Delegation is, in essence, a change in the entity responsible for any field of activity or task. This process takes place in many areas of human life. So, parents, sending a child for bread, entrust him with a simple household task. In this case, the contractor receives instructions (as a rule, on the degree of freshness of the purchased goods and the number of units), financial resources and, possibly, remuneration (“buy something for your change”). This simple example illustrates the process of delegating authority.
Why is
delegation so necessary
? This is easily explained by the need to perform many tasks daily. A person, organization, power structure - the success or effectiveness of each of these entities depends on the quality and speed of the implementation of the respective functions.
Within the family, delegation is a process that does not have formal formalities. Rather, it is a custom, observance of which by all members of the “cell of society”, helps relatives to satisfy the needs they meet daily with maximum quality. So, a woman who is late at work can delegate to her husband the obligation to prepare dinner. A student who is unable to assess the correctness of his homework can transfer this “authority” to one of his parents or other older relatives.
The essence of the procedure, which is repeated daily in each family, is similar to that which takes place in organizations. However, in the latter case, delegation is a permanent process, the rules for which are reflected in the official documents of the enterprise. In other words, if the head is faced with a legal complexity, he appoints the head of the legal department, who can transfer the task to his competent subordinate, responsible for solving the problem.
So, the “redirection” of a task to a third party in the family and in the company differs in the degree of formalization of the process, the scale of the consequences and, therefore, the degree of responsibility. However, in both cases, delegation is the transfer of routine duties, specialized work and authority to resolve preparatory issues.
At the state level, redirecting responsibility is much more difficult than in the cases described. Delegation of authority is a bureaucratic process in this situation. It requires coordination in various instances and for a long time.
In fact, state power arose as a result of delegation. A people with sovereignty transfers authority to bodies through free will - elections, referenda.
The delegation of power to municipal authorities is a necessity, without which it is impossible to imagine the effective management of such a huge state as Russia. Historical experience proves that the centralization of a unitary state leads to bureaucratization, the scale of which is obviously directly proportional to the size of the country's territory.