Successful managers are – or need to quickly become – effective delegators.  Many managers convince themselves, and sometimes others, that they are effectively delegating by assigning many tasks and giving many orders.  Unfortunately, however, this is most often indicative of an antithetical situation.  Effective delegation is a skill, like any other, that can be learned, practiced, and honed.  To do so, managers must understand the difference between delegating and dumping.
     To thoroughly develop this understanding, it is useful to consider the differences between delegating and dumping as they relate to five phases:  Assignment, Support, Follow-up (or Progress Check), Feedback, and Recurrence.

     In this final installment, we will compare the process and results achieved by the TPD method to that presented by Parker and Kleemeier in Human Relations in Supervision.  Parker and Kleemeier present a qualitative approach adapted from the “Training within Industry Report” published at the end of World War II.  Despite the time elapsed since its publication, it is quite similar to the approach to training plan development taken by many to this day.  Contrasted with the TWI approach is the pseudoquantitative method of Training Plan Development via Task Assessment.  Development of a truly objective, quantitative assessment process is not practical, if it is even possible; the rating method of TPD provides the next best thing.