Delegating a task does not end at handing the duty over to someone else.

Good managers know

that they have to be responsible for a delegated task even if they are not the ones performing a
task. In this assignment the writer is going to assess the view that delegation is not abdication.
Key terms to be defined are abdication, delegation and teaching practice.

Team (2015) defines abdication as an act of failing to fulfill a duty or a responsibility. This
implies that a school head can assign one of his or her team members to do a certain task that he
or she is not able to perform due to lack of skills. According to Taylor (2015) abdication is
simply issuing a task to anyone and forgetting about it. This means that a manager in this case
who is the school head can give one of the teachers a task to perform and never make any follow
up to see if the task was done properly. Therefore, abdication can be defined as the action of
abandoning certain duties which you were supposed to perform and giving another person that
responsibility due to laziness or lack of skills and experience.

Delegation is the assignment of authority and responsibility to others in orders to carry out these
assignments (Bell and Bodie, 2012). This means that a manager can give one of the subordinates
the authority to perform a certain task but the manager will be held accountable for the outcome.
Haff (2010) propounds that delegation is the shifting of authority and responsibility for the
functions, tasks or decisions from one person to another. This implies that a leader can assign his
or her team members to perform tasks as a way of sharing workload since the manager cannot
perform all the duties alone. Therefore delegation can be defined as giving authority to other
team members to carry out a task but the manager should first clearly define work to be done and
be held accountable should anything go wrong

Teaching practice is a form of work integrated learning that is described as a period of time when
student teachers are working in the relevant industries to receive specific service of training in
order to apply theory into practice ( Marais and Meier, 2004). This means that during teaching
practice student teachers will be allowed to have real classroom experience as they will be sent
away in school to spend time interacting with learners. According to Berstein (2000), teaching
practice is the art and science of organizing knowledge and demonstrating relevant skills. This
implies that during teaching practice student teachers will be demonstrating theoretical skills
acquired at the college before they were deployed to the schools to interact with the real teaching

1|Page
environment. Therefore teaching practice can be defined as the time in which student teachers
work under the supervision of college in order to gain experience in real classroom activities.

Delegation is not abdication but a way of grooming leaders. It promotes the development of
leadership skills, knowledge and attitudes. Delegation promotes innovation and initiative talking
among the subordinates (Muir, 2006). This means that if subordinates are given a chance to
perform certain tasks they can bring new ideas into the institution particularly schools as people
have different skills and experience to perform a task. For example if the school head appoints
senior teacher to register grade seven learner online, the teacher can come up with skills and
ideas on how to register learners quickly and the skills of using a computer can improve since he
or she is required to do so online.

On the contrary, delegation maybe abdication especially when the leader delegates because of his
or her lack of skills or knowledge. In this way the leader will be trying to avoid humiliation and
embarrassment in the event that he or she fails to perform a task. Millar (2011) suggests that
managers try to delegate accountability shielding themselves from any criticism should things
not go according to the plan. This means that a school head can assign deputy head to process for
instance Beam papers just because the head is not able to use computers. Mentors can also
abdicate all the visual and performing arts lessons to the mentees just because they do do not
know how to teach that leaning area.

Delegation is not abdication but a way of sharing power with subordinates. Delegation
encourages subordinates to perform and accomplish tasks delegated to them. Good delegation
provides better managers and a higher degree of efficiency. Primarily, delegation aims to get job
done by someone else (Hubbard, 2016). This implies that if delegation is done well, it reduces
pressure to the leader since there will be sharing of power and work done. There will be also
high percentage of outcome since there will be efficiency. For example if the head assigns
teacher in charge to register newly enrolled learners.

Conversely, delegation maybe abdication if it's done not in the spirit of power sharing but out of
laziness. Sometimes school head may become lazy to such an extent that he ends up delegating
critical duties they should be doing themselves. Mullins (1993) argues that over zealousness
and/or greedy or laziness can create bottlenecks for effective delegation. This means that

2|Page
subordinates may end up refusing to accomplish the delegated task since they will be sure that
the task is not meant for them and the school head has nothing to do that maybe disturbing him
or her to perform the task. For example one of the teachers refused to make a phone call to the
ZIMSEC when learners could not write their mathematics paper one because the nearby river
was flooded and learners could not cross on time.

Delegation is not abdication but a way of improving team work among subordinates. If
delegation is done in good way it creates a team built on trust and open communication which
automatically produce a team poised for success. There is the promotion of team work as other
members in the institution are encouraged to participate in undertaking other responsibilities
(Muir, 2006). Suppose one teacher is appointed to become health master and the other one as
sports master, these two will always work together in order to foster the required behavior
regardless of which activity is taking place. This in turn produces favorable results. This was
proved by teachers who always backed one another up in health sessions and sports. At the end
of the day the outcome was favorable.

However, delegation maybe abdication if it is based upon fault finding. If the leader delegates
responsibilities to subordinates so that he or she finds faults in them, then delegation might not
save the purpose it supposed to. It creates mistrust and closed communication. This view is
supported by Cole (1996) who says at the other hand excessive delegation is whereby
subordinates are left almost without guidance to do their work as they like and be ready to accept
blame for their mistakes this means that managers only give the subordinates undefined tasks in
order to point out where they went wrong as they carried out the task. For example when the
health master assigned the student teachers to monitor learners in fetching water from a village
borehole where they would pass through a bush full of wild fruits and learners would want to
have a taste of the fruits.

Delegation is not abdication but a way of enabling the head to concentrate on a few tasks while
the tasks are being attended to by other subordinates. Delegation facilitates the accomplishment
of many institutional tasks quickly and perfectly since responsibilities are spread among many
subordinates. Team (2015) asserts that doing delegation develops people who are ultimately
more fulfilled and productive. Risgaard et al (2016) also say delegation has the potential to
increase the level of productive of head and management in educational institutions. This implies

3|Page
that if head delegates some tasks to the subordinates they have enough time to concentrate on
useful tasks that increase productivity of the institution. The head may assign senior teacher to
assess infant teacher's work in order to see how the teacher is progressing with work while the
head is attending a school development committee meeting.

On the other hand, delegation maybe abdication if the leader delegates very difficult tasks to
subordinates. Delegating very difficult tasks might seem as the leader is afraid to take the task to
him or herself and therefore might appear as if he or she want to punish the subordinate. This is
supported by Gerber (2010) who says that there is a critical moment when the leader hires his
subordinates to do the task he doesn't know how to do himself or doesn't want to do. This means
that a leader can see that he is not able to perform a certain task and since he leads the institution
has all the power needed can shift the task to someone else. For example the head can assign one
of the teachers to lead in the construction of a borehole in the school since the head know
nothing about boreholes.

It can be concluded that delegation is not abdication only if the manager assigns subordinates to
perform a task and the manager continue to be responsible for the outcome and the mistakes
made during the process of accomplishing the duty. Delegation may also be abdication if the
manager assigns a task to subordinates and ignores the entire process followed in coming out
with results. Therefore, managers should delegate instead of abdicating work.

4|Page
REFERENCES

Bell, R. L. and Bodie, N. D. (2012) ‘Delegation, Authority and Responsibility’. Journal Of

Leadership, Accountability and Ethics Vol.9(2) 2012. Accessed from
www.researchgate.net: [ Accessed on 11 May 2022]

Berstain, B. (2000) ‘Investigating The Teaching Practice Framework’. International Education

Studies Vol 14.No 12. Accessed from URL:https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v14n12p140:
[Accessed on 15 May 2022]

Blanchard, K. (2011) ‘Are You Delegating Or Abdicating?’, 27 August 2011. Accessed from
www.kenblanchardbooks.com: [ Accessed on 11 May 2022]

Cole, G. A. (1996) Management Theory and Practice. London: DP publication.

EMyth Team (2015) Delegation Vs Abdication. Accessed from www.emyth.com: [Accessed on

15 May 2022]

Hubbard, T. N. (2016) Research: Delegating More Can Increase Your Earnings. Business
Review. Accessed from https://hbr.org/2016/08/research.delegating-more-can-increase-
your-earnings: [Accessed on 13 May 2022]

Muir, J (2006) ‘Effective Management Through Delegation’, Work Study, Vol. 44 Issue: 7, pp 6-
7

Mullins, I. J. (1993) Management And Organizational Behavior. London: Pitman Publishing.

Naphtali, H. (2019) How To Have Sustained Success In School Leadership. Accessed from
corp.smartbrief.com: [ Accessed on 15 May 2022]

Riisgaard, H., Nexce, J, VLe, J., Sandergaard, J. and Letterer, L. (2016) Relations Between Task
Delegation and Job Satisfaction In General Practice: A Systematic Literature Review.
BMC Family Practice 2016.17pp.168

Taylor, R (2015) Business Mentor And Educator. Accessed from

www.businesswealtheducators.com: [Accessed on 18 May 2022]

5|Page