Exercising control under delegation of authority

Abstract

There are many studies published by the Harvard Business Review about oversight from time to time, as it is an important function practiced by managers at various upper, middle, and supervisory levels, which they are supposed to perform precisely because of its seriousness in the event of an error, in addition to its high costs. Among what caught our attention was the issue of March-April (1994), in which Robert Simons published his research “Control in an Age of (Empowerment) entitled Control in light of the delegation of authority. Given the importance of such a topic at the present time, we decided to delve into its merits in order to achieve benefit and impart knowledge. The researcher began with a strategic statement that says, “How can managers encourage creativity while avoiding unpleasant surprises?” Yes, the real problem facing managers today is how to exercise appropriate control in their organizations, which are characterized by flexible demand for their products, with an abundance of employee creativity On the other hand, competing business organizations must rely on the initiatives of those working in searching for opportunities and responding quickly to the needs of customers. If these organizations want to obtain opportunities available in the market without exercising careful control, the matter may expose them to many financial and operational risks. In addition to the behavior of its employees in harmful behaviors that may lead to huge losses, there are many experiences of the failure of oversight to perform its effective role. This company (Kidder (Peabody & Company)) lost an amount of (350) million dollars due to one of its agents manipulating profits in his favor, and also the company (Sears, Roebuck & Company also suffered a loss of $60 million due to paying compensation to customers as a result of incorrect decisions made by managers. This is Chartered Bank, which lost huge sums of money in the Hong Kong market due to inaccurate scheduling of participation in inappropriate shares by the branch manager in that country. The list goes on and on... The result is huge losses inflicted on the organizations caused by the chief employees and the poor exercise of oversight over them or the focus on exercising official oversight over them only, without exercising other types that are extremely important in such cases.