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ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Leadership, management and supervision

A production supervisor is given responsibility for meeting a weekly output target but has no authority to approve overtime or order materials. Which problem does this situation illustrate?

This illustrates responsibility without matching authority. The supervisor is held to an output target but cannot approve overtime or order materials, so lacks the means to achieve it. Effective delegation requires authority to be commensurate with the responsibility given.

  1. AResponsibility without matching authorityCorrect
  2. BExcessive span of control
  3. CAuthority exercised without accountability

Explanation

The supervisor must achieve a target but lacks the authority to control the resources needed. This mismatch between responsibility and authority is a classic delegation failure. Span of control concerns the number of subordinates, which is not mentioned, and accountability is not missing here.

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