Samantha Parks is the owner and CEO of Sparks, a small
New York agency that develops advertising, promotions, and
marketing materials for high-fashion firms. Parks has tended
to keep a tight rein on her business, overseeing most projects
from start to finish. However, as the firm has grown, she
has found it necessary to delegate more and more decisions
to her associates. Shes recently been approached by a hairstyling
chain that wants a comprehensive redefinition of its
entire marketing and promotions look. Should Samantha
try to manage this project in her traditional way, or should
she delegate major parts to her employees?
Most managers confront this question at some point in
their careers. Some experts propose that top executives
need to stay very close to the creative core of their business,
which means that even if their primary responsibility
is to manage, CEOs should never cede too much control
to committees of creative individuals or they can lose sight
of the firms overall future direction. Moreover, executives
who do fall out of touch with the creative process risk being
passed over by a new generation of plugged in employees
who better understand how the business really works.
Others offer the opposite advice, saying its not a good
idea for a CEO to sweat the small stuff like managing
individual client accounts or projects. These experts advise
executives to identify everything they can outsource
to other employees and to delegate as much as possible.
By eliminating trivial tasks, executives will be better able
to focus their attention on the most important decisionmaking
and control aspects of their jobs, which will help
the business and also ensure that the top executive maintains
control over the functions that really matter.
These pieces of advice are not necessarily in conflict
with one another. The real challenge is to identify what
you can delegate effectively without ceding too much
power and control away from the person with the unifying
vision. That is certainly easier said than done, though.
2. I hire good people, creative people to run these projects, and I worry that they will see my oversight and authority as interfering with their creative process. How can she deal with these concerns without giving up too much control? Use well known executive examples as appropriate to support your opinions.
3. What are some tasks in an organization that a top executive should never delegate to others? Explain why.
