Dr. Patricia Kapper

Welcome, Theodora, to the class. You make a very good point. The instructional materials for this course are generic so that they can apply to a variety of Employment settings. A classrom presents its own set of circumstances when it comes to an employee dismissal. A point you made very clearly is that the impact on the students needs to be taken into consideration as well. In fact, that needs to be a priority. Pat

Hi Sean, You have made an important distinction between dumping and delegating. When you dump, you are thinking solely of yourself and the positive impact on you of getting rid of that task. When you delegate, the focus is on the person to whom you are delegating and what they might gain from the experience of taking on that task. To delegate is to create a win-win situation. Pat

Hi Maria, You are right on target. Assessing the readiness of an employee to take on the new resonsibilities is an important part of the process as well. When a supervisor dumps a task, they give little or no thought to what the employee will gain as a result of completing the task/project. Delegating can be a real win-win situation if done appropriately. Pat

Hi Maria, I agree that it can be difficult to delegate. It takes more time to delegate than it would to just do it yourself. What I find helpful is thinking about the employee and the amount of experience/professional development that he/she would gain by completing the task. The other piece to remember is that the responsibility for satisfactory completion of the task still rests with the supervisor. So coaching and guiding the employee is important. Pat

Nelly, Good response. Further, the dismissal should not come as a surprise if you have been working with the employee to improve performance. Be brief, to the point. I like your comment regarding showing compassion. That can be difficult but it is important in terms of allowing the employee to maintain their dignity. Pat

Madeline, Dismissing an employee is one of the tasks that goes with the territory. It is not a task that anyone ever enjoys doing. If a path of progressive discipline has been followed, the dismissal should not come as a surprise to the employee. The only suggestion that I would add to your response is that I always like to have another manager, preferably from HR, in the room as well. They can then deal with the gathering of keys, computer, etc. and if questions arise in terms of what was said, they can corroborate your statements. Pat

Madeline, That is a great list of "to dos" for retaining employees. One that I would add to your list is to communicate effectively and often with employees. So often, we think they don't need to know. If they know and understand, they can help us to achieve our goals. Creating that environment of mutual respect and caring concern while challenging employees to do their best results in a win-win situation. Pat

Nelly, Those are great strategies. It sounds like employee retention is not an issue for you. Retention is seldom an issue when you provide a caring, respectful environment and communicate effectively with your employees. It is when those pieces are not in place, that employees are continually seeking employment elsewhere. Pat

Madeline, Good response. Dumping is self serving. There is little or no thought given to the person to whom the task is being delegated. When it is done correctly, there is much thought given to the person, that person's professional development needs, that person's skill set, etc. Ultimate responsibility for successful task completion, whether dumping or delegating, however, rests with the supervisor. Pat

Nelly, Sounds like you have had some experience with this one. You are right on target. The other piece is that even though a task has been delegated, the supervisor still retains ultimate responsibility for the successful completion of the task. Further, as supervisors we have a responsibility for the professional development of our staff. What better way to help them to develop new skills than through a delegation process. Pat