Principles of Hotel Management

S
IGNIFICANT
N
ORMS
Some of the basic principles of delegation of authority are
as follows :
This principle states that authority should be
delegated in terms of the results expected from the
subordinates. The amount of delegated authority
should be adequate enough to achieve the results
expected. Therefore, before delegating authority, the
goals and plans of expected results must be set.
Moreover, these should be clearly made known and
understood by the subordinates.
This principle states that functions and activities of every
position or subordinate should be clearly and precisely defined.
This will reduce overlapping of activities. Moreover, relationship
of every position with other positions should also be clearly
established. A clear and precise definition of every function and
relationship of every subordinate with others will greatly facilitate
delegation of authority. Moreover, these functions, activities and
relationships should be made known and understood by the
subordinates.
This principle states that authority should flow vertically
from the top to the bottom of the organisation. This will establish
the hierarchy of authority and responsibility relationship. This,
in turn, will facilitate organisation members to understand who
can delegate to whom and whom they are accountable.
This principle states that for any given activity, a subordinate
should be made accountable to only one superior. Therefore,

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Principles of Hotel Management
a subordinate should receive delegation only from one superior.
If he receives delegations from two or more superiors, he shall
be accountable to both. This will lead to a situation of confusion
and conflict because no one can serve two bosses at the same
time.
This principle requires that there should be parity between
delegated authority and delegated responsibility. In other words,
delegated authority should commensurate with delegated
responsibility. Responsibility without sufficient authority will make
the subordinate ineffective. At the same time, authority without
responsibility will make the subordinate irresponsible. However,
it is very difficult to know when authority is exactly equal to
responsibility. But an experienced manager will find a reasonable
balance between the two.
This principle states that responsibility of superior is absolute
and ultimate. Ultimate responsibility cannot be delegated by a
superior. The process of delegation does not relieve the managers
of any of their authority, responsibility and accountability.
Therefore, it is sometimes said that authority can be delegated
but not responsibility, because responsibility is a personal
obligation that a subordinate owes to his boss.
[Robert Albanese]
This principle states that all the responsibilities cannot be
delegated. Only general responsibilities can be delegated but
personal responsibilities cannot be delegated. For instance,
policy formulation, coordination of activities are the personal
responsibilities of a manager. The manager himself is accountable
to his boss for these responsibilities. If these responsibilities are
allowed to be delegated, there would be no need of that manager.
[Robert Albanese]
The exception principle states that managers should delegate
their routine matters and retain with themselves the exceptions
to the routine and overall policy matters. Thus, this principle
suggests managers to develop policies and procedures to help

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