Delegation: a revelation

Every hospital administration grapples with the problem of delegation. The notion of delegating responsibility (and corresponding authority) is basic to management literature. In fact, the process of delegation underpins many concerns that today's management studies focus on. But more germane to hospital administration is the position of this article: The range of delegated authority as actually and specifically worked out in your hospital setting is an invaluable, concrete measure of and insight into the use of critical and costly human resources. Today, these factors are especially crucial because pressures brought to bear on the hospitals create situations that pit hospitals against each other in both a win-lose and a lose-lose situation (with the win-win alternative becoming more and more rare). This article addresses the notion of delegation in its depth and range, suggests two techniques to measure delegation concretely, and explores what different kinds of delegation reveal about administrators and their administrations.