Supervisors can be reluctant to delegate tasks for a number of reasons. The company may have a shortage of qualified employees, and the supervisor may have a fear of making mistakes, or an I’d-rather-doit-myself mentality. The supervisor may be afraid of not being needed, or there may be a lack of managerial support for delegation. Employees may be reluctant to take on new tasks, possibly because of their interaction with managers who have conditioned them to avoid receiving tasks from a supervisor who

“dumps” rather than delegates.

When delegation is carried out effectively, it can be very beneficial to the entire work team. Employees learn new skills, gain confidence, and learn how to make appropriate decisions. The supervisor is freed up to empower more employees, departmental decisions are made with a wider range of input, and employee morale and job performance increase.? LO857