Delegating means that a person in charge hands over one of his or her own tasks to a junior and gives the junior the authority to complete it. Which of the following situations is the best example of delegating?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Ms Sharma, head of the school sports committee, has to arrange buses for sports day. She asks her assistant to book the buses and allows him to sign the booking form.
Delegating has three parts: the giver is in charge and the task is his or her own, the task goes to a junior, and the junior gets the authority to complete it.
In Option (3) Ms Sharma is head of the committee and the buses are her task. She gives the task to her assistant and lets him sign the booking form. All three parts are present.
Why the other options are incorrect
Option (1) A junior clerk in an office asks his manager to check the report that the clerk has to submit. — Incorrect. The task moves from a junior to a senior, not from the person in charge to a junior.
Option (2) Ms Sharma, head of the sports committee, books all the buses for sports day herself. — Incorrect. Ms Sharma hands over nothing; she does the task herself.
Option (4) Two class teachers of equal rank agree to swap their lunch-time duties for one day. — Incorrect. The teachers are of equal rank; neither hands a task to a junior.