Making certain types of decisions is something managers frequently delegate to subordinates. How is this best done? By monitoring their decision-making process. How do you do that? Let’s examine what Intel goes through to approve a capital equipment purchase. We ask a subordinate to think through the entire matter carefully before presenting a request for approval. And to monitor how good his thinking is, we ask him quite specific questions about his request during a review meeting. If he answers them convincingly, we’ll approve what he wants. This technique allows us to find out how good the
...more
