Determinants of delegation and consultation by managers

Abstract

Few studies have identi®ed determinants of delegation and consultation. To investigate this question further, we surveyed managers and subordinates in two samples and interviewed managers individually or in focus groups. The use of delegation and consultation with individual subordinates was determined in part by characteristics of the subordinates and the manager±subordinate relationship. More delegation was used for a subordinate who was competent, shared the leader's task objectives, had worked longer for the manager, was a supervisor also, and had a favorable exchange relationship with the manager. Consultation with a subordinate was predicted by goal congruence, subordinate job level, and quality of the leader±member exchange relationship. The managers acknowledged that developing subordinates and empowering them to do their work were important reasons for delegation, but many managers were reluctant to give up control over important decisions or assign an important task to an inexperienced subordinate.

A model of task demands, social structure, and leader–member exchange and their relationship to job satisfaction

“…But why does LMX not relate to overall job satisfaction? We would have expected that the quality of the relationship has an impact on overall job satisfaction as LMX has, for example, been shown to be related to delegation (Yukl, & Fu, 1999), which influences other components of the job and, therewith, overall job satisfaction. We can only speculate that the leaders of our participants, being on low levels of the organizational hierarchy, may not have much power to influence their followers' jobs in general.…”

Comparing antecedents and consequences of leader – member exchange in a German working context to findings in the US

“…Regarding consequences of LMX, both in the US (Yukl & Fu, 1999) and in Germany, subordinates" evaluation of the relationship to their leader is positively related to delegation. One might speculate that subordinates with a good relationship towards their leaders feel supported by them (see Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995) and, therefore, tend to ask for more challenging tasks themselves.…”

“…This assumption finds support in prior research. Yukl and Fu (1999) found that leaders tend to delegate challenging tasks to those followers to whom they have a positive (LMX) relationship (see also Schriesheim, Neider, & Scandura, 1998;Scandura, & Tepper, 1992). Therefore, delegation of challenging tasks (in particular) can be regarded as a result of a good relationship quality in the sense of LMX.…”

“…The delegation scale was adapted from the Managerial Practices Survey (MPS, see Yukl, Wall & Lepsinger, 1990;Yukl & Fu, 1999). Participants filled in the subscale "delegation" consisting of 7 items.…”

Psychosocial safety climate: a multilevel theory of work stress in the health and community service sector

“…As leaders are responsible for the way jobs are designed (Yukl & Fu, 1999), in high PSC contexts managers will also ensure that workers have sufficient resources to do the job. Therefore, we expect a positive relationship between PSC and resources.…”