Skip to content

CMA Foundation · Fundamentals of Business Economics and Management · Planning, Organizing, Staffing and Leading

A Mumbai finance head gives a team leader the duty to prepare monthly cost reports but gives no access to the ledgers or the accounts staff needed to do it. Which principle of sound delegation is violated?

The principle violated is that authority should match responsibility. The team leader is told to prepare reports but is denied the data and staff needed to do so. Responsibility without adequate authority makes the task difficult to perform, so delegation is ineffective.

  1. AAuthority should be commensurate with responsibilityCorrect
  2. BUnity of command
  3. CScalar chain
  4. DSpan of control should be narrow

Explanation

A person given a duty must also receive enough authority to carry it out. Here the leader is responsible for reports but lacks access to data and staff, so authority is less than responsibility. Unity of command concerns having a single superior, which is not the issue described.

Did you get it right without looking?

One question tells you little. A timed set on Planning, Organizing, Staffing and Leading shows your real accuracy, how long you take and where you lose marks.

Practise Planning, Organizing, Staffing and LeadingFree diagnostic mock

More Planning, Organizing, Staffing and Leading questions