Sharing the burden–delegation

Abstract

A manager in any organization is responsible for ensuring both that the necessary work is completed and that it is done well. Endeavouring to achieve this unaided will not only leave the manager frustrated and exhausted, but will also result in his/her inability to fulfill his/her managerial responsibilities as a consequence of attempting to do work which could reasonably have been given to others. Nurse managers are no exception. Delegation is the means by which the manager can secure the assistance of others, which not only helps to ensure that the work will get done, but also provides those others with the opportunity to participate more fully. Regarded by many as a difficult skill to master, this paper considers some of the issues surrounding effective delegation.