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one third of Toyota's highest-ranking executives. He revamped Toyota's long-standing promotion system based on seniority, adding performance as a factor. Some outstanding performers were also moved up several levels in management at one time-something unheard of in the history of the company.

Okuda also worked with vehicle designers to increase the speed at which a vehicle went from concept to market. What once took 27 months was shortened to 18. Finally, he is using the visibility of his job to address larger societal issues facing all Japanese businesses. He recently accused Japan's Finance Ministry of trying to destroy the auto industry by driving up the yen. And he has been an audible voice in the country, condemning the lax lending practices that force Japanese banks to write off billions of dollars in bad loans and that led, in part, to the economic crisis in the country.

Unfortunately, some of Okuda's actions may have backfired. Speculation that he overstepped his boundary at times by his "blunt demands for change and his refusal to bail out other members of the Toyota keiretsu," may have offended the founding Toyoda family — leading to his removal as president of the company in June 1999. However, his strategic leadership and the good he's done for the company didn't go unnoticed — they helped him ascend to the chairman's job.

QUESTIONS

1.How would you describe Hiroski Okuda's leadership style? Cite specifics where appropriate.

2.When a company is in a crisis, do you believe that a radical change in leadership is required to turn the company around? Support your position.

3.Would you describe Okuda's leadership style to be (a) charismatic, (b) visionary, and (c) culturally consistent with the practices in Japan? Explain.

INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP ACTIVITIES

The Pre-Post Leadership Assessment

OBJECTIVE

To compare characteristics intuitively related to leadership with leadership characteristics found in leadership theory.

PROCEDURE

Identify three people (e.g., friends, relatives, previous boss, public figures, etc.) whom you consider to be outstanding leaders. List why you feel each individual is a good leader. Compare your lists of the three individuals. Which traits, if any, are common to all three? Your instructor will lead the class in a discussion of leadership characteristics based on your lists. Students will call out what they identified, and your instructor will write the traits on the chalkboard. When all students have shared their lists, class discussion will focus on the following:

1.What characteristics consistently appeared on students' lists?

2.Were these characteristics more trait oriented or behavior oriented?

3.Under what situations were these characteristics useful?

4.What, if anything, does this exercise suggest about leadership attributes?

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Developing Your Trust-Building Skills

Building Trust

ABOUT THE SKILL

Given the importance trust plays in the leadership equation, today's leaders should actively seek to build trust with their followers. Here are some suggestions for achieving that goal.

STEPS IN THE TRUST-BUILDING SKILL

Practice openness Mistrust comes as much from what people don't know as from what they do know. Openness leads to confidence and trust. So keep people informed; make clear the criteria on how decisions are made; explain the rationale for your decisions; be candid about problems; and fully disclose relevant information.

Be fair Before making decisions or taking actions, consider how others will perceive them in terms of objectivity and fairness. Give credit where credit is due; be objective and impartial in performance appraisals; and pay attention to equity perceptions in reward distributions.

Speak your feelings Leaders who convey only hard facts come across as cold and distant. When you share your feelings, others will see you as real and human. They will know who you are and their respect for you will increase.

Tell the truth If honesty is critical to credibility, you must be perceived as someone who tells the truth-Followers are more tolerant of being told something they "don't want to hear" than of finding out that their leader lied to them.

Be consistent People want predictability. Mistrust comes from not knowing what to expect. Take the time to think about your values and beliefs. Then let them .consistently guide your decisions. When you know your central purpose, your actions will follow accordingly, and you will project a consistency that earns trust.

Fulfill your promises Trust requires that people: believe that you are dependable. So you need to keep your word. Promises made must be promises kept.

Maintain confidences You trust those whom you believe to be discrete and whom you can rely on. If people make themselves vulnerable by telling you something in confidence, they need to feel assured that you won't discuss it with others or betray that confidence. If people perceive you as someone who leaks personal confidences or someone who can't be depended on, you won't be perceived as trustworthy.

Demonstrate confidence Develop the admiration and respect of others by demonstrating technical and professional ability. Pay particular attention to developing and displaying your communication, negotiating, and other interpersonal skills.

TRUST BUILDING

You are a new manager. Your predecessor, who was very popular and who is still with your firm, concealed from your team how far behind they are on their goals this quarter.

As a result, your team members are looking forward to a promised day off that they are not entitled to and will not be getting.

It's your job to tell them the bad news. How will you do it?

1. Think about a person in your life (a parent, a supervisor; a teacher, etc) who has influenced you to the extent that you enthusiastically gave 110 percent. Describe the

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characteristics of this individual. Pick one of the contemporary leadership theories in this chapter and relate your list to the model, explaining how your leader demonstrated the attributes, of your selected theory.

2.Develop a twoto three-page discussion when responding to the following questions. What kind of activities could a full-time college student pursue that might lead to the perception that he or she is a charismatic leader? In pursuing those activities, what might the student do to enhance this perception of being charismatic?

3.Visit the Southwest Airlines Web site <http://www.southwest.com>. Surf through the various Web pages of this airline. Using two of the skills of a visionary leader, locate examples of how Herb Kelleher has demonstrated these attributes. Specifically, show (1) how Kelleher's vision is clearly explained in terms of what's expected from Southwest employees and (2) how Kelleher's behavior reinforces to organizational members the importance of his vision.

VOCABULARY

Study the following words and phrases
adventurous	embarrassing	in the long run	reluctantly
autocratic style	entitlement	infringe	resurgent
behavioral theories	exhibit	laissez-fair style	ruthless
charismatic leadership	flippancy	offensive	self-deprecation
circumscribed	glib tongue	overwhelming	sequence
commitment	goal	persuasive	tough
consistency	hint	pervade	trait theories
convey	hurdle	pervasive	unostentatious
courtesy	impediment	reciprocation	vague
decisive	implications	reinforce	visionary leadership

UNIT 9

DELEGATING

LEAD-IN 1. Discuss these questions

1.Do you have a strong sense of authority?

2.Are you ready to delegate your authority to others?

3.What jobs are you ready to delegate?

4.Why are some people reluctant to delegate their authority/

5.What is delegating?

READING

Text 1. YOU CAN'T DO IT ALONE

2.Before you read answer these questions.

1.Should managers have hands-on control of every aspect of their business?

2.How can you delegate effectively?

3.Does delegating help managers to build more productive working relationships within their team?

4.What are the possible excuses for not delegating?

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5. How can delegating make your job easier and enjoyable?

Many managers suffer from the delusion that they should have hands-on control of every aspect of their business. But the fact is that most businesses today are too complex, wideranging and fast-moving for one manager to be actively involved in every day-to-day decision.

As a result, managers with unrealistic expectations about what they can handle are likely to wind up feeling anxious and insecure. In an effort to master the situation they may attempt to lighten control still further, introducing more systems and procedures, losing perspective of their management role and becoming increasingly bogged down in detail.

This text looks at how you can avoid this by delegating effectively and building more productive working relationships within your team.

The art of delegation

The first challenge is to acknowledge that you can't do everything yourself. Resources are available to help you meet your objectives, and the most important of these is the people you work with.

Once you've accepted that members of your team want to improve and can perform in extraordinary ways, your next step is to provide them with opportunities to grow and develop experience - i.e. to delegate to them.

Literally, delegation means using someone as a representative. Doing it effectively will bring a number of benefits:

Top performers who seek out and enjoy challenges will be attracted to your team, and poor performers who don't want to be challenged will be deterred.

Work won't come to a halt when you're out of the office.

You'll have more time for forward-looking, strategic tasks such as developing teamwork, improving service, raising the quality of products and updating systems.

Team members who have some responsibility, so they feel they will be praised for good results as well as constructively criticized for mistakes, are more likely to want to take on tasks.

Personal and professional satisfaction is increased for all concerned

You'll be using your budget more efficiently: it costs less if a member of your team performs a task, as their time is less expensive than yours.

All in all, everybody wins from effective delegation: team members have more opportunity to cultivate their careers and contribute to the firm; you free up your time for more productive work; and the business benefits from increased efficiency and staff satisfaction, and from a more dynamic environment.

Your team is more likely to fail through your doubting their abilities than through their inexperience - so what reasons do you find to resist delegation?

Excuses for resisting the challenge

Here are some possible excuses for not delegating, all of which you must reject:

In the time it takes to explain, I can do it myself - in the short-term this may be true, but in the long term delegation will save you time.

My team isn't yet capable - they never will be unless you start incorporating delegation into their development plans.

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No one is up to it except me - even if this is true, are you being too much of a perfectionist? Does the task need such a degree of excellence? If not, maybe someone else could do the job adequately in less time.

I enjoy these tasks - losing them would make my job less interesting - in the longer term, the improvement in staff morale and performance brought about by delegating will make your job easier and just as enjoyable.

Traps to avoid

Simply delegating is not enough - the way you do it has a huge impact. Make sure you don't fall into any of the categories below:

THE DUMPER

Off-loading only work you don't want to do is the least effective way of developing and motivating people. Your team will feel frustrated, resentful, overloaded and unable to plan their own work effectively. They will lack any sense of worth, achievement or personal development. You must delegate interesting and challenging projects as well.

THE CONTROLLER

Lack of trust and an unwillingness to let go whatever the situation will waste much time and potential. Your people's growth will be restricted by your own narrow definition of their personal development.

THE ABDICATOR

Simply abdicating responsibility and leaving people to sink or swim will make people feel insecure, unsupported and isolated. Even if they don't go under, they'll have to learn the hard way, and will probably make many mistakes along the way.

3. After reading the text what new information did you get?

Text 2. FOUR LEVELS OF DELAGATION

4.Do you agree that

1.Different situations require different delegation?

2.Some people are not ready to take on responsibility?

3.Delegating implies freedom on the one hand and strict control on the other hand.

Four levels of delegation

Different situations require different balances of control and delegation. The following should help you decide which is appropriate.

I'LL DECIDE

This level involves delegating tasks but not responsibility. You hope the other person will follow your directions willingly, but if they feel unhappy about them, they will still be required to carry them out.

This approach is best with new members of a team who are enthusiastic and eager to learn, but who have limited knowledge and experience. They expect to be told what to do, and both need and accept close supervision. It's appropriate when you want to involve someone, but the job is too sensitive or important for you to relax your control. An example might be seeking a newcomer's help with a presentation of departmental results to the directors.

With this approach, it's vital to give clear messages and leave team members in no doubt as to whether they are responding to an order, a request or a suggestion. The danger

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in doing this is that it might impede someone's development by diminishing their role and increasing their dependence on you.

WE'LL DISCUSS; I'LL DECIDE

At this level of delegation, control is diminishing, and coaching is the principal theme of supervision.

When in this mode, you may be able to accept every suggestion given by a colleague. When this is not possible, you should explain why an alternative would be more successful and then help him or her to learn the skills necessary to implement it. Team members must be made aware that all final decisions will be made by you.

This style is best when you want and value someone's input, but must retain ultimate responsibility, for example when recruiting new team members.

When using this approach, beware of deceiving your people by pretending to have a discussion when you've already decided exactly what will be done. If you do this you will forfeit their trust.

WE'LL DISCUSS; WE'LL DECIDE

At this level, you and your colleague are aiming to agree solutions to problems or ways of handling projects.

This is appropriate when your colleague's understanding and skills in the area under consideration are roughly equal to your own, and you are both happy to share your knowledge and enthusiasm, for example when writing a marketing brief for a supplier.

When using this approach, beware of pretending to offer freedom when you're actually intending to maintain strict controls.

WE'LL DISCUSS; YOU DECIDE

At this level, your colleague takes responsibility for the final decision after receiving input from you - for example deciding which of a number of candidates to recruit. This approach is best when you have insights or information to offer, but your colleague needs to assume responsibility because he or she will be affected by the consequences .

YOU DECIDE; IF YOU NEED HELP, ASK

At this level you largely hand over control, whilst retaining ultimate authority and responsibility. Your role becomes that of a consultant, who makes suggestions, provides information, obtains resources and gives support if and when required. However, you will still need to define parameters carefully, leaving no possibility of misunderstanding.

This approach is best when colleagues can accept the challenges and disciplines of full delegation and work autonomously. They must both want and be equipped to achieve the highest possible performance standards. This sort of delegation is also particularly appropriate when the issues are personally important to your colleague.

There are two main dangers here. Firstly, though you're losing control, you're still responsible, so you must be confident in your colleague's ability to deliver. In addition you need to beware of overloading colleagues who aren't ready to take on the responsibility.

Remember, none of these approaches is inherently better than another. Each works well provided they are appropriate for the situation and parameters are well understood by you and members of your team.

5.Answer these questions.

1.What levels of delegation are discussed in the text?

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2.What does each level involve?

3.In what situations are these approaches used?

4.What should managers beware of when using this or that approach?

5.Is it important for managers and their people to understand a particular situation and use an appropriate approach?

Text 3. HOW TO DELEGATE

6. Do you know how to delegate? Read the text and make a list of steps you should take to master delegating.

How to delegate

The first step is to make a shopping list of the things you do, and ask yourself the following questions:

How much time do things take and how many tasks really have to be done by you?

Which tasks don't you delegate because you like them? Should you be delegating any of these?

Which tasks do you delegate because you hate them? Are there any you should be doing yourself?

Once you've decided what to delegate, the next steps are to:

Select someone for the task. The person you choose will not necessarily be the one with the best skills or the most time available. You may want to encourage someone to develop their skills in areas in which they are weak. Also, what someone lacks in experience and skill, they may more than make up for in potential and motivation.

Set a clear objective for the task. This should build confidence, develop and stretch (but beware of overloading or off-loading).

Discuss the assignment and how the task fits into the big picture - why it's important for the organization.

Explain why you've chosen the person for the task - that you value them and aren't just pushing unwanted work their way.

Check for understanding and ask for comments.

Make a delegation 'contract' establishing division of responsibility, resources available, how often you will follow up and how performance will be measured.

Establish controls - budget, deadlines and when and how a formal review will take place.

Make yourself available, particularly at critical times.

Publicize the fact that the task has been delegated - the recognition of colleagues is a motivating factor.

Evaluate the finished project. Concentrate on what went right (give praise for a job done well), and what went wrong (identify lessons learned not only for the person but for yourself too!).

7. After reading the text summarize the information of the text to be ready to speak on the topic "How to delegate".'

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Text 4. THE ART OF DELEGATING

8.Do you agree that

1.Assigning tasks to others is a key managerial skill?

2.It is important to accept that the work will not be done exactly as you would have done?

3.The boss should be on top of things?

4.The feedback and criticism must be positive and constructive?

5.How well you learn to delegate will help you advance in your career?

THE ART OF DELEGATING

Assigning tasks to others is a key managerial skill

By Carl Seuncer

A colleague of mine spent a tough first year adjusting to being promoted to "acting manager." Recently, though. she told me how much she enjoyed managing her team of seven professionals. What had changed? She had learned how to delegate, and now believes that acquiring this one managerial skill was crucial for her career.

Another engineer I know, Ray, has 20 years' experience and a team that he supervises, but he wasn't keeping track of what his people were doing and wasn't deploying them effectively. As a result, Ray was being held back from a promotion. His problem? He hadn't learned how to delegate work to his people.

Can delegating really make such a difference? Yes, it can. There comes a time in every engineer's career when he or she needs to start letting go and assigning tasks to subordinates or to contractors. Often, this is work that the engineer could still do, given the time, but now he or she should focus on the higher-value managerial skills needed to accomplish the work through the efforts of others. In short, being able to assign work is an important way to leverage your own effectiveness.

Delegating isn't easy, especially for engineers. I believe most young engineers tend to enjoy working alone as they go through school, perhaps having selected the profession because it allows them to work alone without having to deal with others.

But once you appreciate the importance of delegating and learn the principles of how to do it, it does get easier. Delegating involves four basic steps: clearly describing the end product and when it is needed getting comfortable with the idea of other people doing the work, keeping track of things, and giving constructive feedback. Let's take a look at each step.

Clearly describe what needs to be done and by when. Most of us, even when we become managers, are hesitant to ask someone else to do work that we could do. One day we're doing certain tasks, and the next we're supposed to ask others to do those same tasks. So perhaps we feel a bit guilty; after all, what are we doing?

The fact is, people who report to you expect to be guided and are not going to blame you for "shirking" work. The key is to determine what you want others to accomplish and when you need them to complete the task. Be clear as to what is expected, and give your subordinate the opportunity to discuss the general approach or any other issue before launching into the work. Write down what you've agreed to (in a short e-mail, for instance), as this will help get the person started in the right direction and minimize any disagreement later. One manager I know reviews progress a day or two after assigning the work if she's unsure that the person will tackle the task effectively, to make sure that the person doesn't stray too far from the assignment.

Accept that the work will not be done exactly as you would have done it. No

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one completes the same task in the same way. This does not necessarily make another person's work wrong or inferior; in fact, it may be better than what you could have done and be a credit to your managerial skills. Beware of micromanaging or seeming to look over another's shoulder constantly. But by the same token, don't allow a subordinate to repeatedly ask questions for reassurance; instead, have him or her ting brief you on progress at reasonable milestones, depending on the scope of the task.

Keep track of delegated work. A critical role for managers is to know what their people are doing at any given time and when the work is due. That means developing a system for monitoring delegated tasks, which can be separate from elaborate project management charts covering major tasks. Ray, the engineer I mentioned earlier, needed to develop a simple spreadsheet to keep track of the tasks that his team was doing; he designed one linked to overall project schedules. Then he had to follow up to make sure the work was getting done. Having such a system doesn't just help the manager; it also gives the workers confidence that their boss is on top of things.

Give constructive feedback and criticism. When giving feedback for delegated work, try first to be as positive as possible about the work the person has done. For example, cite good, substantive points or the timeliness of the work's completion. Any criticism should relate directly to the initial scope and deadline for the work; if those were clearly outlined, you'll have a basis to discuss the submitted work and any further work needed.

Let's close by looking at delegating from the opposite perspective: when others delegate work to you. Do you understand what is being asked of you? Are you aware of the deadlines? Are you comfortable with asking your boss questions that will clarify anything that's vague? If not, then try some of the delegating tips you've just learned here, Delegating is a two-way street, so the two parties need to agree in order to produce what is needed in a timely manner.

The essence of delegating lies in recognizing that at some point in your career, you can no longer do it all and that to manage people and projects, you'll need to focus on using your higher-level skills. Others in your organization will look to you for guidance and direction in accomplishing the work. How well you learn to delegate will indicate your readiness to take on more responsibility and advance in your career.

9.Discuss these questions.

1.What are the four key principles of delegating?

2.Why is it essential to describe clearly what needs to be done and by when?

3.Do you agree that it is a credit to your managerial talent if your people have performed better than you could have done?

4.Is it important to keep track of delegated work? Why?

5.How can delegating increase your personal effectiveness?

LISTENING

10.Listen to the interview and answer these questions?

1.When might you need someone to coordinate a team's activities?

2.What does coordination involve?

3.Why might you need someone to drive the situation?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.How can delegating benefit everyone in a team?

2.How can delegating make your work more fulfilling and enjoyable?

3.Does delegating help people to learn and develop?

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4.Does delegating help managers to build strong business relationships?

5.Is their success your success?

CASE STUDY

The new boss

NIGEL FRASER

A 'whiz kid'.

Previously worked for a business equipment chain. Ambitious and creative with a direct, 'no-nonsense' approach. Task-oriented, he sees his main objective as meeting sales targets. Very disappointed with current sales performance. Believes the team needs to be controlled more tightly and is underperforming because of bad habits acquired under Vanessa Bryant.

Background

Business Equipment and Systems (BES), based in Birmingham, England, sells fax machines, data projectors and slim plasma screens. Eighteen months ago, its national Sales Manager, Vanessa Bryant, moved to a senior management position. Her replacement, Nigel Fraser, has been told to increase turnover by at least 10% and to create a high-performing sales team. However, since Nigel's appointment the team has not been working effectively and morale is low. Last year's sales were over 20% below target. The sales team has a mix of nationalities because BES intends to enter other European markets in the near future.

Problems

1.Nigel has asked for more detailed sales reports from his team and wants to check their diaries every two weeks. The more experienced staff resent this.

2.To set clear objectives and improve communication, he holds more meetings. However, some staff are often late or don't attend, and two or three people dominate the discussions.

3.When targets are not met or customers complain, staff blame each other or other departments. They never take responsibility for mistakes.

4.Because of rivalry between individual members, they do not help each other. Some actively dislike each other.

5.The team become defensive if outsiders make helpful suggestions. They lack creativity and can't accept criticism.

6.Nigel often praises his previous company and colleagues, while the team talk about 'the good old days' when Vanessa was Sales Manager.

Writing

Either:

Write a letter to the Managing Director of BES outlining your solution to the problems.

Or:

You are a sales manager. The behaviour of one of your salespeople is upsetting the others in the team. Write a letter warning them about their conduct and indicating where improvements should be made.

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