Distribution of duties: distribution of duties of workers at various levels, the procedure for the preparation and signing of orders, a guide for the head

Each competent leader must be able to properly distribute responsibilities between his subordinates. Only in this case the structure entrusted to him (company, department, workshop) will work properly and achieve the desired results. This article will examine in detail the term “distribution of responsibilities”, principles and practical recommendations related to it.

General provisions on this term

You need to understand why managers need to be able to distribute responsibilities. It is worth going the opposite: if the boss cannot competently distribute tasks between subordinates, everyone will not do his own thing - there will be confusion that will noticeably complicate the work process and then the common goal (in a good company, subordinates work for one corporate goal) or will be achieved soon, either will not be achieved at all.

If the boss correctly distributed the duties to the employees and each of them clearly knows what he needs to do and what is better not to touch upon, the desired results will be achieved quite quickly.

Theoretically, if a manager knows how to work with a small team, then he will be able to cope with a large team - there is no difference between handing over responsibilities to 200 people or 20. In practice, everything is different: companies of different scales have their own characteristics in the distribution of responsibilities.

In small organizations, one employee can cope with several responsibilities at once (combine the position of an accountant and a financier, for example), because the load allows this.

In large companies, where a huge amount of information passes through one person, it is better to hire two different people for the positions of financier and accountant. So it will be possible to increase the efficiency of employees.

As a result, the distribution of powers implies the determination not only of the scale of authority of certain employees, departments, but also specific descriptions of these tasks. For example, the distribution of labor protection duties implies that each of the employees working at the enterprise will observe safety precautions in their field: electricians will not repair the devices included in the network, turners will not touch the blade at full speed. This is the foundation of the basics.

Distribution example

The distribution of responsibilities applies to workers at various levels. The tasks of the management of the company and the executive staff can be (most often it is) completely different. To better understand this, it is worth considering the responsibilities of chain store employees.

What should the organization’s CEO do?

1. Develop a development plan for the company for the future together, for example, with your partners, if any.
2. Solve issues of attracting additional investments.
3. Lead the chiefs located in the hierarchical ladder below him.

What are the responsibilities of the director by difference?

1. Providing competent logistics.
2. Ensuring the smooth operation of network facilities in technical terms.
3. Discovery of new network facilities.
4. Analysis of the effectiveness of individual stores organization.

What does a commercial director do?

1. Defines the assortment of network products.
2. Organizes the development of standards for product placement in stores.
3. Achieves deliveries on the most favorable terms. Works with suppliers of products and equipment.
4. Raises the level of sales through advertising campaigns.

The distribution of responsibilities of the administration, that is, the management team, will be discussed in more detail below.

Responsibilities of the finance department:

1. The distribution of financial flows.
2. Conducting financial accounting.
3. Work with the tax service.
4. Calculation of the most favorable price level for various categories of goods.

There are also employees who directly work at retail outlets, serve customers and perform their duties, which are described in their job description.

Job description

All duties of employees are specified in the job description. This document should always be guided in the performance of work tasks, because some orders of the authorities may not correspond to the written provisions.

Such instructions are drawn up on the basis of the state management documentation system, which establishes mandatory requirements for all to draw up documents related to personnel management and organization of work.

Also, the job description has several more side tasks:

1. Exclusion of conflict situations in the team. Thanks to this, the psychological climate in the team improves and the effectiveness of the work of its members increases.
2. Unloading employees who secretly perform additional duties.
3. Creating a comfortable environment for managers who, thanks to the job description, know exactly who and for what they can ask.
4. Similarly for employees. They will know why and who can ask them.

Document Content

What does the standard job description contain:

1. General Provisions This paragraph describes the scope of activities in which the specialist will continue to work in this position. It also contains a list of documents that govern the implementation of employee duties.
2. Functions This section contains provisions that establish the direction of the employee.
3. Duties. The tasks to be performed by a citizen holding a given position are described.
4. Rights. Accordingly, the rights that an employee possesses at a given work post are described.
5. Responsibility. This subsection of the document describes what threatens the employee if he fails to fulfill the duties assigned to him by the same document or does not exercise the rights granted to him by the job description.

The order on the distribution of responsibilities between the management team is issued by the general director of the organization. In other words, the powers of those who represent the general manager in various areas are designated in this way. The distribution of responsibilities of deputy general directors is being carried out.

Drafting job descriptions

The choice of the employee who will be appointed responsible for the preparation of the job description depends on the size of the company, that is, not only on the financial turnover, but also on the number of employees who are employed in it.

At the same time, those who work under the contract do not need to be considered. Their responsibilities are already defined in the agreement.

If the company for which this document is prepared is large in size and consists of many structural departments, then the head of each of the divisions himself draws up instructions for his subordinates. For example, an order on the distribution of duties on labor protection is issued by the director responsible for labor protection at the enterprise.

The best way to divide a company into departments is to make it more convenient for managers to distribute responsibilities among their employees, will be described later.

If the company is small and no more than 25 people work in its staff, then you can entrust the preparation of instructions to a specialist in the personnel department. Thus, the tasks of the latter will include not only the maintenance of work books and the preparation of the staffing table, but also the preparation of such a document as job description.

Division Methods

Responsibilities for the various structures of the company can be distributed according to at least five different principles, described below.

1. The principle of separation of departments based on equal in number of groups. This principle is used when distributing duties between employees when the company’s staff consists of employees whose professional skills do not differ, and for this or that task a strictly defined number of employees is required.
2. A principle based on the basic functions of departments. Perhaps this is the most popular principle that is used in the distribution of responsibilities between departments. Departments are formed on the basis of the tasks that they have to fulfill: production tasks, marketing, personnel or financial.
3. Territorial principle. They are guided when the departments are in different territories (in different areas, for example).
4. The principle by which the distribution of responsibilities by the head between departments is carried out depending on the products. This principle of separation of duties is very popular in rapidly developing enterprises, which are constantly expanding the range of products. Thanks to it, confusion between departments is eliminated and each of them becomes actually a small enterprise within the company.
5. A principle based on consumer preferences. Most often it is used in the provision of services, where customers (perhaps even indirectly, but still) play a decisive role in the functioning of the company.

What principle to apply to each leader in his own company is an exclusively individual matter.

Job profile

In order to correctly distribute the duties of employees, it is necessary to draw up a so-called profile for each of the posts, which contains information about what the employee holding this post should know and be able to do.

Usually this profile contains the skills, personal qualities and knowledge that a citizen must possess in order to occupy a particular position.

To better understand what is at stake, it’s worth returning to the example of a chain of stores and compiling a profile of the position, for example, for a sales floor consultant in this company.

What should know an employee who is applying for this position?

1. Basic information about the company itself.
2. Signs characterizing this brand.
3. An assortment of products that can be found in the store.
4. Labor duties.
5. Terms of service for visitors to the facility.

What is obliged to be able to an employee applying for the position of consultant of a trading floor in this chain of stores?

1. To communicate. If a person cannot correctly connect two words, how can he interact with customers to benefit?
2. Sell. If the consultant on the trading floor is not able to sell, what is the benefit of digging?
3. Work in a team. As mentioned above, employees in a good company work to achieve one corporate goal, and in this situation, teamwork is indispensable.

Sometimes an employee’s profile includes information about what he wants and what he can do. The first is to provide him with any motivation (to be able to motivate correctly is another important task for the manager), the second is to determine his potential.

Scorecards

The job profile is directly related to the distribution of job responsibilities, but how do you know if a given candidate is suitable for a particular job? Will he cope with the duties entrusted to him? To do this, there are scorecards.

With their help, as the name implies, it is checked how the candidate for the position meets the requirements. Each skill (for example, the ability to sell, communicate, etc.) is evaluated on a certain scale from the minimum result to the maximum.

As a result, the total score is calculated, and the results are sent to employees who make a decision on hiring.

Skill Assessment Examples

For example, the ability to communicate for a consultant can be assessed as follows:

• 1 point: it is difficult to make contact, prefers a monologue to dialogue, has the same approach to all people in contact with him;
• 2 points: easily makes contact, often uses dialogue as a form of communication, for the most part adapts to the nature of the person you are talking to;
• 3 points: easily makes contact, uses dialogs for communication, skillfully owns the skills of communication psychology.

What does the evaluation characteristic of sales skills look like:

• 1 point: knowledge about the product and the company being represented is limited only by the necessary minimum, doesn’t make contact first in the room, feels tension, doesn’t follow the standards specified in the instructions in difficult situations, gives initiative in dialogue with the buyer, is not able to work with doubts and objections , which the buyer expresses, easily loses his temper, the result of sales for a certain period is below average;
• 2 points: uses the knowledge about the product and the companies contained in the toolkit, receives new information in a timely manner, for the most part takes the initiative in dialogue with the buyer, starts communication himself, is active in the room, finds out the needs of customers through questions, actively interacts with the buyer on throughout the entire period of sale of a product or service, it is not lost in a difficult situation, professionally approaches conflict resolution, the sales result for a certain period is average;
• 3 points: I am well familiar not only with information about the products of this company, but also with competitors' products, get new knowledge in a timely manner, study additional literature, take the initiative when communicating with customers, find out in detail the details that are required by the client, correctly describe those or other goods, actively works with the buyer throughout the sales period, finds a way out of difficult situations, prevents conflicts, the sales leader for a certain period.

Total

Summing up the topic of the distribution of powers, it is worth identifying the provisions that are described in this article, with the help of theses:

1. Each manager needs to be able to distribute responsibilities among subordinates so that the entrusted department or the company as a whole works better and without organizational problems.
2. Each employee must have a strictly defined list of rights, duties and level of responsibility for the non-realization of rights and non-fulfillment of obligations. This list and level are indicated in the job description.
3. The order on the distribution of responsibilities between the management team is issued by the Director General. Thus, it is the general manager who determines the tasks of each employee as a whole. Why? Because he is involved in the distribution of duties between deputies.
4. The job description is either a department head in a large company, or a staff member in a small company. For example, an order on the distribution of duties on labor protection is issued by the head of the labor protection department.
5. Departments in the company, for the convenience of the distribution of powers within them between employees, can be divided according to five principles: the equality of the number of groups, the functions performed, territorially, depending on the products manufactured, depending on the preferences of customers.
6. In order to more conveniently distribute duties between posts, a job profile is compiled that contains information about what the employee needs to know and be able to (sometimes - what the employee can and what the employee wants).
7. All criteria are evaluated using a special document - an evaluation sheet, which determines whether a particular employee can be assigned a duty or not.

Once again, it is worth recalling that the distribution of functional responsibilities is the most important part of the organization of work not only of any department, but also of the company as a whole, because it is thanks to the distribution of tasks that each employee clearly understands what is required of him, and tries to achieve his goal .