Encouraging Managers to Delegate

Managers’ common reluctance to delegate responsibility is a topic that has long intrigued Jeffrey Pfeffer, coauthor, with Charles O’Reilly, of Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People (Harvard Business School Press, 2000). Pfeffer says that there is mounting evidence that giving people more responsibility for making decisions in their jobs generates greater productivity, morale, and commitment. Yet despite these benefits, many managers are reluctant to cede control. We recently asked Pfeffer, whose research helps explain the reasons for such reluctance, what companies can do to overcome it.