presented 5 rights to delegation from the perspectives of both
nursing service administrator and staff nurse. Nursing service
administrator is responsible for job description, role
delineation, development of organisational policies ,procedures and
standards an assurance of adequate human resources. Staff nurse is
responsible for assessing client, delegating appropriately,
communicate clearly , providing monitoring and supervision.
-
Right
task
-
Right
circumstance
-
Right
person
-
Right
direction/communication
-
Right
supervision/evaluation
Strategies
for effective delegating
-
Plan
ahead
-
Identify
necessary skill and levels
-
Select
most capable person
-
Communicate
goal clearly
-
Empower
the delegate
-
Set
deadlines and monitor progress
-
Model
the role: provide guidance
-
Evaluate
performance
-
Reward
accomplishment
Common
delegation errors
-
Under
delegating-frequently
occurs from managers false assumption is that it may be
interpreted as a lack of ability on his part to do the job
correctly or completely. Another cause is manager’s desire to
complete the whole job personally due to lack of trust in
sub-ordinates.
-
Over
delegating-
some
managers over delegate burdening their subordinates. Others
do so because they feel insecure in their ability to perform a
task, and due to lack of organisation time. It can decrease the
productivity.
-
Improperly
delegating-
it
includes delegating the things at wrong time, to the wrong person
or for the wrong reason. Also delegating the yaks and
responsibilities that are beyond the capability of the person to
whom they are being delegated or that should be done by the
manager.
Barriers
to delegation
-
The
belief that “i can do it better myself”
-
Lack
of confidence and trust in workers
-
Low
self confidence, insecurity
-
Vague
job description
-
Inadequate
training
-
Lack
of adequate recruitment and selection
-
Time
involved in explaining the task
-
Reluctance
to take the risks involved in depending on others.
-
Fear
of loss of power
Delegation
as a function of professional nursing
With
the restructuring of care delivery models
registered nurse at all levels are expected to make assignments for
and supervise the work of different levels of employees. Registered
nurses should perform role of supervisor and
delegator need preparation to assume these leadership tasks. Nursing
schools and health care organisations have to prepare professionals
for the delegator role. This includes basic principles of delegating
to right person, at a right time and for the right reason,
and an action that must be undertaken when work is delegated in an
appropriate or unsafe manner.
Assuming
the role of delegator and supervisor to UAP
increases the scope of liability for the registered nurses.
Although nurses are not directly liable for all acts of negligence
on the part of those they supervise, they may be held liable if they
were negligent in the supervision of those employees at the time
when they committed negligent acts.
In
delegating tasks to the employees the RN
must be aware of job description, knowledge base and demonstrated
skill of each person
Common
cause of this can be
-
Failure
of the delegator to see the subordinates perspectives
-
Workload
assigned are highly challenging both physically and mentally
-
Belief
of employees that they are incapable of completing the delegated
task.
-
Inherent
resistance to authority
-
Due
to over delegation
Delegation
provides a means for increasing productivities . It is also a
managerial tool for subordinate accomplishment and enrichment. It
also requires highly developed leadership skills such as sensitivity
to subordinate capabilities and needs, and the ability to
communicate clearly and directly , the willingness to support and
encourage subordinates in carrying out delegated tasks and the
vision to see how delegation might result in increased personal
growth for subordinates.
Conclusion
For
the effective administration of any organisation co-ordination and
delegation are essential. Without these two
functions it will be difficult to achieve the
organisational goals . The right to delegate and the ability to
provide formal reward for successful completion of delegated tasks
reflect the legitimate authority inherent in the management role.
Research
Inputs
-
Factors
influencing outcomes after delegation to unlicensed assistive
personnel.7
A
national survey of licensed nurses in US that
describes factors associated with patient outcomes when nursing
activities are delegated to unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP)
found that licensed nurses' overall experience and UAP's
experience in the current work setting were associated with more
positive events. When the outcome of the delegated activity was
determined by routine observation, more positive events occurred.
However, when there was no direct supervision of the UAP,
more negative events occurred. Recognition of the importance of the
supervisory process has implications for educational opportunities
that focus on strengthening licensed nurses' delegation
competencies.
2.
Coordination challenges in operating-room management: an in-depth
field study8
This study
describes the multi-faceted information exchanges essential for an
operating room suite to be managed within the context of efficient,
cost effective, safe practice. Through the combined use of
observation, the critical incident technique, and interviews, this
study analyzed information issues that impact coordination. Results
demonstrate how distributed team planning is inherent to the
efficacy of the system, and discuss implications for information
tools to support coordination within in a complex setting.
References:
-
Ward
MJ, Price SA .Issues in nursing administration. St.Louis:
Mosby;1991.
-
Marquis
B.L. ,Hutson C.J . Leadership roles and
management functions in nursing– Theory and application. 5th
ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2006.
-
Douglass
L M. The effective nurse- leader and manager. 5th ed.
Mosby: St. Louis; 1996.
-
Morrison
M. Professional skills for leadership. Mosby: US; 1993.
-
Ellis
J R, Hartley C L. Managing and Co-ordinating
nursing care. 3rd ed. Lippincott: Philadelphia;1995.
-
Basvanthappa
BT. Nursing administration. New Delhi:
Jaypee brothers;2000.
-
Anthony,
Mary K., Theresa; Hertz, Judith .Factors
Influencing Outcomes After Delegation to Unlicensed Assistive
Personnel. JONA. 30(10):474-481,
October 2000.
-
Cheryl
L. Plasters, Seagull F J, Xiao Y.
Coordination challenges in operating-room management:
an in-depth field study. Amia
annu symp
proc; 2003.
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