Delegating conversations

Recall the discussion in Chapter 13 about directive, supportive, motivational, or delegating conversations. Effective leaders size up the situation, especially the relative commitment and competence of the participants, and then direct, support, motivate, or delegate depending on this assessment (see Figure 13.16). 

The molfileToSmiles() and smilesToMofile() methods delegate the conversion calls to Vendor A APIs to do the work and therefore insulate the client of MolfileSmilesConverter from vendor implementations. The client of MolfileSmilesConverter API has no knowledge of who actually does the... 

Most prescriptions continue to be presented to the pharmacist in a written or printed form. However, they can also be relayed over the telephone, by fax, or electronically. When telephoning a prescription to the pharmacist, the practitioner should clearly identify him- or herself initially and should verify that the prescription was received and transcribed accurately at the end of the conversation. Prescribers should not be oversensitive to pharmacists who telephone them to verify prescriptions apparently called in by office personnel or nurses. Because prescription drug fraud is common, it is recommended that prescribers not delegate the function of calling in prescriptions to pharmacies however, this, too, is common practice. 

Mr. P (MSc) suggests that a CSTR should be selected, since backmixing in parallel reactions always favors the reaction of the lowest order, that is, A B. Mr. Q (MSc), however, claims that when dealing with reactions of the type A B C, one should always select a PFR, because a PFR favors the formation of the intermediate product, B. Mr. Q backs up his argument with the tables below, which illustrate cb/cqa as a function of the conversion level of A. The tables (calculated by Mr. Q) are, however, valid for PFRs only. To resolve the conflict, the boss Mr. H (PhD) delegated to Miss S (a student) the task of finding out the possibilities for utilizing a CSTR. Let us assume that you are Miss S ... 

Delegating is relevant when people know what to do (competence) and are motivated to do it. You can often know when an individual or work team advances to this level by observing successive progress. However, it is often useful to ask people whether they are ready for this level of conversation. If they say "no," then ask them what they need to reach this stage. Do they need more competence through direction or more commitment through some kind of support the organization could make available ... 

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