🚀 go-pugleaf

zanetti@ghost.dsi.unimi.it (Alessandro Zanetti) writes:

>Fadi A. Rabie <FR5641A@auvm.american.edu> writes:

>>Should managers delegate authority to his subordenates,  and if so
>>   should they have the power to make decisions.  Should this happen
>>   should the manager be part of the group-decision process.
Authority can be delegated at will; _responsibility_, however, cannot.  If a
manager delegates the authority for certain decisions to a lower level, and
the lower livel screws up, he will _still_ be flamed for the results. 
Although this may seem unfair, it actually makes sense.

>I'm happy to read such questions, not just because I have an answer, but now I
>know there is someone else that have or had to do with this problems.
I haven't personally had the problem, but this topic is covered in some detail
in the Industrial Management program at Georgia Tech (probably most good
business programs; anyway I'm GT Class of '83).

>So I want to write here what I have to do, hoping that someone can give me some
>suggestions.
You might pick up a book on management theory.  No titles come readily to
mind, but checking out a local college bookstore should help.  Be warned,
however, that this will be among the most boring reading you'll ever do; so
much of it is obviously common sense, and so much that may not be seems too
easy to dismiss without serious thought.

>In real organizations, members have a role, manager, responsible of an area,
>...slave... and so on.
Roles and the people who fill them are not necessarily the same.  A person
can have many roles, and one role may be filled by many people.  If you find
some material on organizational structure, check out the matrix style of
organization for some ideas.

>I'm trying to formalize concepts such as manager, responsibility, area of
>activity, sub-area, commitment, resource, ...
Remember that these are just words, although you do speak specifically of
_concepts_.  I always found them a little hard to define without using
themselves in the definition.

>Then I'll have to implement such model in an Object-Oriented Language based on
>Common Lisp.
Now here, I cannot help you.  Sorry.

>What I ask is:

>IS THERE SOMEONE IN THE WORLD DEALING WITH THE PROBLEM I DESCRIBED (HOW TO FIND
>A MODEL OF ORGANIZATION) THAT IS SO KIND TO EXCHANGE WORDS AND IDEAS WITH ME???
If I can contribute something useful, I will be satisfied with having done so.
You be the judge...send email if you like.

-JTT