Answers to these questions can be found on page 107.

2   Workbook assessment

Read the following case study and then answer the questions which follow, writing your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

Charlie Scrimshaw is the head of the contracts department of a large advertising agency. He started work with the company originally as a member of the sales team, and is much happier when talking to people rather than sitting behind a desk. As a result of this preference, his paperwork is seldom up to date.

The business is passing through a period of rapid expansion and, as a result of this, a number of new members have been added to Charlie's team, bringing the total for whom he is responsible to thirty-five. Unfortunately, as control systems are not something with which Charlie is familiar, he has tended to try to get along without them. One result of this is that he doesn't plan very far ahead. He says he cannot find time for planning, as he has too much to do which is concerned with current work. Other members of his department have been heard to describe his management approach as ‘lurching from one immediate crisis to the next’.

Charlie believes in what he refers to as an ‘open door’ policy of managing, making himself always available to members of his workteam whenever they go to his office. He regards this as an important part of his team building, but unfortunately it results in his being constantly interrupted, often for rather trivial reasons. Charlie does not believe in spending a lot of time over making decisions; rather, he regards himself as a ‘man of action’. Sometimes, however, his first decision proves to be not very suitable and so after consulting with others, he often quickly changes his mind. A few of Charlie's team members were discussing his method of making decisions during their coffee break the other day. One of them described him as coming to conclusions ‘with his mind uncluttered with facts’, whilst another said that getting decisions from him was rather like making an instant cup of coffee, ‘just add water and stir’.

As a group, they generally agreed that he was a nice guy and a good salesman, but they were concerned that he seemed to spend little time making sure that targets were likely to be met, and only took notice when things had already gone badly astray.

1    What do you think ought to be done at a higher level in the company in order to assist Charlie generally with his supervisory problems?

2    Suggest how Charlie could find the time in which to carry out some forward planning.

3    What can Charlie do to change from his crisis management to being more in control of things?

4    How could Charlie prevent himself being interrupted by his team unnecessarily, but still maintain a good working relationship with them?

5    If you were Charlie, what would you do to make sure you were aware of approaching target dates in time to take any necessary corrective action?

Your complete answer to this assessment need not be longer than a single page.

3   Work-based assignment

The time guide for this assignment gives you an approximate idea of how long it is likely to take you to write up your findings. You will need to spend some additional time gathering information, perhaps talking to colleagues and thinking about the assignment and planning. Your work on this assignment can form part of your evidence for your S/NVQ portfolio. For this assignment, you are asked to plan a task which you want to delegate in the light of what you have learned in this workbook. There are three stages to this assignment.

1   Identify which of your jobs in the near future you can delegate.

   List the jobs you will need to do over the next few days to a week.

   Put a ‘D’ beside those which you can delegate.

   For the rest, put them in an order of priority, using the importance/urgency matrix, and identify those which could be done by other members of your team.

   Now choose one of your ‘to be delegated’ tasks to plan for this assignment. Write brief notes to explain why you have chosen this task.

2   Select an appropriate member of your team to carry out the task. Consider the needs of the task and the needs of your team members. You may find it useful to complete a form like the one in Activity 31. Explain the thinking behind your decision.

3   When you have selected the right person to do the job, you should begin to plan it – the third stage.

Explain how you intend to conduct the briefing. Then draw up notes to help you to explain the task to the team member. The notes should include:

   suitable objectives for the task;

   what resources you feel will be needed and how they are to be made available;

   how the team member can get support and help in doing the task;

   how the task will be monitored – your role and the role of the team member;

   when and how the task will be reviewed, and what aspects of the task will be reviewed.

You could use the briefing document you drew up in Activity 30 to help you plan the briefing.

Your completed assignment should contain:

   lists and charts showing your jobs, and how you prioritized them, together with an explanation of the ‘to be delegated’ job which you have selected to plan for this assignment;

   a systematic explanation of why you have selected a particular person from your team to carry out the delegation: you could use the questions in Activity 31 to make sure you explore all the issues;

   a briefing document and a paragraph or two explaining your intended approach to the briefing.

In all, this assignment does not have to be more than three or four pages long.

You can also take your work on this assignment further, by collecting evidence as the delegated task is carried out. For example, you could review how well the briefing session went, show how the task is monitored and how you and the team member reviewed the task. Bear in mind that the team member who carries out the delegation can contribute appropriate evidence, such as an assessment of how he or she fared.