SlideShare a Scribd company logo
Download the full version and explore a variety of test banks
or solution manuals at https://testbankdeal.com
Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition
Certo Solutions Manual
_____ Follow the link below to get your download now _____
https://testbankdeal.com/product/modern-management-concepts-
and-skills-14th-edition-certo-solutions-manual/
Access testbankdeal.com now to download high-quality
test banks or solution manuals
Here are some recommended products for you. Click the link to
download, or explore more at testbankdeal.com
Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo
Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/modern-management-concepts-and-
skills-14th-edition-certo-test-bank/
Modern Management Concepts and Skills 12th Edition Certo
Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/modern-management-concepts-and-
skills-12th-edition-certo-test-bank/
Modern Management 13th Edition Certo Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/modern-management-13th-edition-certo-
test-bank/
Enhanced Microsoft Office 2013 Illustrated Introductory
First Course 1st Edition Beskeen Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/enhanced-microsoft-
office-2013-illustrated-introductory-first-course-1st-edition-beskeen-
test-bank/
Sexuality Today 11th Edition Kelly Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/sexuality-today-11th-edition-kelly-
test-bank/
Media Essentials 4th Edition Campbell Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/media-essentials-4th-edition-
campbell-test-bank/
Basic College Mathematics 8th Edition Tobey Solutions
Manual
https://testbankdeal.com/product/basic-college-mathematics-8th-
edition-tobey-solutions-manual/
Drugs Behavior And Modern Society 8th Edition Levinthal
Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/drugs-behavior-and-modern-
society-8th-edition-levinthal-test-bank/
Cognitive Psychology Connecting Mind Research and Everyday
Experience 3rd Edition Goldstein Solutions Manual
https://testbankdeal.com/product/cognitive-psychology-connecting-mind-
research-and-everyday-experience-3rd-edition-goldstein-solutions-
manual/
Physiology 7th Edition Koeppen Test Bank
https://testbankdeal.com/product/physiology-7th-edition-koeppen-test-
bank/
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 1
CHAPTER 9: RESPONSIBILITY, AUTHORITY, AND DELEGATION
CHAPTER SUMMARY:
Chapter 9 begins the student’s study of the managerial concepts of responsibility,
authority, and delegation. As a company grows, its management must constantly focus
on organizing resources appropriately so that goals can be attained. Managers must
ask themselves questions such as: How should responsibility be established across the
organization? How should authority be distributed within the organization? The
information in the chapter should be of great value to students – and managers – as
they answer such questions.
CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. An understanding of responsibility and its relationship with job description
2. Information on how to divide job activities of individuals working within an
organization
3. An understanding of the benefits of clarifying the job activities of managers
4. Insights regarding the importance of authority within an organization
5. An understanding of how to delegate
6. A recognition of the advantages and disadvantages of centralization and
decentralization
TARGET SKILLS:
Responsibility and Delegation Skill: the ability to understand one’s obligation to
perform assigned activities and to enlist the help of others to complete those
activities
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 2
CHAPTER OUTLINE:
This chapter is divided into six sections:
1. Responsibility and Job Descriptions
2. Dividing Job Activities
3. Clarifying Job Activities of Managers
4. Authority
5. Delegation
6. Centralization and Decentralization
Responsibility and Job Descriptions:
This section of the chapter introduces students to the concept of responsibility and job
descriptions. Included in the section is a discussion of Goldman Sachs, the recent financial
meltdown, and managerial actions responsible.
• Responsibility
o The obligation to perform assigned activities
o Source of responsibility lies within the individual – self-assumed commitment
to handle a job to the best of one’s abilities
o Individuals who accept jobs are obligated to a supervisor to see that job
activities are successfully completed
o Managers remain responsible for completion of tasks even if the task has
been delegated to another employee
▪ This demonstrates responsibility is shared by both the manager and
the employee
• Job Description
o Summarizes an individual’s job activities within an organization
o Lists specific activities that must be performed by whoever holds the position
o Communicate job content to employees, establish performance levels the
employees must maintain, act as guides employees should follow to help
organization reach its objectives
o The Steps for Success box in the text provides ideas to help managers prepare a
job description that effectively assigns responsibilities
• Three areas related to responsibility include:
o Dividing job activities
o Clarifying job activities of managers
o Being responsible
o These areas are discussed in the sections that follow
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 3
Dividing Job Activities:
This section of the chapter provides a discussion of ways to divide job activities among a
number of individuals.
• Functional Similarity Method
o The most basic method of dividing job activities
o Managers take four basic, interrelated steps to divide job activities:
▪ Examine management system objectives
▪ Designate appropriate activities that must be performed to reach those
objectives
▪ Design specific jobs by grouping similar activities
▪ Make specific individuals responsible for performing those jobs
o Figure 9.1 in the text provides an illustration of the functional similarity method
sequence of activities for dividing job activities
• Functional Similarity and Responsibility
o Overlapping Responsibility
▪ A situation where more than one individual is responsible for the same
activity
▪ This situation can create confusion as typically only one individual
should be responsible for completing any one activity
▪ Often see the job not completed because the individuals involved are
assuming the other one will complete the tasks
o Responsibility Gap
▪ Responsibility gaps should be avoided
▪ Gaps exist when certain tasks are not included in the responsibility of
any individual employee
▪ This really means no one in the organization is responsible for
completing certain necessary activities
o Management should avoid creating job activities to accomplish tasks that do
not enhance goal attainment
▪ Organizational members should be obligated to complete those
activities that lead toward attainment of the organization’s goals
o Job responsibilities should be assigned with clear, goal-related,
nonoverlapping responsibilities
o Four outcomes exist when organizational members are unclear who is
responsible for a task
▪ One of the two may perform the job
▪ Both employees may perform the job
▪ Neither employee may perform the job because each assumed the
other one would
▪ Employees spend time negotiating each aspect and phase of the job to
carefully mesh out responsibilities
o Each one of these outcomes negatively affects both product quality and
overall productivity
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 4
Clarifying Job Activities of Managers:
This section of the chapter provides a discussion of the importance of clarifying job activities
for managers.
• Management Responsibility Guide
o Tool designed to help management describe the various responsibility
relationships that exist in the organization and to summarize how
responsibilities of various managers relate to one another
o Table 9.1 presents a listing of seven responsibility relationships among
managers. Once it is decided which of these relationships exist within the
organization, the relationships among these responsibilities can be defined
▪ General Responsibility
▪ Operating Responsibility
▪ Specific Responsibility
▪ Must be Consulted
▪ May be Consulted
▪ Must be Notified
▪ Must Approve
• Responsible Managers
o Managers are deemed to be responsible if they perform the activities they are
obligated to perform
o Responsible managers are a prerequisite for management system success
o Degree of responsibility a manager possesses is determined by appraising the
manager on four dimensions:
▪ Attitude toward and conduct with subordinates
▪ Behavior with upper management
▪ Behavior with other groups
▪ Personal attitudes and values
o Table 9.2 summarizes what each of the four dimensions involves
Authority:
This section of the chapter focuses on the concept of authority and includes definitions of types
of authority as well as roles of those in the organization with authority
• Authority
o Right to perform or command
o Allows individuals with authority to direct and influence the actions of others
through orders
o Allows individuals with authority to allocate the organization’s resources
• Authority on the Job
o The text provides a great example to discuss with students related to a service
station manager’s tasks and responsibilities
o Authority increases the probability a specific command will be obeyed
o Authority does not, however, always lead to obedience
▪ The text provides a good paragraph example of this reality
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 5
• Acceptance of Authority
o The positioning of individuals in an organization’s hierarchy and
organizational structure/organization chart indicates their relative amounts
of authority
o Those positioned toward the top of the chart possess more authority than
those positioned toward the bottom of the chart
o Chester Barnard wrote, though, that the acceptance of that authority is
determined less by the structure and chart than by acceptance of the
authority of those under the authority
▪ Authority exacts obedience only when it is accepted
o Barnard wrote authority is only accepted under the following conditions
▪ Individual can understand the order being communicated
▪ Individual believes order is consistent with the organization’s purpose
▪ Individual views the order as compatible with his/her personal
interests
▪ Individual is mentally and physically able to comply with the order
o The fewer of these four that are present, the lower the probability authority
will be accepted and obedience exacted
o Barnard went on to say managers are more apt to see authority accepted and
obeyed when the following situations are involved:
▪ Manager uses formal channels of communication familiar to all
organization members
▪ Organization members are assigned a formal communication channel
through which their orders are received
▪ Lines of communication between managers and subordinates are as
direct as possible
▪ Complete chain of command is used to issue orders
▪ Manager possesses adequate communication skills
▪ Manager uses formal communication lines only for organizational
business
▪ Commands and orders are authenticated as coming from a manager
• Types of Authority
o Line Authority
o Staff Authority
o Functional Authority
o Line & Staff Authority
▪ Line Authority – most fundamental type of authority in the
organization
• Reflects existing superior-subordinate relationships
• Right to make decisions and give orders related to production
activities
• Pertains to matters directly involving management system
production, sales, finance, and the achievement of
organizational goals
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 6
▪ Staff Authority – right to advise or assist those who possess line
authority as well as other staff personnel
• Enables those responsible for improving the effectiveness of
line personnel to perform required tasks
• Examples of staff personnel include human resources, external
affairs, legal
▪ Size of the firm is involved in determining whether an organization has
staff personnel
• The larger the organization, the greater the need and ability to
employee staff personnel
o Line-Staff Relationships
▪ Figure 9.2 illustrates possible line-staff relationships in an
organizational chart – As the chart illustrates, the plant manager has
line authority over the human resource manager, production manager,
and sales manager – AND – the human resource manager has staff
authority in relation to the plant manager.
o Role of Staff Personnel – Harold Stieglitz identified three roles of staff
personnel in assisting line personnel
▪ Advisory or Counseling Role
• Use their professional experience to solve organizational
problems
• Internal consultants through their expertise
▪ Service Role
• Provide their services more effectively and efficiently via a
centralized staff group
• Example – HR Department recruiting, interviewing, selecting,
compensation, training of workers for all departments
▪ Control Role
• Establish a mechanism for evaluating effectiveness of the
organization’s plans
• In this role, staff personnel are representatives, or agents, of top
management
o Conflict in Line-Staff Relationships
▪ From the line personnel’s perspective, staff personnel cause conflict
through their assumption of line authority, not being correct with their
advice, stealing credit for successes, failing to stay in contact and
communicate with line personnel
▪ From the staff personnel’s perspective, line personnel cause conflict
when they do not make proper use of staff personnel, resist new ideas,
refuse to give staff personnel enough authority to do their jobs
▪ Both parties need to work together to diffuse or eliminate these
conflicts
o Functional Authority
▪ Right to give orders within a segment of the organization in which this
right is normally nonexistent
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 7
▪ Usually assigned to individuals to complement the line or staff
authority they already possess
▪ Covers only specific task areas and operational only for a designated
period of time
▪ The text provides a good example of the CFO of Kroger and his functional
authority
▪ Authority should be used in a combination that will best enable
individuals to carry out their assigned responsibilities and thereby
best help the management system accomplish its objectives
▪ Figure 9.3 illustrates how line, staff, and functional authority can be
combined for the overall benefit of a hospital management system
o Accountability
▪ Individual employees are liable, or accountable, for how well they use
their authority and live up to their responsibility of performing
predetermined activities
▪ If an individual is not performing predetermined activities, some type
of penalty/punishment is justifiable
▪ Accountability also implies some kind of reward will follow if
predetermined activities are performed well
▪ The Practical Challenge: Accountability provides a discussion of
accountability at Extended Stay America
Delegation:
This section of the chapter focuses on the steps in the delegation process, obstacles to the
delegation process, and elimination of obstacles to the delegation process.
• Delegation
o Process of assigning job activities and corresponding authority to specific
individuals within the organization
o Steps in the Delegation Process – Newman & Warren identified three steps
▪ Step 1 – Assigning specific duties to the individual
• Manager must ensure the subordinate has a clear
understanding of what the duties entail
▪ Step 2 – Granting the appropriate authority to the subordinate
▪ Step 3 – Creating the obligation for the subordinates to perform the
duties assigned
• And the subordinate must accept that responsibility
▪ Table 9.3 offers several guidelines managers can follow to ensure the
success of the delegation process
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 8
o Obstacles to the Delegation Process
▪ Three types of obstacles:
• 1 – Obstacles related to the supervisor
• 2 – Obstacles related to subordinates
• 3 – Obstacles related to organizations
▪ The text provides examples of each type of obstacle to assist with class
discussions
o Eliminating Obstacles to the Delegation Process
▪ Delegation offers significant advantages so managers should take steps
to eliminate obstacles to the delegation process
▪ Advantages
• Enhanced employee confidence
• Improved subordinate involvement and interest
• More free time for supervisor to accomplish tasks
▪ Disadvantage
• Manager may lose track of progress of a delegated task
▪ Advantages do outweigh the disadvantages
▪ To eliminate obstacles:
• Managers should work to uncover any obstacles to delegation
• Approach taking action to eliminate the obstacles with the
understanding they may be deeply ingrained and therefore
require much time and effort to overcome
• Build subordinate confidence in the use of delegated authority
• Minimize impact of delegated authority on established working
relationships
• Help delegatees cope with problems when necessary
▪ Effective delegation requires managers to have certain characteristics
themselves:
• Willingness to consider the ideas of others
• Insight to allow subordinates to have free rein necessary to
carry out responsibilities
• Capacity to trust subordinates’ abilities
• Wisdom to allow people to learn from their mistakes
Centralization and Decentralization:
This section of the chapter focuses on the degree of delegation in a firm in terms of
centralization and decentralization.
• Centralization and Decentralization describes the degree to which delegation exists
within an organization
• Figure 9.4 provides an illustration of the delegation continuum with centralization on
one end and decentralization on the opposite end
• Centralization implies a minimal number of job activities and a minimal amount of
authority have been delegated to subordinates
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 9
• Decentralization implies the opposite
• Decentralizing an Organization: A Contingency Viewpoint
o The appropriate degree of decentralization depends on the unique situation
of that organization
o Managers should consider the following when making this decision:
▪ What is the present size of the organization?
▪ Where are the organization’s customers located?
▪ How homogeneous is the organization’s product line?
▪ Where are organizational suppliers?
▪ Are quick decisions needed in the organization?
▪ Is creativity a desirable feature of the organization?
• Decentralizing at Massey-Ferguson: A Classic Example from the World of
Management
o Beneficial decentralization is decentralization that is advantageous for the
organization in which it is being implemented
o Detrimental decentralization is disadvantageous for the organization
o The Massey-Ferguson success with decentralization is discussed in terms of
Guidelines for Decentralization, Delegation as a Frame of Mind, Complementing
Centralization, and Management Responsibilities
SUPPLEMENTARY IDEA FOR INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT:
• Individual Assignment –
o Students are assigned a one-page, single-spaced response paper addressing the
following questions:
▪ Delegation is a tough skill for new supervisors, and the inability to
delegate is often the downfall of new supervisors. How can upper-level
managers work to better influence their operational supervisors to
delegate? Why is delegation difficult for new managers? What are the
advantages and disadvantages of delegation?
▪ Tell the students they should not use the textbook or any other sources as
they write this paper – you are looking to find out their current views as
they begin their study of the principles of management.
CLASS PREPARATION AND PERSONAL STUDY:
• Reflecting on Target Skill
o Students are asked to review the chapter’s target skill and learning objectives to
ensure they have acquired all pertinent information within the chapter
• Know Key Terms
o Key terms are listed asking students to define each of the terms
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 10
• Know How Management Concepts Relate
o Students are presented with the following three essay questions and asked to
answer each one completely and thoroughly.
o 9-1 – Distinguish between responsibility and authority, and provide examples
to support your distinctions.
Responsibility is the obligation to perform assigned activities. Responsibility
exists in organizations to channel the activities of individuals who are parts of
the organization. Managers delegate responsibilities to facilitate the
accomplishment of the management system’s objectives.
Authority is the right to perform or command. Authority exists in organizations
so that certain tasks can be carried out through either individual action or
direct influence in the form of orders. No one can be held responsible for
carrying out job duties for which he or she did not have the authority to
perform.
An employee has a responsibility to do what his or her boss assigned him to do.
The boss has the authority to tell the employee what he or she needs to do.
Learning Objective: LO9.1: An understanding of responsibility and its
relationship with job description
o 9-2 – Describe the three main types of authority that can exist within an
organization.
The three main types of authority that can exist within an organization are: line
authority, staff authority, and functional authority. Line authority consists of
the right to make decisions and to give orders concerning the production, sales,
or finance-related behavior of subordinates.
Staff authority consists of the staff personnel in an organization providing
assistance to line personnel so that line personnel can perform their required
tasks. This assistance can take the form of advice or service to the line personnel
concerning the tasks required to accomplish objectives.
Functional authority is the right to give orders within a segment of the
organization in which this right is usually nonexistent. Such authority is usually
limited to a specific task for a designated time period. Functional authority can
be given to both line and staff personnel. Generally functional authority covers
only specific task areas for a designated amount of time. It is given to
individuals who, in order to meet responsibilities in their own areas, must be
able to exercise some control over organization members in other areas.
Learning Objective: LO9.4: Insights regarding the importance of authority
within an organization
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 11
o 9-3 – Explain the three major steps in the delegation process.
Delegation is the process of assigning job activities and authority to specific
individuals within the organization. The steps in this process include:
(1) assigning specific duties to an individual,
(2) granting appropriate authority to the subordinate, and
(3) creating the obligation for the subordinate to perform the assigned
duties
Learning Objective: LO9.5: An understanding of how to delegate
Cases:
• Toyota to Delegate Authority
o Case Discussion Notes:
▪ This is a good case for students to see organizing concepts, as well as
authority, responsibility, delegation, and accountability in action. Toyota
Motor Corp. has achieved success through its lean production system and
effective supply chain. In 2010, the success of the company began to
unravel as it faced a series of product recalls involving as many as 8
million cars sold since 2000. Additionally, 34 deaths and numerous
injuries from Toyotas that accelerated out of control without warning
were reported. As consumer fears grew, the U.S. Congress launched an
investigation of Toyota vehicles and called on the company’s executives
to answer questions about how the automaker was handling the
problem.
▪ What was discovered is that Toyota’s American executives had little or
no authority over the company’s operations. Because of this insufficient
authority, American executives were unable to issue safety recalls even
when they had evidence of serious problems. The time to alert Japan
headquarters of the problem and make a decision to deliver back to
America only added concern; especially related to the approval for a
recall.
▪ While Toyota had at one time been known as a company with an
attention to detail and passion for perfection, it has obviously strayed
from this advantage and found itself needing to make changes moving
forward. Specifically, Toyota needed to delegate authority to non-
Japanese leaders and trust them to use their knowledge and experience
to act wisely. Additionally, Toyota needed to decentralize its decision-
making function. The company reassigned 100 engineers to quality
control and extended the time required to develop new vehicles so that
flaws could be identified prior to manufacturing. Toyota also increased
the number of American engineers it employs and gave their U.S.
manufacturing facilities more control and authority.
▪ Today, Toyota has seen the positive results from these changes as the
firm has retained its title of largest automobile manufacturer in the
world. Management experts expect the firm’s profits to double in the
coming years.
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 12
▪ As firms grow, their management teams face the challenge of organizing
the activities of their expanding and growing firms. Managers in
growing firms like Toyota must recognize that their activities as well as
those of their subordinates are a major factor in the firm’s success.
Department managers must understand their activities affect all
personnel within that department, and therefore the activities of the
department managers must be well defined.
▪ Additionally, managers must be responsible, and they must perform the
activities they are obligated to perform. They must be permitted to use
their knowledge and expertise to provide leadership and add value to the
company’s operations.
▪ Toyota’s leadership must understand any individuals within the firm
who are delegated job activities are given a commensurate amount of
authority to give orders and carry out those activities. Through the firm,
managers must recognize, however, that authority must be accepted if
obedience is to be exacted. Case should be taken to ensure individuals
understand internal orders and regard those orders as being consistent
with the objectives of the department they work in and the objectives of
the company. Management must be careful to delegate jobs only to those
organization members who are mentally and physically able to carry
them out.
▪ Individuals who are directly responsible for achieving objectives should
possess line authority so that they can perform their responsibilities.
Management must be aware of potential line and staff personnel conflict
and encourage both line and staff personnel to minimize conflict.
▪ Functional authority and accountability must also be considered when
organizing employee activities. Some of the Toyota employees may have
to be delegated functional authority to supplement the line or staff
authority they already have. When organizing their employees’ activities,
Toyota management should also stress the concept of accountability –
the idea that fulfilling assigned responsibilities brings rewards and not
fulfilling them brings negative consequences.
▪ To delegate activities effectively, Toyota must assign specific duties to
individuals, grant the corresponding authority to these individuals, and
make sure these individuals are aware they are obligated to perform
these activities. In encouraging the use of delegation, Toyota must be
aware that obstacles to delegation may exist on the part of company
managers, their subordinates, or the departments in which they work.
▪ Toyota leadership will have to determine the best degree of delegation
for subordinates regarding all job activities, though the firm can rely on
certain rules of thumb that show greater degrees of delegation will be
appropriate for the company as the company grows larger, as
manufacturing facilities become more geographically dispersed and
diversified, and as the need for quick decision making and creativity
increases.
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 13
▪ For delegation to be advantageous for Toyota, company managers must
help subordinates learn from their mistakes. They may also want to
consider supplementing decentralization with centralization.
o 9-4 – Discuss the roles of responsibility, authority, and accountability in
organizing the activities of individuals at Toyota.
Prior to the massive product recall, Toyota’s U.S. managers had almost no
autonomy at all. Because of this lack of authority, Toyota’s American executives
were unable to issue a safety recall even when they had evidence that showed
that was necessary. The company needs to delegate authority and decentralize
its decision making.
Learning Objective: LO9.4: Insights regarding the importance of authority
within an organization
o 9-5 – Describe how cultural differences between the U.S. and Japan may have
played a role in Toyota’s quality problems.
The Japanese culture of collectivism and the need to subjugate one’s will for the
common good varies significantly from the American culture of independence
and individual rewards. Toyota’s problems stem from these cultural differences.
Thus, when Toyota’s American executive identified the problem and wanted to
recall defective products, chances are that Japan’s collectivist culture saw the
need to protect the company and therefore took no action.
This question can lead to a spirited debate when the instructor has a diverse
class with students from non-American cultures.
Learning Objective: LO9.2: Information on how to divide job activities of
individuals working within an organization
o 9-6 – Do you think Toyota managers in Japan will face any personal
difficulties when delegating responsibilities in Toyota managers in the United
States?
Often top managers have extreme difficulty giving up responsibilities. It can be
like a parent letting a child go off and make decisions and conduct actions that
could change the child’s life. It can be very hard to let go of these responsibilities.
The company’s top managers in Japan may face difficulties in delegating
control. The best way to not encourage conflict will focus on the need to clearly
communicate the responsibilities of each position.
Learning Objective: LO9.2: Information on how to divide job activities of
individuals working within an organization
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 14
• Real Mex Restaurants Decentralize
o Case Discussion Notes:
▪ The case presents a look at a restaurant, Real Mex, which has
experienced an especially tough time during the economic downturn
over the past several years. Real Mex operates 180 locations over 17
states, as well as in several foreign countries. This means Real Mex was
spread thin geographically as well as in terms of management in its
corporate office in California. The firm owns nine different restaurant
chains, some of which are international. All of the restaurants offer
Mexican-style food, but each chain is unique in its décor, offerings, and
type of customer.
▪ Real Mex reached a half billion dollars in sales by 2005, but after that the
restaurant faltered. In 2008, the company reported a $32 million loss in
a single quarter. The company’s debt increased and as Americans spent
less time eating out, the firm found itself in bankruptcy in October 2011.
David Goronkin is the new CEO of Real Mex with 25 years of restaurant
experience, and this experience was necessary as he began working
toward turning Real Mex around.
▪ Goronkin focused on obtaining an infusion of cash. Investors took over
some of the debt, but the most important step the company took was to
restructure how it operates.
▪ The firm decentralized operations so that now each of the chains
functions as an autonomous entity. A leadership team at each chain
develops that particular brand. Each chain has its own website which
enables customers and others just looking to go directly to the individual
chain rather than to the overall Real Mex website.
▪ Treating each chain as an autonomous business unit streamlines
operations significantly, which speeds up decision making. Each chain’s
manager also better understands its individual brand because the
managers of each unit work on that unit exclusively. When companies
decentralize, it often speeds up decision making because the business
units do not have to wait for the corporate office to make key decisions.
▪ Within just a few months of filing for Chapter 11, the bankruptcy court
approved the sale of Real Mex to the investors, and the firm is on its way
to profitability once again.
o 9-7 – What challenges do you see with Real Mex’s decentralization of
operations? How can the company overcome these challenges?
Real Mex is a company that owns a number of restaurant chains. While they all
feature Mexican food, they are distinct and also operate in the U.S. and several
international markets. Decentralization at Real Mex means that each chain – El
Torito, Chevvy’s Fresh Mex, etc. – is operated as an autonomous unit with the
head of each charged with developing that particular brand. While this
decentralization has obviously helped the company, the challenge is not to lose
control of the autonomous units. Real Mex can do this by setting clear goals and
evaluating the units on these goals.
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 15
Learning Objective: LO9.6: A recognition of the advantages and disadvantages
of centralization and decentralization
o 9-8 – In general, what are the pros and cons of decentralization?
Decentralization allows lower levels of the organization to have the autonomy
to make decisions. This is particularly important when decision making at the
local level (whether it is at the level of a product or a geographic location) is
critical to organizational success. Decentralization, however, means that the
organization puts measures in place so that top managers do not lose control.
Learning Objective: LO9.6: A recognition of the advantages and disadvantages
of centralization and decentralization
o 9-9 – If you were CEO of Real Mex Restaurants, how would you ensure quality
of food and excellent customer service at each of the company’s chains, now
that all of them are operating as autonomous business units?
Student answers will vary with this question. Clearly the Real Mex CEO should
set clear goals for the heads of each autonomous chain and measure them
against these goals.
Learning Objective: LO9.6: A recognition of the advantages and disadvantages
of centralization and decentralization
Experiential Exercises:
• Debating Centralization at Pottery Barn
This is a good assignment to use as a group activity in class, though students will need
to prepare first individually if your classroom does not have access to computers and
the Internet.
Students are placed in the role where executives at Pottery Barn have contacted the
group to help them better understand whether the company should be either more
centralized or decentralized.
Students should visit Pottery Barn’s website (www.potterybarn.com), and take note of
the firm’s size, location, product line, and so on.
After studying the website, students should revisit the discussion of centralization and
decentralization in the chapter and be prepared to respond to this question: How
centralized or decentralized should Pottery Barn be? It is recommended students use
the guidelines presented in the text to frame and support their arguments.
Student responses for this scenario will vary depending upon their perceptions and the
information they have gleaned from the Pottery Barn website.
Learning Objective: LO9.6: A recognition of the advantages and disadvantages of
centralization and decentralization
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 16
• You and Your Career – Planning Skill and Your Career
Student responses will vary for this assignment. They are asked to respond to the
following questions:
o Given the role of responsibility in management, can you think of some examples
that demonstrate your ability to accept responsibility?
o How has accepting responsibility helped your career?
o How might you integrate these examples into interview discussions?
o If you are currently employed, think of your responsibilities with your present
employer. How might these responsibilities help you to advance in the
company?
Learning Objective: LO9.1: An understanding of responsibility and its relationship with
job description
• Building Your Management Skills Portfolio – Delegating Football Duties at the
University of Texas
Students are asked to be in the role of an advisor to Charlie Strong, UT’s new football
coach. Coach Strong has asked for help to perform his job both efficiently and
effectively. Specifically, Strong believes he needs to delegate effectively, but he needs
guidance in how to do so. Students will answer the following questions related to the
delegation process.
o 9-10 – This exercise identified some of Strong’s responsibilities as the new
head football coach at Texas. List some of Strong’s other responsibilities.
Student responses will vary. Besides the responsibilities listed in the text, he will
have to supervise the players, staff, and other organizational members, delegate
tasks and assignments to the players, and all other responsibilities associated
with an authority position.
Learning Objective: LO9.1: An understanding of responsibility and its
relationship with job description
o 9-11 – The first step in the delegation process is to assign specific duties to
individuals. What are Strong’s primary duties, and to whom can he assign
these duties?
Students should note Strong’s primary duties are recruiting new players,
designing offensive plays, designing defensive plays, as well as supervising the
players and staff. Regarding whom he can assign these duties, it would help to
keep in mind the delegation process and steps involved in the delegation
process.
How would you state these duties in operational terms such that Strong’s
subordinates understand them?
The steps in this process include:
(1) assigning specific duties to an individual
(2) granting appropriate authority to the subordinate, and
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 17
(3) creating the obligation for the subordinate to perform the assigned duties
Learning Objective: LO9.5: An understanding of how to delegate
o 9-12 – The second step of the delegation process involves granting authority
to subordinates. How would Strong grant authority to others? How would he
make sure that others accept this new authority?
How Strong would grant authority to others depends upon Chester Barnard’s
notion of authority and acceptance, which states that authority exists and will
exact obedience only if the authority is accepted. In other words, the degree to
which authority exacts obedience depends on the degree to which an individual
is willing and able to accept such authority. In turn, this acceptance depends
upon the following four factors: (1) the degree to which an individual can
understand the order given; (2) the degree to which the individual believes the
order is consistent with the purpose of the organization; (3) the degree to which
the individual sees the order as compatible with his or her own personal
interests; and (4) the degree to which the individual is mentally and physically
able to comply with the order. The fewer of these four conditions that exist, the
lower the probability that authority will be accepted and obedience will be
exacted.
It would help to remind students the steps managers, like Coach Strong, can
take to increase the probability that students will accept their authority. They
include:
(1) Managers should use formal channels of communication. This will increase
subordinates’ understanding and aid them in associating the
communication with the purpose of the organization
(2) Each organization member should have an assigned formal communication
channel through which he or she receives orders. This will add clarity to
communication, since each organizational member would always receive
orders through one reliable source
(3) The line of communication between manager and subordinate should be as
direct as possible. Again, this would increase clarity of communication and
aid the subordinate in understanding the communication.
(4) The complete chain of command should be used to issue an order. Besides
reinforcing scalar authority relationships, this would again aid subordinates
in associating orders with organizational goals.
(5) Managers should possess adequate communication skills. The effectiveness
of managerial communication has a direct bearing on how well commands
are transmitted and understood.
(6) Managers should use formal communication lines only for organizational
business. Using these channels for other communications would decrease the
effectiveness and clarity of organizational commands.
(7) A command should be authenticated as coming from a manager. Non-
authenticated commands would force subordinates to question the
commands and their sources.
Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 18
Learning Objective: LO9.5: An understanding of how to delegate
o 9-13 – The third step of the delegation process entails making sure the
subordinate accepts responsibility for the delegated tasks. How would Strong
ensure that subordinates accept responsibility?
Responsibility is the obligation to perform assigned activities. Responsibility
exists in organizations to channel the activities of individuals who are parts of
the organization. Managers, like Strong, delegate responsibilities to facilitate
the accomplishment of the management system’s objectives. How Coach Strong
ensures that subordinates accept responsibility depends upon the authority
relationships and how he perceives his authority. Subordinates should be aware
of their own accountability and the consequential penalty or reward of their
actions.
Learning Objective: LO9.5: An understanding of how to delegate
o 9-14 – Finally, many obstacles could damage the effectiveness of Strong’s
delegation efforts. List the primary obstacles that Strong must overcome.
Obstacles to the delegation process include: (1) managers’ fear of delegating,
(2) reluctance on the part of the subordinates to accept authority for various
reasons, and (3) characteristics of the organization that make delegation
difficult.
These obstacles can be overcome to some extent if Strong will: (1) attempt to
build subordinate confidence in delegated authority, (2) help subordinates with
problems whenever necessary, and (3) minimize the impact of delegated
authority on established working relationships. Strong can also show the
willingness to consider the ideas of others, give subordinates the control
necessary to carry out the responsibilities, show trust in the abilities of
subordinates, and permit people to learn from their mistakes without imposing
unreasonable penalties.
Learning Objective: LO9.5: An understanding of how to delegate
Other documents randomly have
different content
been very watchful she might have been misguided by that woman's
remarkable appearance.
Mr. Augustus pricked up his ears at this.
"In what way was she remarkable, my love?" he blandly inquired.
To which civil question Mrs. Brown, recalling her former uneasiness,
only replied by shaking her fat shoulders and descanting volubly on
the fruitful theme of male curiosity.
It is highly probable that Margaret had a happy escape, in spite of
"salary no object, and masters for every branch."
As soon as the letter had been despatched she began to think of
home and Laura, and to lay her plans for return. But, first, various
articles of wearing apparel would have to be procured, for Margaret
was not at all fond of shabbiness for its own sake, and her little girl's
wardrobe was, she knew, sadly in need of replenishment.
So she put off her departure for a day or two, that this business, so
much more pleasing than what had hitherto been occupying her,
might be satisfactorily accomplished. Between shopping and
needlewomen the next few days passed by with considerable
rapidity and far more brightness of spirit; and then Margaret thought
that before leaving London she might pay a farewell visit to the
pictures, and, especially, to the one which had so powerfully
attracted her.
Dressing herself with far more care than on the previous occasion—
for the black stuff was replaced by silk, and over it the rich Indian
scarf, for which Margaret seemed to cherish a peculiar affection,
looked more in keeping—she started on a bright afternoon in an
omnibus that took her to the very door of the Exhibition.
For this once Margaret wished to enjoy without fatigue. And she
certainly did enjoy. Coming from the brightness and life of the May
day into the cool shade of the galleries (it was too early in the day
for the fashionable crowd), with the wealth of coloring and
suggestive beauty on every side, nothing to do but to wander from
one gem of art to the other,—all this was really delightful to
Margaret. It was easy work at first, but as the day wore on the usual
crowds began to pour into the galleries, and moving about became
somewhat more difficult.
Margaret was there to see the pictures and refresh herself with their
beauty. She did not, therefore, pay much attention to the many who
were coming and going, and was in consequence perfectly
unconscious of the notice she herself attracted; for many who
caught a glimpse of her fair face in passing turned instinctively and
looked again. There was one who admired her specially.
He was a little sandy-haired individual who had been wandering
about rather disconsolately with his wife. Having at last been able to
escort her to a seat, he was venturing to look round when he caught
sight of Margaret Grey. It was a happy moment. She was looking up
at one of Millais' suggestive pieces; the full appreciation of its
meaning gave a certain spirituality to her face, and her lips were
parted in a smile of calm enjoyment.
He was struck dumb with astonishment. Had it not been for the
presence of his wife and a snub-nosed olive-branch he would have
improved the occasion by trying to find out something about this
new beauty.
As it was, he turned away his eyes from beholding vanity, and looked
down on the opposite virtue, his wife, whose eyes, strange to say,
were beholding vanity too. With the assistance of her eye-glasses
they were scanning the object that had previously attracted the
attention of her lord.
The heart of the sandy-haired throbbed with unusual excitement,
but (oh the treachery of the male sex!) he smothered excitement
under an appearance of utter indifference.
"Do you know that lady, my love?" he inquired in his blandest tones.
"Lady, indeed!" replied Mrs. Brown, for the moment forgetting her
prudence in her indignation. "It's Mrs. Grey, who was to have been
my children's governess, Mr. Brown. Now I hope you see!"
Mr. Augustus did not precisely see, but for the sake of peace and
quietness he professed to be very much enlightened, and proceeded
with a man's temerity to make some other trifling observation about
the pseudo-governess.
He met with a smart rebuke for his pains, and then Mrs. Brown,
feeling no doubt that the locality was dangerous, requested that her
carriage should be found.
When the unhappy Brown returned dutifully to escort her to where it
was in waiting for its dainty burden the vision of female loveliness
had vanished, and though he paid more visits to the Exhibition of
the Royal Academy than he had ever done before, the vision never
returned. Alas, the cruelty of human nature as exemplified by
watchful wives!
Margaret did not know what mischief she was causing. She had
found her way to the little sea-piece which had already spoken so
powerfully to her imagination. And there it was that at last Arthur
Forrest's eyes were gladdened once more with a sight of the face
that had haunted him.
He was standing near the entrance of the room, lost in the crowd,
which was every moment increasing, when she passed by him so
closely that her silk dress touched him. He had been watching for
her daily, but at the fateful moment her appearance took him by
surprise.
He had formed plans without number for addressing her, without
showing himself obtrusive or inquisitive. The very words of polite
inquiry after her health, the manner in which, by courtesy and
chivalrous deference, all her fears would be set at rest, had been
rehearsed again and again in colloquy between himself and a
Margaret evoked by his dream; but when the moment had come,
when the real Margaret was near, all his plans vanished like mists
before the sun—he was bashful and timid as a young débutante.
Instead of emerging from the crowd which seemed to swallow up his
identity and claiming acquaintance with her, he drew farther back
into its friendly shelter. He could not address her yet, he said to
himself; he must seize the opportunity of gazing once more on her
fair face.
He saw her walk quietly through the gallery and pause near one of
the seats, the scene of their memorable rencontre only a few days
previously. It was full, so she stood beside it, gazing with dreamy
pleasure at the picture of the westering sea.
She looked at the picture, and Arthur in his safe retirement looked at
her; indeed, he was so absorbed in the contemplation that it needed
a very smart tap on the shoulder from a gentleman who had come
up behind him, and who had already addressed one or two remarks
to him utterly in vain, to awake him to a sense of things as they
were, and to the consciousness of the existence of some few people
in the world besides himself and Margaret Grey.
As he looked round he reddened with annoyance, and yet Captain
Mordaunt, the gentleman who had broken in upon his reverie, was a
man with whom most young men liked to be seen. Not that he was
particularly attractive, for his hair was turning gray, his face was
blotchy, his neck red and long, and his nose beginning to take the
hue of the purple grape. Then, too, his manner was apt to be
snappish and sarcastic, especially to young men. But what was all
this when it was a certain fact that he knew, as they would have
said, "an awful lot;" that he was the fashion; that he counted his
intrigues by the hundred? Indeed it was whispered, and not without
foundation, some said, that not only actresses and inferior people of
that description were concerned in them; the names of ladies of high
rank had been associated with that of Alfred Mordaunt. But this of
course may have been only rumor, for rumor is thousand-tongued
and not particularly charitable. In any case, the gallant captain did
not seem to care to deny the soft imputations. He considered it his
chief mission in life to be a lady-killer.
Arthur was not above the weaknesses of his day and generation; he
had often courted Captain Mordaunt in the past. The past! How soon
those few days had become the past, the great blank of existence,
when he had lived without having seen her!
What annoyed Arthur so particularly was this. He saw in a moment
that he had betrayed his secret by his own folly—that Captain
Mordaunt, the last person in the world to whom he would have
spoken of his romantic devotion, had traced the direction of his
glance, and with eye-glass fixed was taking a look on his own
account. The look was followed by another tap, a congratulatory
one, on Arthur's shoulder. "By Jove, Master Arthur! you have taste!
The finest woman I've seen for some time, 'pon my solemn word
and honor! And beauties are something in my line too. Not of the
pink-and-white sort either, that generally goes down with you young
fellows. There's refinement, intelligence, and what d'you call it, that
painters make a fuss about, in that face."
His comments sent the indignant blood to the very roots of young
Arthur's hair. He made an heroic effort at indifference. "I am really at
a loss to understand you, Captain Mordaunt," he stammered.
The gallant captain laughed, holding his sides as if the merriment
overpowered him utterly.
"Very good! Very good!" he cried between the paroxysms. "Sly boy!
Didn't know you were so deep. Want to keep all to yourself, eh? I'll
warrant the fair cousin knows nothing."
The color faded from Arthur's face, but there came a dangerous light
into his eyes. "I wish you would keep your remarks and your ill-
timed jokes to yourself, Captain Mordaunt," he said sullenly.
The captain looked astonished, and whistled softly for a moment.
"Gently, gently, young spitfire!" he said lightly. "But come, who is
she? Let an old friend into the secret. Why, I declare, ——"
(mentioning a lady of more repute for beauty than character)
"couldn't hold a candle to her."
This was almost too much for Arthur. He turned round with flashing
eyes, and there was a subdued force in his voice as he answered,
using the first rash words that came to his lips, "How dare you speak
of her in such a connection? I am a younger man than you, but, by
Heaven! if you should repeat such an insult I could strike you down
where you stand."
The captain laughed again, with a trifle of uneasiness this time, and
he turned a little pale. Rumor said that he was a coward, but
probably his fear in the present instance was of a row in this public
place. However that might be, he certainly took Arthur's challenge
rather coolly. "Calm yourself, young man," he said more seriously
than he had yet spoken. "I scarcely knew I was treading on such
dangerous ground, and certainly could not mean to insult any friend
of yours. You know this lady, I presume, since you are so hot in her
defence?"
Again Arthur blushed. What a fool he felt himself! Captain Mordaunt
in this mood was less easy to escape than in his former one. "I know
her," he answered after a pause, "only very slightly."
"Very slightly, I imagine so," replied the other satirically. "It is not the
first time I have seen her, though," he added sotto voce.
Arthur was all attention in a moment: "Where have you met her,
Captain Mordaunt?"
"Oh, that is my secret. We can all be close when it suits our turn. A
word in your ear, young man. Ultra modesty, faith in the immaculate
—you take me?—never goes down with women. I know something
of them, and they're all alike. There! don't look indignant. Follow up
your advantage, if you've gained any, and before long you may find
out that I am right, and thank me for the hint."
Margaret had found a place at last on the crimson seat. As the last
words were spoken she was leaning forward, her head resting on
one of her hands, from which she had taken the glove. There was
marvellous grace in her position. The long white fingers, the flushed
cheek, the dark weary eyes and the slender bowed form made such
a picture as few could have looked upon unmoved.
Captain Mordaunt, whose eyes had never stirred from her face,
smiled softly (a smile that made Arthur writhe mentally), and
clapped his thumb-nails together as though he had been applauding
some favorite actress.
"Bravo!" he said in a low tone to his companion: "there's a pose for
you—knows she's being admired. Bless you, lad! it's women's way;
and so innocent all the time, the pretty pets! By ——, I'd like awfully
to follow this up on my own account. But," and he gave a deep sigh,
"I've too many on hand already—won't do. Like the Yankee, I shall
be 'crowded out.' I leave the field clear for a younger knight. By-bye,
old fellow—best wishes. I must be off—was due at Lady ——'s an
hour ago."
In another moment he was gone, but before he left the hall he
turned and looked at his young companion, and as he looked his lips
curled. Arthur did not see him, nor did he hear his muttered
comment: "Poor fool! he'll have his wings singed for him, but serve
him right for his impertinence. Knock me down, indeed!"
In Arthur's mind very different thoughts and feelings were struggling
for ascendency. Indignation, disgust, loathing of this world-sated
man and his wisdom—these the better side of his nature prompted,
rejecting with spiritual insight the unholy poison; but there was a
lurking demon within him, the ego Arthur had been striving to
trample upon, and to it all this was sympathetic.
Perhaps, after all, Captain Mordaunt was right. Chivalry and its
attendant virtues belonged rather to the region of the imagination
than to the matter-of-fact life of humanity. It was the way of the
world for men to amuse themselves while they could. It had been
Captain Mordaunt's way, and what a pleasant life he led! Petted,
caressed, flattered, at home in some of the noblest mansions in
England, his word law in all matters of etiquette, grand ladies
considering it an honor to entertain him. He had not gained this
position by squeamishness: that point he allowed every one to
know.
Arthur's heart told him that all this was false—that whatever or
whoever the light loves of Captain Mordaunt might have been, the
lady whom he admired was pure, true, unconscious of evil. He felt
instinctively, with the insight lively sympathy often gives to the
young, that to take advantage in any way of her lonely position
would be to shut himself out from the place he had been so happy
as to gain in her kindly remembrance, and to preclude himself from
all hope of rendering her any further assistance in the future.
But the demon of self is strong, and the voice of the heart when
opposed to it is weak. The pathetic voice of Arthur's heart was soon
silenced by the echo which self-love gave to Captain Mordaunt's
words of falsest wisdom. He looked at his fair ideal, but his feelings
had changed. The animal within him was loudly asserting its right to
be heard; the self-indulgent nature, which a life of luxury had
fostered, persuaded itself easily that all was right, and his fair
woman only as others. Cherishing such feelings, he could not look
calmly on her face. With a new fire in his veins he turned away to
wait outside the building until Margaret should make her
appearance.
The waiting seemed long, but it did not cool his ardor or recall his
former wisdom. Backward and forward he paced, up and down, with
careful observation of all who left the building, until at last he began
to fear either that he had suffered her to escape him, and thus lost
all chance of finding out more about her—this was the vague way in
which his plans were laid—or that something had delayed her,
another fainting-fit perhaps. The bare idea maddened him; he put
his hand to his head, he felt dizzy; this was very different from his
nonchalant waiting for Adèle a few days previously, even from that
daily hope—calm through all its earnestness—of looking once more
on the face of his ideal.
That fatal tree! How many young souls are lost by the passionate
craving for its fruit! The man of the world had held its beautiful
poison to the young man's lips, and he could not tell that beneath
the glory lay dust and ashes.
CHAPTER VIII.
ARTHUR FALLS INTO THE SNARE.
Let me not think I have thought too well of thee.
Be as thou wast.
She came out at last. Arthur saw her, and began with feverish
anxiety to trace every line of her face and form. Her veil was thrown
back, he noticed that, and even while he did so hated himself for his
suspicion. "She knows her beauty," said the false self within him; "it
will not be difficult to show her that others know it too."
But he noticed something more, something that aroused the warm
sympathies of his nature: the face that a few moments ago had
glowed with excitement was very pale, and the sweet lips were
quivering slightly—it might be with fatigue, it might be with
nervousness. A woman feels so lonely in great London, and
loneliness in a crowd is the bitterest kind of loneliness to a sensitive
nature.
In a very few moments Arthur's measures were taken. Waiting until
she had passed on her way, he hailed a hansom, shouted out to the
driver the address of the shabby street which he had visited with his
cousin a few days previously, and was presently on his way to
Margaret's temporary home.
With what view? She had requested him expressly not to follow up
the acquaintanceship—she was living by herself in close retirement.
She might very probably be offended at his visit.
Arthur was young and impulsive: he said nothing of all this to
himself, or rather, with Captain Mordaunt's hateful hints in his mind,
he persuaded himself that it would be only too easy to gain her
forgiveness for his disobedience. As he was whirled along through
the streets the young man's heart throbbed. Be it remembered that
he was inexperienced in the world's ways, and had lived up to this
time under strict petticoat-government. The very breaking free was
exhilarating to his senses—so much so, indeed, that he did not even
stop to reflect on the course he should pursue when, as he hoped
and trusted, he would meet her face to face.
And Margaret in the mean time, knowing nothing of the temporary
madness her face had caused, was making her way as quickly as she
could through the throng and bustle of London to her lodgings in
Islington.
Arthur had purposely delayed, and she arrived at the house before
him. As the hansom dashed into the street, the young man caught a
glimpse of her black dress disappearing behind one of the dingiest
doors.
Now first he began to tremble a little at the thought of his own
impulsive folly. He stood irresolute; he half made up his mind to
return at once. But the voice of the tempter, "I know something of
women, and they're all alike," rang in his ear.
"I will at least try," said the foolish young man to himself, and with a
certain tremor at his heart he rang the door-bell.
The dirty maid-servant looked at him in astonishment. Mrs. Grey had
received some distinguished visitors, notably the brilliant owner of
the yellow chariot, but as yet no handsome, fashionably-dressed
young gentleman had presented himself.
Margaret, as we know, had only one sitting-room. Judging from the
elegance of his appearance that this visitor would be surely
welcome, the girl took upon herself, without waiting for Mrs. Grey's
permission, to usher the young gentleman into the dingy parlor.
Margaret was seated there. She had thrown off her bonnet, and
smiling half pleasantly, half sadly, was examining a little frock, which
had just been sent home by the dressmaker she employed.
Instinctively, Arthur paused on the threshold. This rapid crowning of
his hopes was so unexpected as almost to take his breath away. But
looking at her he dared not presume. There was in the solitary
woman's face at the moment that beautiful mother-look, that calm
Madonna tenderness, which makes the human charm of Raphael's
divine conceptions of the Virgin. Feeling that he had been
presumptuous and vain, Arthur would fain have turned and fled from
this calm woman's presence, but now it was too late.
The opening of the door had disturbed Margaret's dream. She
turned round, the tender mother-look changed into utter
astonishment. Poor Arthur! She did not even seem to know him.
Certainly, the room was rather dark, and his appearance had taken
her completely by surprise; still, this swift forgetfulness was a
terrible blow to his youthful vanity.
Scarcely knowing what to do with himself or how to account for his
visit, he advanced, awkwardly enough, into the little dull room, and
Margaret rose from her seat. To the excited imagination of the
young man the lonely, shabby woman had passed suddenly into a
stately queen of society.
As if awaiting his explanation she stood, but now his lips were
sealed, his fine phrases deserted him, he could not stammer out a
word of explanation.
It was Margaret who broke the embarrassing silence: "Sir, to what
do I owe—"
He broke her short: "Mrs. Grey, you are cruel. Surely you must
remember, you must know, I mean—understand—the interest, the
enthusiasm—"
She was looking at him fixedly as he spoke, and at last his confusion
became so overpowering that he stopped short. Then he could have
bit out his tongue for his audacity, for the astonishment in her face
was replaced by a keen and bitter pain.
"I remember you now," she said very slowly. "Yes, you are the young
gentleman who some few days ago received the fervent thanks of a
lonely woman for his chivalrous kindness."
The red blood mounted to Arthur's cheek. Unable longer to bear the
gaze of those mournful eyes, he threw himself down on the nearest
chair and covered his face with his hands.
"You did not understand me then," she continued very sadly; "you
thought that—"
"Stop, for pity's sake, stop!" cried the young man, lifting up an
agitated face. "I know all you would say. I am a weak, miserable
fool, not worthy of having even been allowed to assist you; but if
you only knew."
His penitence seemed to subdue her indignation. "Foolish boy!" she
said with one of her rarely beautiful smiles. "I know perfectly well,
and therefore it is that I forgive this impertinence. A little experience
of the world will teach you your mistake. Three days ago I read in
your young frank face that you judged me rightly, and I thanked you
in my heart. I will not retract the judgment I formed of you then;
but remember, what you have done is foolish and ought never to be
repeated."
"I know it—I know it," moaned Arthur; "but may I never see you
again? Ah! if by any service, however hard, I could make you
happier than you are!"
She put out her hand, smiling kindly into his earnest face: "The best
service you can render me now is to shake hands and say good-bye.
As I said to you before, we move in different worlds. You will soon
forget this infatuation, or only remember it as a warning against
taking any advantage, however slight, of an unprotected woman. In
that case I shall have rendered you a service."
Where was Captain Mordaunt's wisdom? Banished by a few words
from a weak but noble woman. Happy for Arthur that the fair face
hid a fairer soul! The poison was drawn out of his heart, and youth's
own chivalry took its right place in his nature.
Bowing low over the offered hand, he answered in a broken voice, "I
obey you, and I thank you. I cannot promise to forget, but from this
time all my thoughts of you shall be tinged by the deep respect
which is your due."
CHAPTER IX.
ARTHUR'S SECRET.
And I loved her—loved her, certes,
As I loved all heavenly objects, with uplifted eyes and hands—
As I loved pure inspiration, loved the Graces, loved the Virtues,
In a love content with writing his own name on desert sands.
A luxurious drawing-room, furnished with all the taste and elegance
that money can command; flowers here, there and everywhere—
flowers in the deep recesses of lace-veiled windows, flowers on the
multitude of tables that stood in every corner, flowers—and these
the sweetest of them all—in the lap of a young fair-haired girl who
filled a corner of one of the sofas.
She was paying no great attention to the flowers, only bathing one
of her hands in them from time to time, as though to refresh herself
with their cool fragrance. The other hand, her eyes and her whole
soul appeared to be given to the book she held, an elegant little
volume bound in fawn-colored calfskin.
She was so deeply engrossed that she did not hear the door open,
and her cousin had time to cross the long room, sit down by her side
and take possession of the hand that was trifling with the flowers
before she was aware of his presence.
Then she looked up, blushed charmingly and closed her book:
"Arthur dear, how delightful! I began to think you were never coming
near us again, and I wanted particularly to speak to you about
something that has been in my head ever since our visit to the
Academy."
"Four days!" answered Arthur, languidly, throwing himself back on
the sofa—"an enormous time, as young ladies would say, for one
subject to engross them, especially in this age of progress."
"I suppose it would be absurd to imagine that you even remember,
Master Arthur," replied Adèle, quite equal to the occasion—"boys, as
mamma always says, are so volatile."
"Boys!" Arthur shrugged his shoulders contemptuously. "You are very
polite to-day, Adèle."
There was a shade of annoyance in his voice, which made Adèle look
up at him, for she was a kind little lady who never carried her jokes
too far. The result of the look was a rapid movement from her side
of the sofa to Arthur's, and an earnest inquiry: "Arthur dear,
something is wrong with you, you must surely be ill."
For Arthur's face was pale, and there was a wan, anxious contraction
on his broad white brow.
His only answer was a faint smile. Then, after a pause, "You were
reading, Adèle. Oh!" lifting the book from the small reading-table
that stood conveniently near the sofa, "The Faërie Queene. I thought
it would be something of the kind. Read some of it aloud, like a
good girl; I'm too done up with this hot weather to talk just now."
"Poor old fellow!" Adèle smoothed back his curly hair and imprinted
a kiss, that did not seem to excite her cousin particularly, between
his temples. "Your forehead is so hot, dear, let me bathe it with eau-
de-cologne for you."
She opened a little bottle of richly-cut, ruby-colored glass, and
pouring some of its sweet contents on her handkerchief pressed it
again and again to his brow, Arthur submitting with the delicate
grace of an invalid.
"There," he said at last, "that'll do, dear; you can read now."
And the obedient Adèle, having first carefully lowered one of the
Venetian blinds that no glare might offend her cousin's eyes,
proceeded to read her favorite book in a soft, measured cadence
that suited it admirably. There was no stumbling over the old English
words. Adèle was so thoroughly acquainted with the style that the
quaint language came naturally from her lips, even with a kind of
delicate grace. Love had given her the art, for she loved, more than
any book she had ever read, this dreamy, old-world poem, with its
fair women, its armed knights, its dragons and its myths. Perhaps
the force of contrast made these things specially dear to the young
girl's soul, for there was not much romance in the fashionable life
her mother taught her to think the best and wisest of all lives for a
nineteenth-century young lady to lead.
Her voice sounded like the echo of a dream in the wide room, and
she herself, in her light summer dress, might well have answered to
the description of one of the fair "maydes" whose woes and joys the
gentle poet of another age has illumined with his silvery pen, while
Arthur, as he rested on the sofa in an attitude of careless grace, his
dark, lazy-looking eyes half closed, his head thrown back upon the
cushions, might have been one of the brave young knights
refreshing himself in his lady's bower after some terrible encounter
with the many-headed, many-handed monster from whom it was his
grand mission to free humanity in general, fair womankind in
particular.
But the afternoon wore away. Adèle had just finished the account of
a mighty encounter between Arthur of the magic sword and three
unknightly knights who had attacked him together.
It had apparently aroused Arthur, for he rose suddenly and stood by
her side, looking down upon her with a certain earnestness.
"Shut the book for the present, Adèle," he said, "I am ready to talk
now; it has awoke me."
"What has awoke you, dear?"
"Your favorite poet, I suppose, my little cousin; but come, what were
you so anxious to say to me when I came in just now?"
"Oh, Arthur, you cannot surely have forgotten. I wanted to speak to
you about that beautiful fainting lady in the Academy."
"Perhaps I have not forgotten, Adèle." Arthur turned away from his
cousin as he spoke, for he did not wish her to see the sudden flush
which not all the proud consciousness of manhood and superiority
had been strong enough to restrain.
"Well," he continued after a pause, as his cousin remained
thoughtfully silent, "I do remember; but what of her?"
"I have been thinking of her, Arthur." Adèle's eyes looked sorrowful.
"And whenever I think of her I remember those miserable houses,
the shabby black dress and the quiet sadness in her face. Oh, Arthur,
do you think it would be possible to help her in any way?"
"For you it might be," said Arthur with an appearance of sudden
interest. "Unfortunately," he added bitterly, "women have the habit
of looking upon any attempt at friendliness in one of the opposite
sex as a species of insult."
This was rather too much for Adèle. With every respect for her
cousin and fiancé, he was still too young, in her estimation, to be
capable of exciting indignation in the breast of any woman. She
laughed merrily: "I like your vanity, sir. As if any one could be
insulted with you! You would have to pin on a false moustache, draw
your hat over your brows to hide those ingenuous-looking eyes of
yours, and button an enormous rough great coat up to your chin,
before any one—any stranger, I mean—could imagine you even
grown up. Why I look ages older than you!"
Adèle got up and looked at herself in the mirror.
"Yes, ages!" she repeated, with provoking emphasis and in eager
expectation of a delightful torrent of self-vindication from her cousin.
They often indulged in this kind of wordy war, and Adèle's feminine
volubility and quickness of wit generally gave her the advantage.
No answer came from Arthur to the rash challenge. He was standing
behind her, not looking into the mirror, but, as though utterly
unconscious of her light words, gazing away into vacancy. Adèle
caught sight of his face in the mirror, and a sudden silence seized
her, for even as she spoke she saw that in her young cousin's face
which warned her he was a boy no longer.
He had drawn himself up to his full height, and stood seemingly rapt
in earnest thought, for his brows were slightly contracted, and his
ingenuous-looking eyes had taken a deep, fixed look that strangely
moved his cousin. With the quickness of a woman's insight she saw
that her jest had been ill-timed, that a certain indescribable change,
perhaps that for which she had hoped and longed, had come to the
beautiful boy whom she had loved and caressed with almost
maternal tenderness, for manhood's strength of purpose was written
on his face. Her first feeling was a sense of foreboding. If Arthur was
indeed changed, would he be changed to her?
The next was a determination, strong as the womanhood which with
her love the young girl had put on early, to share his secret,
whatever it might be.
She was too young and too inexperienced to understand all that this
change, which she certainly felt, might mean; she could not reason
about the new earnestness, nor trace it to any cause which he might
think it well to hide, for Adèle was eminently generous and
unsuspicious. She was accustomed to her cousin's light, boyish
affection, and did not expect him to be a passionate lover; she was
therefore ready with all her soul to rejoice in anything that would
make him less frivolous, less absorbed in self and the mere
enjoyment of life.
For a few moments she stood silently at the mirror, looking into it,
but looking absently, for her mind was engaged in the problem of
how to approach him, how to gain his confidence at this time which
the young girl instinctively felt to be critical in her cousin's history. If
he had ambitious dreams, was it not right that she should share
them? She had always been his confidante; the bare idea, indeed, of
being shut out from any of Arthur's secrets gave Adèle keen pain.
Deciding at last that frankness was her best policy, she turned to her
cousin and putting both hands on his shoulders looked earnestly into
his eyes. "Arthur," she said with a slight tremor in her voice, "what
are you thinking about? Tell me."
He might have been called from a distant land, so great was the
interval that separated his mind from hers at that moment, and at
first he seemed even to have difficulty in recalling his scattered
ideas.
She repeated the question, with an added earnestness that lent
pathos to her voice.
Then he looked down upon her:
"Why do you wish so much to know, Adèle?"
"Oh, Arthur, how can you ask?" Her voice trembled, she was very
near tears. "Dear," she continued in a lower voice, taking his hand in
hers, "if I thought you had one corner in your heart of which I knew
nothing, I scarcely know what I should do. 'Trust me all in all,'
Arthur. I say it in all sincerity." She smiled faintly. "I promise not to
be like that naughty Vivien, wrapping you up in spells, even if—if you
should have any secret—"
"That would pain you very much to know, little cousin."
Adèle looked up bravely: "I should prefer to know it, Arthur—indeed
I should; I think, dear—I think—I could put myself out of the
question altogether, and help you as a sister might."
He did not notice the tremulousness, the slight choking of voice with
which her brave little sentence ended.
"I wish with all my heart that you were my sister, Adèle: then I could
tell you without any hesitation."
Adèle turned a little pale: "I am your sister, Arthur. Tell me."
He looked down upon her kindly: "I will tell you, Adèle, for in these
matters I believe frankness to be the best policy; and, after all, it
may be only a dream. I was thinking of Margaret Grey."
CHAPTER X.
HOW ADÈLE RECEIVES THE DISCLOSURE.
The woman who loves should indeed
Be the friend of the man that she loves. She should heed
Not her selfish and often mistaken desires,
But his interest whose fate her own interest inspires.
And this, then, was the awakening? Like almost every thing in this
wayward world of ours, it scarcely chimed in with the ideas and
plans that had been formed concerning it.
Adèle had often mourned her cousin's frivolity, but she was young
and hopeful. He was only a boy, she had told herself. Some of the
great things in the world—its art, its literature, its science, the grand
sphere of politics or the grander field of benevolence—would sooner
or later throw chains about his spirit, so that, following where it led,
he too, with herself perhaps as a twin attendant star, like the "Laon
and Laone" of Shelley, might take a place in the poet's divine temple
of genius, and live a life not utterly in vain in its influences on
humanity.
She had even thought to arouse him herself, that by love he might
rise, as others had done before him, to something higher than the
fashionable life of self-pleasing. But of this she had never thought—
that love indeed, but the love of another woman, should be the
motive-power rousing his soul to earnestness. For she could not be
mistaken. The change that had come to him—which change, she
could not but remember as she cast her thoughts over the past few
days, had dated from that memorable afternoon at the Academy—
the impressive way in which he had told her of his thought, the quiet
earnestness of his manner, all tended to the revelation of a fact—one
that she would have put away indignantly had she not been forced
to look it in the face. Arthur was in love, and not with her.
The beautiful woman whom in her youthful enthusiasm she had
admired—loved even for her very loveliness—had won her cousin's
heart. He loved Margaret Grey as he had never loved her, his cousin,
the friend of his youth and childhood: with her he had remained a
boy; her beautiful rival had roused the dormant fire within him, and
suddenly the boy had put on his manhood.
These were some of the thoughts that crowded bewilderingly on
Adèle's brain as they sat together on the sofa—she and her cousin—
with his strange confession between them. He was waiting to hear
what she would say; she was for the first few moments unable to
speak. On the table before them lay the forgotten volume of the
Faërie Queene; at their feet, in sweet confusion, were the scattered
flowers fallen from Adèle's lap. She sat perfectly still, her hands
crossed and her eyes cast down; he looked at her with some
earnestness, and perhaps a little surprise.
Arthur's affection for Adèle was of a calm, brotherly kind, and he had
always imagined that she cared for him in very much the same
manner.
Hitherto, indeed, he had not been in a position to gauge the heights
and depths of that mysterious, volatile essence which young mortals
dignify by the fair name of love. But now, with this new light in his
own heart, he was better able to understand his cousin's, and in her
downcast face he thought he read her secret.
It made him tender instantly. Young men and old men are alike in
this. Whether loving or not themselves, they are pleased when they
find out, by indubitable signs, that they have inspired the sentiment;
and this knowledge makes them, for the moment, strangely gentle
and sympathetic.
Welcome to our website – the perfect destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. We believe that every book holds a new world,
offering opportunities for learning, discovery, and personal growth.
That’s why we are dedicated to bringing you a diverse collection of
books, ranging from classic literature and specialized publications to
self-development guides and children's books.
More than just a book-buying platform, we strive to be a bridge
connecting you with timeless cultural and intellectual values. With an
elegant, user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can
quickly find the books that best suit your interests. Additionally,
our special promotions and home delivery services help you save time
and fully enjoy the joy of reading.
Join us on a journey of knowledge exploration, passion nurturing, and
personal growth every day!
testbankdeal.com

More Related Content

PDF
Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Solutions Manual
PDF
Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Solutions Manual
PDF
Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Solutions Manual
PDF
Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Solutions Manual
PDF
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
PDF
Human Resource Management 11th Edition Noe Solutions Manual
PDF
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
PDF
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Solutions Manual
Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Solutions Manual
Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Solutions Manual
Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Solutions Manual
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
Human Resource Management 11th Edition Noe Solutions Manual
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual

Similar to Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Solutions Manual (20)

PDF
Complete Answer Guide for Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th...
PDF
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
PDF
Human side of management
PDF
M Management 4th Edition Bateman Solutions Manual
PDF
M Management 4th Edition Bateman Solutions Manual
PDF
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
PDF
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
PDF
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management 6th Edition Noe Solutions Manual
PDF
Developing a performance management system at the community outreach agency: ...
PDF
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
PDF
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
PDF
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
PDF
Organizational Behavior 14th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
PDF
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management 7th Edition Noe Solutions Manual
PDF
Solution Manual for Supervisory Management, 10th Edition, Donald C. Mosley, D...
PDF
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management 6th Edition Noe Solutions Manual
PDF
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
PDF
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
PDF
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
PPTX
BA 208 Chapter 7 power point
Complete Answer Guide for Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th...
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
Human side of management
M Management 4th Edition Bateman Solutions Manual
M Management 4th Edition Bateman Solutions Manual
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management 6th Edition Noe Solutions Manual
Developing a performance management system at the community outreach agency: ...
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
Organizational Behavior 14th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management 7th Edition Noe Solutions Manual
Solution Manual for Supervisory Management, 10th Edition, Donald C. Mosley, D...
Fundamentals of Human Resource Management 6th Edition Noe Solutions Manual
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
Organizational Behavior Human Behavior at Work 14th Edition Newstrom Solution...
Organizational Behavior 18th Edition Robbins Solutions Manual
BA 208 Chapter 7 power point
Ad

Recently uploaded (20)

PPTX
20th Century Theater, Methods, History.pptx
PPTX
Introduction to pro and eukaryotes and differences.pptx
PDF
Empowerment Technology for Senior High School Guide
PDF
Trump Administration's workforce development strategy
PDF
RTP_AR_KS1_Tutor's Guide_English [FOR REPRODUCTION].pdf
PPTX
History, Philosophy and sociology of education (1).pptx
PDF
Vision Prelims GS PYQ Analysis 2011-2022 www.upscpdf.com.pdf
PDF
Chinmaya Tiranga quiz Grand Finale.pdf
PDF
Computing-Curriculum for Schools in Ghana
PDF
احياء السادس العلمي - الفصل الثالث (التكاثر) منهج متميزين/كلية بغداد/موهوبين
PDF
advance database management system book.pdf
PDF
AI-driven educational solutions for real-life interventions in the Philippine...
PPTX
B.Sc. DS Unit 2 Software Engineering.pptx
PDF
BP 704 T. NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS (UNIT 1)
DOC
Soft-furnishing-By-Architect-A.F.M.Mohiuddin-Akhand.doc
PDF
Black Hat USA 2025 - Micro ICS Summit - ICS/OT Threat Landscape
PPTX
Computer Architecture Input Output Memory.pptx
PDF
Indian roads congress 037 - 2012 Flexible pavement
PPTX
202450812 BayCHI UCSC-SV 20250812 v17.pptx
PPTX
A powerpoint presentation on the Revised K-10 Science Shaping Paper
20th Century Theater, Methods, History.pptx
Introduction to pro and eukaryotes and differences.pptx
Empowerment Technology for Senior High School Guide
Trump Administration's workforce development strategy
RTP_AR_KS1_Tutor's Guide_English [FOR REPRODUCTION].pdf
History, Philosophy and sociology of education (1).pptx
Vision Prelims GS PYQ Analysis 2011-2022 www.upscpdf.com.pdf
Chinmaya Tiranga quiz Grand Finale.pdf
Computing-Curriculum for Schools in Ghana
احياء السادس العلمي - الفصل الثالث (التكاثر) منهج متميزين/كلية بغداد/موهوبين
advance database management system book.pdf
AI-driven educational solutions for real-life interventions in the Philippine...
B.Sc. DS Unit 2 Software Engineering.pptx
BP 704 T. NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS (UNIT 1)
Soft-furnishing-By-Architect-A.F.M.Mohiuddin-Akhand.doc
Black Hat USA 2025 - Micro ICS Summit - ICS/OT Threat Landscape
Computer Architecture Input Output Memory.pptx
Indian roads congress 037 - 2012 Flexible pavement
202450812 BayCHI UCSC-SV 20250812 v17.pptx
A powerpoint presentation on the Revised K-10 Science Shaping Paper
Ad

Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Solutions Manual

  • 1. Download the full version and explore a variety of test banks or solution manuals at https://testbankdeal.com Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Solutions Manual _____ Follow the link below to get your download now _____ https://testbankdeal.com/product/modern-management-concepts- and-skills-14th-edition-certo-solutions-manual/ Access testbankdeal.com now to download high-quality test banks or solution manuals
  • 2. Here are some recommended products for you. Click the link to download, or explore more at testbankdeal.com Modern Management Concepts and Skills 14th Edition Certo Test Bank https://testbankdeal.com/product/modern-management-concepts-and- skills-14th-edition-certo-test-bank/ Modern Management Concepts and Skills 12th Edition Certo Test Bank https://testbankdeal.com/product/modern-management-concepts-and- skills-12th-edition-certo-test-bank/ Modern Management 13th Edition Certo Test Bank https://testbankdeal.com/product/modern-management-13th-edition-certo- test-bank/ Enhanced Microsoft Office 2013 Illustrated Introductory First Course 1st Edition Beskeen Test Bank https://testbankdeal.com/product/enhanced-microsoft- office-2013-illustrated-introductory-first-course-1st-edition-beskeen- test-bank/
  • 3. Sexuality Today 11th Edition Kelly Test Bank https://testbankdeal.com/product/sexuality-today-11th-edition-kelly- test-bank/ Media Essentials 4th Edition Campbell Test Bank https://testbankdeal.com/product/media-essentials-4th-edition- campbell-test-bank/ Basic College Mathematics 8th Edition Tobey Solutions Manual https://testbankdeal.com/product/basic-college-mathematics-8th- edition-tobey-solutions-manual/ Drugs Behavior And Modern Society 8th Edition Levinthal Test Bank https://testbankdeal.com/product/drugs-behavior-and-modern- society-8th-edition-levinthal-test-bank/ Cognitive Psychology Connecting Mind Research and Everyday Experience 3rd Edition Goldstein Solutions Manual https://testbankdeal.com/product/cognitive-psychology-connecting-mind- research-and-everyday-experience-3rd-edition-goldstein-solutions- manual/
  • 4. Physiology 7th Edition Koeppen Test Bank https://testbankdeal.com/product/physiology-7th-edition-koeppen-test- bank/
  • 5. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 1 CHAPTER 9: RESPONSIBILITY, AUTHORITY, AND DELEGATION CHAPTER SUMMARY: Chapter 9 begins the student’s study of the managerial concepts of responsibility, authority, and delegation. As a company grows, its management must constantly focus on organizing resources appropriately so that goals can be attained. Managers must ask themselves questions such as: How should responsibility be established across the organization? How should authority be distributed within the organization? The information in the chapter should be of great value to students – and managers – as they answer such questions. CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1. An understanding of responsibility and its relationship with job description 2. Information on how to divide job activities of individuals working within an organization 3. An understanding of the benefits of clarifying the job activities of managers 4. Insights regarding the importance of authority within an organization 5. An understanding of how to delegate 6. A recognition of the advantages and disadvantages of centralization and decentralization TARGET SKILLS: Responsibility and Delegation Skill: the ability to understand one’s obligation to perform assigned activities and to enlist the help of others to complete those activities
  • 6. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 2 CHAPTER OUTLINE: This chapter is divided into six sections: 1. Responsibility and Job Descriptions 2. Dividing Job Activities 3. Clarifying Job Activities of Managers 4. Authority 5. Delegation 6. Centralization and Decentralization Responsibility and Job Descriptions: This section of the chapter introduces students to the concept of responsibility and job descriptions. Included in the section is a discussion of Goldman Sachs, the recent financial meltdown, and managerial actions responsible. • Responsibility o The obligation to perform assigned activities o Source of responsibility lies within the individual – self-assumed commitment to handle a job to the best of one’s abilities o Individuals who accept jobs are obligated to a supervisor to see that job activities are successfully completed o Managers remain responsible for completion of tasks even if the task has been delegated to another employee ▪ This demonstrates responsibility is shared by both the manager and the employee • Job Description o Summarizes an individual’s job activities within an organization o Lists specific activities that must be performed by whoever holds the position o Communicate job content to employees, establish performance levels the employees must maintain, act as guides employees should follow to help organization reach its objectives o The Steps for Success box in the text provides ideas to help managers prepare a job description that effectively assigns responsibilities • Three areas related to responsibility include: o Dividing job activities o Clarifying job activities of managers o Being responsible o These areas are discussed in the sections that follow
  • 7. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 3 Dividing Job Activities: This section of the chapter provides a discussion of ways to divide job activities among a number of individuals. • Functional Similarity Method o The most basic method of dividing job activities o Managers take four basic, interrelated steps to divide job activities: ▪ Examine management system objectives ▪ Designate appropriate activities that must be performed to reach those objectives ▪ Design specific jobs by grouping similar activities ▪ Make specific individuals responsible for performing those jobs o Figure 9.1 in the text provides an illustration of the functional similarity method sequence of activities for dividing job activities • Functional Similarity and Responsibility o Overlapping Responsibility ▪ A situation where more than one individual is responsible for the same activity ▪ This situation can create confusion as typically only one individual should be responsible for completing any one activity ▪ Often see the job not completed because the individuals involved are assuming the other one will complete the tasks o Responsibility Gap ▪ Responsibility gaps should be avoided ▪ Gaps exist when certain tasks are not included in the responsibility of any individual employee ▪ This really means no one in the organization is responsible for completing certain necessary activities o Management should avoid creating job activities to accomplish tasks that do not enhance goal attainment ▪ Organizational members should be obligated to complete those activities that lead toward attainment of the organization’s goals o Job responsibilities should be assigned with clear, goal-related, nonoverlapping responsibilities o Four outcomes exist when organizational members are unclear who is responsible for a task ▪ One of the two may perform the job ▪ Both employees may perform the job ▪ Neither employee may perform the job because each assumed the other one would ▪ Employees spend time negotiating each aspect and phase of the job to carefully mesh out responsibilities o Each one of these outcomes negatively affects both product quality and overall productivity
  • 8. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 4 Clarifying Job Activities of Managers: This section of the chapter provides a discussion of the importance of clarifying job activities for managers. • Management Responsibility Guide o Tool designed to help management describe the various responsibility relationships that exist in the organization and to summarize how responsibilities of various managers relate to one another o Table 9.1 presents a listing of seven responsibility relationships among managers. Once it is decided which of these relationships exist within the organization, the relationships among these responsibilities can be defined ▪ General Responsibility ▪ Operating Responsibility ▪ Specific Responsibility ▪ Must be Consulted ▪ May be Consulted ▪ Must be Notified ▪ Must Approve • Responsible Managers o Managers are deemed to be responsible if they perform the activities they are obligated to perform o Responsible managers are a prerequisite for management system success o Degree of responsibility a manager possesses is determined by appraising the manager on four dimensions: ▪ Attitude toward and conduct with subordinates ▪ Behavior with upper management ▪ Behavior with other groups ▪ Personal attitudes and values o Table 9.2 summarizes what each of the four dimensions involves Authority: This section of the chapter focuses on the concept of authority and includes definitions of types of authority as well as roles of those in the organization with authority • Authority o Right to perform or command o Allows individuals with authority to direct and influence the actions of others through orders o Allows individuals with authority to allocate the organization’s resources • Authority on the Job o The text provides a great example to discuss with students related to a service station manager’s tasks and responsibilities o Authority increases the probability a specific command will be obeyed o Authority does not, however, always lead to obedience ▪ The text provides a good paragraph example of this reality
  • 9. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 5 • Acceptance of Authority o The positioning of individuals in an organization’s hierarchy and organizational structure/organization chart indicates their relative amounts of authority o Those positioned toward the top of the chart possess more authority than those positioned toward the bottom of the chart o Chester Barnard wrote, though, that the acceptance of that authority is determined less by the structure and chart than by acceptance of the authority of those under the authority ▪ Authority exacts obedience only when it is accepted o Barnard wrote authority is only accepted under the following conditions ▪ Individual can understand the order being communicated ▪ Individual believes order is consistent with the organization’s purpose ▪ Individual views the order as compatible with his/her personal interests ▪ Individual is mentally and physically able to comply with the order o The fewer of these four that are present, the lower the probability authority will be accepted and obedience exacted o Barnard went on to say managers are more apt to see authority accepted and obeyed when the following situations are involved: ▪ Manager uses formal channels of communication familiar to all organization members ▪ Organization members are assigned a formal communication channel through which their orders are received ▪ Lines of communication between managers and subordinates are as direct as possible ▪ Complete chain of command is used to issue orders ▪ Manager possesses adequate communication skills ▪ Manager uses formal communication lines only for organizational business ▪ Commands and orders are authenticated as coming from a manager • Types of Authority o Line Authority o Staff Authority o Functional Authority o Line & Staff Authority ▪ Line Authority – most fundamental type of authority in the organization • Reflects existing superior-subordinate relationships • Right to make decisions and give orders related to production activities • Pertains to matters directly involving management system production, sales, finance, and the achievement of organizational goals
  • 10. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 6 ▪ Staff Authority – right to advise or assist those who possess line authority as well as other staff personnel • Enables those responsible for improving the effectiveness of line personnel to perform required tasks • Examples of staff personnel include human resources, external affairs, legal ▪ Size of the firm is involved in determining whether an organization has staff personnel • The larger the organization, the greater the need and ability to employee staff personnel o Line-Staff Relationships ▪ Figure 9.2 illustrates possible line-staff relationships in an organizational chart – As the chart illustrates, the plant manager has line authority over the human resource manager, production manager, and sales manager – AND – the human resource manager has staff authority in relation to the plant manager. o Role of Staff Personnel – Harold Stieglitz identified three roles of staff personnel in assisting line personnel ▪ Advisory or Counseling Role • Use their professional experience to solve organizational problems • Internal consultants through their expertise ▪ Service Role • Provide their services more effectively and efficiently via a centralized staff group • Example – HR Department recruiting, interviewing, selecting, compensation, training of workers for all departments ▪ Control Role • Establish a mechanism for evaluating effectiveness of the organization’s plans • In this role, staff personnel are representatives, or agents, of top management o Conflict in Line-Staff Relationships ▪ From the line personnel’s perspective, staff personnel cause conflict through their assumption of line authority, not being correct with their advice, stealing credit for successes, failing to stay in contact and communicate with line personnel ▪ From the staff personnel’s perspective, line personnel cause conflict when they do not make proper use of staff personnel, resist new ideas, refuse to give staff personnel enough authority to do their jobs ▪ Both parties need to work together to diffuse or eliminate these conflicts o Functional Authority ▪ Right to give orders within a segment of the organization in which this right is normally nonexistent
  • 11. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 7 ▪ Usually assigned to individuals to complement the line or staff authority they already possess ▪ Covers only specific task areas and operational only for a designated period of time ▪ The text provides a good example of the CFO of Kroger and his functional authority ▪ Authority should be used in a combination that will best enable individuals to carry out their assigned responsibilities and thereby best help the management system accomplish its objectives ▪ Figure 9.3 illustrates how line, staff, and functional authority can be combined for the overall benefit of a hospital management system o Accountability ▪ Individual employees are liable, or accountable, for how well they use their authority and live up to their responsibility of performing predetermined activities ▪ If an individual is not performing predetermined activities, some type of penalty/punishment is justifiable ▪ Accountability also implies some kind of reward will follow if predetermined activities are performed well ▪ The Practical Challenge: Accountability provides a discussion of accountability at Extended Stay America Delegation: This section of the chapter focuses on the steps in the delegation process, obstacles to the delegation process, and elimination of obstacles to the delegation process. • Delegation o Process of assigning job activities and corresponding authority to specific individuals within the organization o Steps in the Delegation Process – Newman & Warren identified three steps ▪ Step 1 – Assigning specific duties to the individual • Manager must ensure the subordinate has a clear understanding of what the duties entail ▪ Step 2 – Granting the appropriate authority to the subordinate ▪ Step 3 – Creating the obligation for the subordinates to perform the duties assigned • And the subordinate must accept that responsibility ▪ Table 9.3 offers several guidelines managers can follow to ensure the success of the delegation process
  • 12. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 8 o Obstacles to the Delegation Process ▪ Three types of obstacles: • 1 – Obstacles related to the supervisor • 2 – Obstacles related to subordinates • 3 – Obstacles related to organizations ▪ The text provides examples of each type of obstacle to assist with class discussions o Eliminating Obstacles to the Delegation Process ▪ Delegation offers significant advantages so managers should take steps to eliminate obstacles to the delegation process ▪ Advantages • Enhanced employee confidence • Improved subordinate involvement and interest • More free time for supervisor to accomplish tasks ▪ Disadvantage • Manager may lose track of progress of a delegated task ▪ Advantages do outweigh the disadvantages ▪ To eliminate obstacles: • Managers should work to uncover any obstacles to delegation • Approach taking action to eliminate the obstacles with the understanding they may be deeply ingrained and therefore require much time and effort to overcome • Build subordinate confidence in the use of delegated authority • Minimize impact of delegated authority on established working relationships • Help delegatees cope with problems when necessary ▪ Effective delegation requires managers to have certain characteristics themselves: • Willingness to consider the ideas of others • Insight to allow subordinates to have free rein necessary to carry out responsibilities • Capacity to trust subordinates’ abilities • Wisdom to allow people to learn from their mistakes Centralization and Decentralization: This section of the chapter focuses on the degree of delegation in a firm in terms of centralization and decentralization. • Centralization and Decentralization describes the degree to which delegation exists within an organization • Figure 9.4 provides an illustration of the delegation continuum with centralization on one end and decentralization on the opposite end • Centralization implies a minimal number of job activities and a minimal amount of authority have been delegated to subordinates
  • 13. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 9 • Decentralization implies the opposite • Decentralizing an Organization: A Contingency Viewpoint o The appropriate degree of decentralization depends on the unique situation of that organization o Managers should consider the following when making this decision: ▪ What is the present size of the organization? ▪ Where are the organization’s customers located? ▪ How homogeneous is the organization’s product line? ▪ Where are organizational suppliers? ▪ Are quick decisions needed in the organization? ▪ Is creativity a desirable feature of the organization? • Decentralizing at Massey-Ferguson: A Classic Example from the World of Management o Beneficial decentralization is decentralization that is advantageous for the organization in which it is being implemented o Detrimental decentralization is disadvantageous for the organization o The Massey-Ferguson success with decentralization is discussed in terms of Guidelines for Decentralization, Delegation as a Frame of Mind, Complementing Centralization, and Management Responsibilities SUPPLEMENTARY IDEA FOR INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT: • Individual Assignment – o Students are assigned a one-page, single-spaced response paper addressing the following questions: ▪ Delegation is a tough skill for new supervisors, and the inability to delegate is often the downfall of new supervisors. How can upper-level managers work to better influence their operational supervisors to delegate? Why is delegation difficult for new managers? What are the advantages and disadvantages of delegation? ▪ Tell the students they should not use the textbook or any other sources as they write this paper – you are looking to find out their current views as they begin their study of the principles of management. CLASS PREPARATION AND PERSONAL STUDY: • Reflecting on Target Skill o Students are asked to review the chapter’s target skill and learning objectives to ensure they have acquired all pertinent information within the chapter • Know Key Terms o Key terms are listed asking students to define each of the terms
  • 14. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 10 • Know How Management Concepts Relate o Students are presented with the following three essay questions and asked to answer each one completely and thoroughly. o 9-1 – Distinguish between responsibility and authority, and provide examples to support your distinctions. Responsibility is the obligation to perform assigned activities. Responsibility exists in organizations to channel the activities of individuals who are parts of the organization. Managers delegate responsibilities to facilitate the accomplishment of the management system’s objectives. Authority is the right to perform or command. Authority exists in organizations so that certain tasks can be carried out through either individual action or direct influence in the form of orders. No one can be held responsible for carrying out job duties for which he or she did not have the authority to perform. An employee has a responsibility to do what his or her boss assigned him to do. The boss has the authority to tell the employee what he or she needs to do. Learning Objective: LO9.1: An understanding of responsibility and its relationship with job description o 9-2 – Describe the three main types of authority that can exist within an organization. The three main types of authority that can exist within an organization are: line authority, staff authority, and functional authority. Line authority consists of the right to make decisions and to give orders concerning the production, sales, or finance-related behavior of subordinates. Staff authority consists of the staff personnel in an organization providing assistance to line personnel so that line personnel can perform their required tasks. This assistance can take the form of advice or service to the line personnel concerning the tasks required to accomplish objectives. Functional authority is the right to give orders within a segment of the organization in which this right is usually nonexistent. Such authority is usually limited to a specific task for a designated time period. Functional authority can be given to both line and staff personnel. Generally functional authority covers only specific task areas for a designated amount of time. It is given to individuals who, in order to meet responsibilities in their own areas, must be able to exercise some control over organization members in other areas. Learning Objective: LO9.4: Insights regarding the importance of authority within an organization
  • 15. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 11 o 9-3 – Explain the three major steps in the delegation process. Delegation is the process of assigning job activities and authority to specific individuals within the organization. The steps in this process include: (1) assigning specific duties to an individual, (2) granting appropriate authority to the subordinate, and (3) creating the obligation for the subordinate to perform the assigned duties Learning Objective: LO9.5: An understanding of how to delegate Cases: • Toyota to Delegate Authority o Case Discussion Notes: ▪ This is a good case for students to see organizing concepts, as well as authority, responsibility, delegation, and accountability in action. Toyota Motor Corp. has achieved success through its lean production system and effective supply chain. In 2010, the success of the company began to unravel as it faced a series of product recalls involving as many as 8 million cars sold since 2000. Additionally, 34 deaths and numerous injuries from Toyotas that accelerated out of control without warning were reported. As consumer fears grew, the U.S. Congress launched an investigation of Toyota vehicles and called on the company’s executives to answer questions about how the automaker was handling the problem. ▪ What was discovered is that Toyota’s American executives had little or no authority over the company’s operations. Because of this insufficient authority, American executives were unable to issue safety recalls even when they had evidence of serious problems. The time to alert Japan headquarters of the problem and make a decision to deliver back to America only added concern; especially related to the approval for a recall. ▪ While Toyota had at one time been known as a company with an attention to detail and passion for perfection, it has obviously strayed from this advantage and found itself needing to make changes moving forward. Specifically, Toyota needed to delegate authority to non- Japanese leaders and trust them to use their knowledge and experience to act wisely. Additionally, Toyota needed to decentralize its decision- making function. The company reassigned 100 engineers to quality control and extended the time required to develop new vehicles so that flaws could be identified prior to manufacturing. Toyota also increased the number of American engineers it employs and gave their U.S. manufacturing facilities more control and authority. ▪ Today, Toyota has seen the positive results from these changes as the firm has retained its title of largest automobile manufacturer in the world. Management experts expect the firm’s profits to double in the coming years.
  • 16. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 12 ▪ As firms grow, their management teams face the challenge of organizing the activities of their expanding and growing firms. Managers in growing firms like Toyota must recognize that their activities as well as those of their subordinates are a major factor in the firm’s success. Department managers must understand their activities affect all personnel within that department, and therefore the activities of the department managers must be well defined. ▪ Additionally, managers must be responsible, and they must perform the activities they are obligated to perform. They must be permitted to use their knowledge and expertise to provide leadership and add value to the company’s operations. ▪ Toyota’s leadership must understand any individuals within the firm who are delegated job activities are given a commensurate amount of authority to give orders and carry out those activities. Through the firm, managers must recognize, however, that authority must be accepted if obedience is to be exacted. Case should be taken to ensure individuals understand internal orders and regard those orders as being consistent with the objectives of the department they work in and the objectives of the company. Management must be careful to delegate jobs only to those organization members who are mentally and physically able to carry them out. ▪ Individuals who are directly responsible for achieving objectives should possess line authority so that they can perform their responsibilities. Management must be aware of potential line and staff personnel conflict and encourage both line and staff personnel to minimize conflict. ▪ Functional authority and accountability must also be considered when organizing employee activities. Some of the Toyota employees may have to be delegated functional authority to supplement the line or staff authority they already have. When organizing their employees’ activities, Toyota management should also stress the concept of accountability – the idea that fulfilling assigned responsibilities brings rewards and not fulfilling them brings negative consequences. ▪ To delegate activities effectively, Toyota must assign specific duties to individuals, grant the corresponding authority to these individuals, and make sure these individuals are aware they are obligated to perform these activities. In encouraging the use of delegation, Toyota must be aware that obstacles to delegation may exist on the part of company managers, their subordinates, or the departments in which they work. ▪ Toyota leadership will have to determine the best degree of delegation for subordinates regarding all job activities, though the firm can rely on certain rules of thumb that show greater degrees of delegation will be appropriate for the company as the company grows larger, as manufacturing facilities become more geographically dispersed and diversified, and as the need for quick decision making and creativity increases.
  • 17. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 13 ▪ For delegation to be advantageous for Toyota, company managers must help subordinates learn from their mistakes. They may also want to consider supplementing decentralization with centralization. o 9-4 – Discuss the roles of responsibility, authority, and accountability in organizing the activities of individuals at Toyota. Prior to the massive product recall, Toyota’s U.S. managers had almost no autonomy at all. Because of this lack of authority, Toyota’s American executives were unable to issue a safety recall even when they had evidence that showed that was necessary. The company needs to delegate authority and decentralize its decision making. Learning Objective: LO9.4: Insights regarding the importance of authority within an organization o 9-5 – Describe how cultural differences between the U.S. and Japan may have played a role in Toyota’s quality problems. The Japanese culture of collectivism and the need to subjugate one’s will for the common good varies significantly from the American culture of independence and individual rewards. Toyota’s problems stem from these cultural differences. Thus, when Toyota’s American executive identified the problem and wanted to recall defective products, chances are that Japan’s collectivist culture saw the need to protect the company and therefore took no action. This question can lead to a spirited debate when the instructor has a diverse class with students from non-American cultures. Learning Objective: LO9.2: Information on how to divide job activities of individuals working within an organization o 9-6 – Do you think Toyota managers in Japan will face any personal difficulties when delegating responsibilities in Toyota managers in the United States? Often top managers have extreme difficulty giving up responsibilities. It can be like a parent letting a child go off and make decisions and conduct actions that could change the child’s life. It can be very hard to let go of these responsibilities. The company’s top managers in Japan may face difficulties in delegating control. The best way to not encourage conflict will focus on the need to clearly communicate the responsibilities of each position. Learning Objective: LO9.2: Information on how to divide job activities of individuals working within an organization
  • 18. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 14 • Real Mex Restaurants Decentralize o Case Discussion Notes: ▪ The case presents a look at a restaurant, Real Mex, which has experienced an especially tough time during the economic downturn over the past several years. Real Mex operates 180 locations over 17 states, as well as in several foreign countries. This means Real Mex was spread thin geographically as well as in terms of management in its corporate office in California. The firm owns nine different restaurant chains, some of which are international. All of the restaurants offer Mexican-style food, but each chain is unique in its décor, offerings, and type of customer. ▪ Real Mex reached a half billion dollars in sales by 2005, but after that the restaurant faltered. In 2008, the company reported a $32 million loss in a single quarter. The company’s debt increased and as Americans spent less time eating out, the firm found itself in bankruptcy in October 2011. David Goronkin is the new CEO of Real Mex with 25 years of restaurant experience, and this experience was necessary as he began working toward turning Real Mex around. ▪ Goronkin focused on obtaining an infusion of cash. Investors took over some of the debt, but the most important step the company took was to restructure how it operates. ▪ The firm decentralized operations so that now each of the chains functions as an autonomous entity. A leadership team at each chain develops that particular brand. Each chain has its own website which enables customers and others just looking to go directly to the individual chain rather than to the overall Real Mex website. ▪ Treating each chain as an autonomous business unit streamlines operations significantly, which speeds up decision making. Each chain’s manager also better understands its individual brand because the managers of each unit work on that unit exclusively. When companies decentralize, it often speeds up decision making because the business units do not have to wait for the corporate office to make key decisions. ▪ Within just a few months of filing for Chapter 11, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of Real Mex to the investors, and the firm is on its way to profitability once again. o 9-7 – What challenges do you see with Real Mex’s decentralization of operations? How can the company overcome these challenges? Real Mex is a company that owns a number of restaurant chains. While they all feature Mexican food, they are distinct and also operate in the U.S. and several international markets. Decentralization at Real Mex means that each chain – El Torito, Chevvy’s Fresh Mex, etc. – is operated as an autonomous unit with the head of each charged with developing that particular brand. While this decentralization has obviously helped the company, the challenge is not to lose control of the autonomous units. Real Mex can do this by setting clear goals and evaluating the units on these goals.
  • 19. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 15 Learning Objective: LO9.6: A recognition of the advantages and disadvantages of centralization and decentralization o 9-8 – In general, what are the pros and cons of decentralization? Decentralization allows lower levels of the organization to have the autonomy to make decisions. This is particularly important when decision making at the local level (whether it is at the level of a product or a geographic location) is critical to organizational success. Decentralization, however, means that the organization puts measures in place so that top managers do not lose control. Learning Objective: LO9.6: A recognition of the advantages and disadvantages of centralization and decentralization o 9-9 – If you were CEO of Real Mex Restaurants, how would you ensure quality of food and excellent customer service at each of the company’s chains, now that all of them are operating as autonomous business units? Student answers will vary with this question. Clearly the Real Mex CEO should set clear goals for the heads of each autonomous chain and measure them against these goals. Learning Objective: LO9.6: A recognition of the advantages and disadvantages of centralization and decentralization Experiential Exercises: • Debating Centralization at Pottery Barn This is a good assignment to use as a group activity in class, though students will need to prepare first individually if your classroom does not have access to computers and the Internet. Students are placed in the role where executives at Pottery Barn have contacted the group to help them better understand whether the company should be either more centralized or decentralized. Students should visit Pottery Barn’s website (www.potterybarn.com), and take note of the firm’s size, location, product line, and so on. After studying the website, students should revisit the discussion of centralization and decentralization in the chapter and be prepared to respond to this question: How centralized or decentralized should Pottery Barn be? It is recommended students use the guidelines presented in the text to frame and support their arguments. Student responses for this scenario will vary depending upon their perceptions and the information they have gleaned from the Pottery Barn website. Learning Objective: LO9.6: A recognition of the advantages and disadvantages of centralization and decentralization
  • 20. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 16 • You and Your Career – Planning Skill and Your Career Student responses will vary for this assignment. They are asked to respond to the following questions: o Given the role of responsibility in management, can you think of some examples that demonstrate your ability to accept responsibility? o How has accepting responsibility helped your career? o How might you integrate these examples into interview discussions? o If you are currently employed, think of your responsibilities with your present employer. How might these responsibilities help you to advance in the company? Learning Objective: LO9.1: An understanding of responsibility and its relationship with job description • Building Your Management Skills Portfolio – Delegating Football Duties at the University of Texas Students are asked to be in the role of an advisor to Charlie Strong, UT’s new football coach. Coach Strong has asked for help to perform his job both efficiently and effectively. Specifically, Strong believes he needs to delegate effectively, but he needs guidance in how to do so. Students will answer the following questions related to the delegation process. o 9-10 – This exercise identified some of Strong’s responsibilities as the new head football coach at Texas. List some of Strong’s other responsibilities. Student responses will vary. Besides the responsibilities listed in the text, he will have to supervise the players, staff, and other organizational members, delegate tasks and assignments to the players, and all other responsibilities associated with an authority position. Learning Objective: LO9.1: An understanding of responsibility and its relationship with job description o 9-11 – The first step in the delegation process is to assign specific duties to individuals. What are Strong’s primary duties, and to whom can he assign these duties? Students should note Strong’s primary duties are recruiting new players, designing offensive plays, designing defensive plays, as well as supervising the players and staff. Regarding whom he can assign these duties, it would help to keep in mind the delegation process and steps involved in the delegation process. How would you state these duties in operational terms such that Strong’s subordinates understand them? The steps in this process include: (1) assigning specific duties to an individual (2) granting appropriate authority to the subordinate, and
  • 21. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 17 (3) creating the obligation for the subordinate to perform the assigned duties Learning Objective: LO9.5: An understanding of how to delegate o 9-12 – The second step of the delegation process involves granting authority to subordinates. How would Strong grant authority to others? How would he make sure that others accept this new authority? How Strong would grant authority to others depends upon Chester Barnard’s notion of authority and acceptance, which states that authority exists and will exact obedience only if the authority is accepted. In other words, the degree to which authority exacts obedience depends on the degree to which an individual is willing and able to accept such authority. In turn, this acceptance depends upon the following four factors: (1) the degree to which an individual can understand the order given; (2) the degree to which the individual believes the order is consistent with the purpose of the organization; (3) the degree to which the individual sees the order as compatible with his or her own personal interests; and (4) the degree to which the individual is mentally and physically able to comply with the order. The fewer of these four conditions that exist, the lower the probability that authority will be accepted and obedience will be exacted. It would help to remind students the steps managers, like Coach Strong, can take to increase the probability that students will accept their authority. They include: (1) Managers should use formal channels of communication. This will increase subordinates’ understanding and aid them in associating the communication with the purpose of the organization (2) Each organization member should have an assigned formal communication channel through which he or she receives orders. This will add clarity to communication, since each organizational member would always receive orders through one reliable source (3) The line of communication between manager and subordinate should be as direct as possible. Again, this would increase clarity of communication and aid the subordinate in understanding the communication. (4) The complete chain of command should be used to issue an order. Besides reinforcing scalar authority relationships, this would again aid subordinates in associating orders with organizational goals. (5) Managers should possess adequate communication skills. The effectiveness of managerial communication has a direct bearing on how well commands are transmitted and understood. (6) Managers should use formal communication lines only for organizational business. Using these channels for other communications would decrease the effectiveness and clarity of organizational commands. (7) A command should be authenticated as coming from a manager. Non- authenticated commands would force subordinates to question the commands and their sources.
  • 22. Copyright © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc. 18 Learning Objective: LO9.5: An understanding of how to delegate o 9-13 – The third step of the delegation process entails making sure the subordinate accepts responsibility for the delegated tasks. How would Strong ensure that subordinates accept responsibility? Responsibility is the obligation to perform assigned activities. Responsibility exists in organizations to channel the activities of individuals who are parts of the organization. Managers, like Strong, delegate responsibilities to facilitate the accomplishment of the management system’s objectives. How Coach Strong ensures that subordinates accept responsibility depends upon the authority relationships and how he perceives his authority. Subordinates should be aware of their own accountability and the consequential penalty or reward of their actions. Learning Objective: LO9.5: An understanding of how to delegate o 9-14 – Finally, many obstacles could damage the effectiveness of Strong’s delegation efforts. List the primary obstacles that Strong must overcome. Obstacles to the delegation process include: (1) managers’ fear of delegating, (2) reluctance on the part of the subordinates to accept authority for various reasons, and (3) characteristics of the organization that make delegation difficult. These obstacles can be overcome to some extent if Strong will: (1) attempt to build subordinate confidence in delegated authority, (2) help subordinates with problems whenever necessary, and (3) minimize the impact of delegated authority on established working relationships. Strong can also show the willingness to consider the ideas of others, give subordinates the control necessary to carry out the responsibilities, show trust in the abilities of subordinates, and permit people to learn from their mistakes without imposing unreasonable penalties. Learning Objective: LO9.5: An understanding of how to delegate
  • 23. Other documents randomly have different content
  • 24. been very watchful she might have been misguided by that woman's remarkable appearance. Mr. Augustus pricked up his ears at this. "In what way was she remarkable, my love?" he blandly inquired. To which civil question Mrs. Brown, recalling her former uneasiness, only replied by shaking her fat shoulders and descanting volubly on the fruitful theme of male curiosity. It is highly probable that Margaret had a happy escape, in spite of "salary no object, and masters for every branch." As soon as the letter had been despatched she began to think of home and Laura, and to lay her plans for return. But, first, various articles of wearing apparel would have to be procured, for Margaret was not at all fond of shabbiness for its own sake, and her little girl's wardrobe was, she knew, sadly in need of replenishment. So she put off her departure for a day or two, that this business, so much more pleasing than what had hitherto been occupying her, might be satisfactorily accomplished. Between shopping and needlewomen the next few days passed by with considerable rapidity and far more brightness of spirit; and then Margaret thought that before leaving London she might pay a farewell visit to the pictures, and, especially, to the one which had so powerfully attracted her. Dressing herself with far more care than on the previous occasion— for the black stuff was replaced by silk, and over it the rich Indian scarf, for which Margaret seemed to cherish a peculiar affection, looked more in keeping—she started on a bright afternoon in an omnibus that took her to the very door of the Exhibition. For this once Margaret wished to enjoy without fatigue. And she certainly did enjoy. Coming from the brightness and life of the May day into the cool shade of the galleries (it was too early in the day for the fashionable crowd), with the wealth of coloring and suggestive beauty on every side, nothing to do but to wander from
  • 25. one gem of art to the other,—all this was really delightful to Margaret. It was easy work at first, but as the day wore on the usual crowds began to pour into the galleries, and moving about became somewhat more difficult. Margaret was there to see the pictures and refresh herself with their beauty. She did not, therefore, pay much attention to the many who were coming and going, and was in consequence perfectly unconscious of the notice she herself attracted; for many who caught a glimpse of her fair face in passing turned instinctively and looked again. There was one who admired her specially. He was a little sandy-haired individual who had been wandering about rather disconsolately with his wife. Having at last been able to escort her to a seat, he was venturing to look round when he caught sight of Margaret Grey. It was a happy moment. She was looking up at one of Millais' suggestive pieces; the full appreciation of its meaning gave a certain spirituality to her face, and her lips were parted in a smile of calm enjoyment. He was struck dumb with astonishment. Had it not been for the presence of his wife and a snub-nosed olive-branch he would have improved the occasion by trying to find out something about this new beauty. As it was, he turned away his eyes from beholding vanity, and looked down on the opposite virtue, his wife, whose eyes, strange to say, were beholding vanity too. With the assistance of her eye-glasses they were scanning the object that had previously attracted the attention of her lord. The heart of the sandy-haired throbbed with unusual excitement, but (oh the treachery of the male sex!) he smothered excitement under an appearance of utter indifference. "Do you know that lady, my love?" he inquired in his blandest tones. "Lady, indeed!" replied Mrs. Brown, for the moment forgetting her prudence in her indignation. "It's Mrs. Grey, who was to have been my children's governess, Mr. Brown. Now I hope you see!"
  • 26. Mr. Augustus did not precisely see, but for the sake of peace and quietness he professed to be very much enlightened, and proceeded with a man's temerity to make some other trifling observation about the pseudo-governess. He met with a smart rebuke for his pains, and then Mrs. Brown, feeling no doubt that the locality was dangerous, requested that her carriage should be found. When the unhappy Brown returned dutifully to escort her to where it was in waiting for its dainty burden the vision of female loveliness had vanished, and though he paid more visits to the Exhibition of the Royal Academy than he had ever done before, the vision never returned. Alas, the cruelty of human nature as exemplified by watchful wives! Margaret did not know what mischief she was causing. She had found her way to the little sea-piece which had already spoken so powerfully to her imagination. And there it was that at last Arthur Forrest's eyes were gladdened once more with a sight of the face that had haunted him. He was standing near the entrance of the room, lost in the crowd, which was every moment increasing, when she passed by him so closely that her silk dress touched him. He had been watching for her daily, but at the fateful moment her appearance took him by surprise. He had formed plans without number for addressing her, without showing himself obtrusive or inquisitive. The very words of polite inquiry after her health, the manner in which, by courtesy and chivalrous deference, all her fears would be set at rest, had been rehearsed again and again in colloquy between himself and a Margaret evoked by his dream; but when the moment had come, when the real Margaret was near, all his plans vanished like mists before the sun—he was bashful and timid as a young débutante. Instead of emerging from the crowd which seemed to swallow up his identity and claiming acquaintance with her, he drew farther back
  • 27. into its friendly shelter. He could not address her yet, he said to himself; he must seize the opportunity of gazing once more on her fair face. He saw her walk quietly through the gallery and pause near one of the seats, the scene of their memorable rencontre only a few days previously. It was full, so she stood beside it, gazing with dreamy pleasure at the picture of the westering sea. She looked at the picture, and Arthur in his safe retirement looked at her; indeed, he was so absorbed in the contemplation that it needed a very smart tap on the shoulder from a gentleman who had come up behind him, and who had already addressed one or two remarks to him utterly in vain, to awake him to a sense of things as they were, and to the consciousness of the existence of some few people in the world besides himself and Margaret Grey. As he looked round he reddened with annoyance, and yet Captain Mordaunt, the gentleman who had broken in upon his reverie, was a man with whom most young men liked to be seen. Not that he was particularly attractive, for his hair was turning gray, his face was blotchy, his neck red and long, and his nose beginning to take the hue of the purple grape. Then, too, his manner was apt to be snappish and sarcastic, especially to young men. But what was all this when it was a certain fact that he knew, as they would have said, "an awful lot;" that he was the fashion; that he counted his intrigues by the hundred? Indeed it was whispered, and not without foundation, some said, that not only actresses and inferior people of that description were concerned in them; the names of ladies of high rank had been associated with that of Alfred Mordaunt. But this of course may have been only rumor, for rumor is thousand-tongued and not particularly charitable. In any case, the gallant captain did not seem to care to deny the soft imputations. He considered it his chief mission in life to be a lady-killer. Arthur was not above the weaknesses of his day and generation; he had often courted Captain Mordaunt in the past. The past! How soon
  • 28. those few days had become the past, the great blank of existence, when he had lived without having seen her! What annoyed Arthur so particularly was this. He saw in a moment that he had betrayed his secret by his own folly—that Captain Mordaunt, the last person in the world to whom he would have spoken of his romantic devotion, had traced the direction of his glance, and with eye-glass fixed was taking a look on his own account. The look was followed by another tap, a congratulatory one, on Arthur's shoulder. "By Jove, Master Arthur! you have taste! The finest woman I've seen for some time, 'pon my solemn word and honor! And beauties are something in my line too. Not of the pink-and-white sort either, that generally goes down with you young fellows. There's refinement, intelligence, and what d'you call it, that painters make a fuss about, in that face." His comments sent the indignant blood to the very roots of young Arthur's hair. He made an heroic effort at indifference. "I am really at a loss to understand you, Captain Mordaunt," he stammered. The gallant captain laughed, holding his sides as if the merriment overpowered him utterly. "Very good! Very good!" he cried between the paroxysms. "Sly boy! Didn't know you were so deep. Want to keep all to yourself, eh? I'll warrant the fair cousin knows nothing." The color faded from Arthur's face, but there came a dangerous light into his eyes. "I wish you would keep your remarks and your ill- timed jokes to yourself, Captain Mordaunt," he said sullenly. The captain looked astonished, and whistled softly for a moment. "Gently, gently, young spitfire!" he said lightly. "But come, who is she? Let an old friend into the secret. Why, I declare, ——" (mentioning a lady of more repute for beauty than character) "couldn't hold a candle to her." This was almost too much for Arthur. He turned round with flashing eyes, and there was a subdued force in his voice as he answered, using the first rash words that came to his lips, "How dare you speak
  • 29. of her in such a connection? I am a younger man than you, but, by Heaven! if you should repeat such an insult I could strike you down where you stand." The captain laughed again, with a trifle of uneasiness this time, and he turned a little pale. Rumor said that he was a coward, but probably his fear in the present instance was of a row in this public place. However that might be, he certainly took Arthur's challenge rather coolly. "Calm yourself, young man," he said more seriously than he had yet spoken. "I scarcely knew I was treading on such dangerous ground, and certainly could not mean to insult any friend of yours. You know this lady, I presume, since you are so hot in her defence?" Again Arthur blushed. What a fool he felt himself! Captain Mordaunt in this mood was less easy to escape than in his former one. "I know her," he answered after a pause, "only very slightly." "Very slightly, I imagine so," replied the other satirically. "It is not the first time I have seen her, though," he added sotto voce. Arthur was all attention in a moment: "Where have you met her, Captain Mordaunt?" "Oh, that is my secret. We can all be close when it suits our turn. A word in your ear, young man. Ultra modesty, faith in the immaculate —you take me?—never goes down with women. I know something of them, and they're all alike. There! don't look indignant. Follow up your advantage, if you've gained any, and before long you may find out that I am right, and thank me for the hint." Margaret had found a place at last on the crimson seat. As the last words were spoken she was leaning forward, her head resting on one of her hands, from which she had taken the glove. There was marvellous grace in her position. The long white fingers, the flushed cheek, the dark weary eyes and the slender bowed form made such a picture as few could have looked upon unmoved. Captain Mordaunt, whose eyes had never stirred from her face, smiled softly (a smile that made Arthur writhe mentally), and
  • 30. clapped his thumb-nails together as though he had been applauding some favorite actress. "Bravo!" he said in a low tone to his companion: "there's a pose for you—knows she's being admired. Bless you, lad! it's women's way; and so innocent all the time, the pretty pets! By ——, I'd like awfully to follow this up on my own account. But," and he gave a deep sigh, "I've too many on hand already—won't do. Like the Yankee, I shall be 'crowded out.' I leave the field clear for a younger knight. By-bye, old fellow—best wishes. I must be off—was due at Lady ——'s an hour ago." In another moment he was gone, but before he left the hall he turned and looked at his young companion, and as he looked his lips curled. Arthur did not see him, nor did he hear his muttered comment: "Poor fool! he'll have his wings singed for him, but serve him right for his impertinence. Knock me down, indeed!" In Arthur's mind very different thoughts and feelings were struggling for ascendency. Indignation, disgust, loathing of this world-sated man and his wisdom—these the better side of his nature prompted, rejecting with spiritual insight the unholy poison; but there was a lurking demon within him, the ego Arthur had been striving to trample upon, and to it all this was sympathetic. Perhaps, after all, Captain Mordaunt was right. Chivalry and its attendant virtues belonged rather to the region of the imagination than to the matter-of-fact life of humanity. It was the way of the world for men to amuse themselves while they could. It had been Captain Mordaunt's way, and what a pleasant life he led! Petted, caressed, flattered, at home in some of the noblest mansions in England, his word law in all matters of etiquette, grand ladies considering it an honor to entertain him. He had not gained this position by squeamishness: that point he allowed every one to know. Arthur's heart told him that all this was false—that whatever or whoever the light loves of Captain Mordaunt might have been, the
  • 31. lady whom he admired was pure, true, unconscious of evil. He felt instinctively, with the insight lively sympathy often gives to the young, that to take advantage in any way of her lonely position would be to shut himself out from the place he had been so happy as to gain in her kindly remembrance, and to preclude himself from all hope of rendering her any further assistance in the future. But the demon of self is strong, and the voice of the heart when opposed to it is weak. The pathetic voice of Arthur's heart was soon silenced by the echo which self-love gave to Captain Mordaunt's words of falsest wisdom. He looked at his fair ideal, but his feelings had changed. The animal within him was loudly asserting its right to be heard; the self-indulgent nature, which a life of luxury had fostered, persuaded itself easily that all was right, and his fair woman only as others. Cherishing such feelings, he could not look calmly on her face. With a new fire in his veins he turned away to wait outside the building until Margaret should make her appearance. The waiting seemed long, but it did not cool his ardor or recall his former wisdom. Backward and forward he paced, up and down, with careful observation of all who left the building, until at last he began to fear either that he had suffered her to escape him, and thus lost all chance of finding out more about her—this was the vague way in which his plans were laid—or that something had delayed her, another fainting-fit perhaps. The bare idea maddened him; he put his hand to his head, he felt dizzy; this was very different from his nonchalant waiting for Adèle a few days previously, even from that daily hope—calm through all its earnestness—of looking once more on the face of his ideal. That fatal tree! How many young souls are lost by the passionate craving for its fruit! The man of the world had held its beautiful poison to the young man's lips, and he could not tell that beneath the glory lay dust and ashes.
  • 32. CHAPTER VIII. ARTHUR FALLS INTO THE SNARE. Let me not think I have thought too well of thee. Be as thou wast. She came out at last. Arthur saw her, and began with feverish anxiety to trace every line of her face and form. Her veil was thrown back, he noticed that, and even while he did so hated himself for his suspicion. "She knows her beauty," said the false self within him; "it will not be difficult to show her that others know it too." But he noticed something more, something that aroused the warm sympathies of his nature: the face that a few moments ago had glowed with excitement was very pale, and the sweet lips were quivering slightly—it might be with fatigue, it might be with nervousness. A woman feels so lonely in great London, and loneliness in a crowd is the bitterest kind of loneliness to a sensitive nature. In a very few moments Arthur's measures were taken. Waiting until she had passed on her way, he hailed a hansom, shouted out to the driver the address of the shabby street which he had visited with his cousin a few days previously, and was presently on his way to Margaret's temporary home. With what view? She had requested him expressly not to follow up the acquaintanceship—she was living by herself in close retirement. She might very probably be offended at his visit. Arthur was young and impulsive: he said nothing of all this to himself, or rather, with Captain Mordaunt's hateful hints in his mind, he persuaded himself that it would be only too easy to gain her forgiveness for his disobedience. As he was whirled along through the streets the young man's heart throbbed. Be it remembered that he was inexperienced in the world's ways, and had lived up to this
  • 33. time under strict petticoat-government. The very breaking free was exhilarating to his senses—so much so, indeed, that he did not even stop to reflect on the course he should pursue when, as he hoped and trusted, he would meet her face to face. And Margaret in the mean time, knowing nothing of the temporary madness her face had caused, was making her way as quickly as she could through the throng and bustle of London to her lodgings in Islington. Arthur had purposely delayed, and she arrived at the house before him. As the hansom dashed into the street, the young man caught a glimpse of her black dress disappearing behind one of the dingiest doors. Now first he began to tremble a little at the thought of his own impulsive folly. He stood irresolute; he half made up his mind to return at once. But the voice of the tempter, "I know something of women, and they're all alike," rang in his ear. "I will at least try," said the foolish young man to himself, and with a certain tremor at his heart he rang the door-bell. The dirty maid-servant looked at him in astonishment. Mrs. Grey had received some distinguished visitors, notably the brilliant owner of the yellow chariot, but as yet no handsome, fashionably-dressed young gentleman had presented himself. Margaret, as we know, had only one sitting-room. Judging from the elegance of his appearance that this visitor would be surely welcome, the girl took upon herself, without waiting for Mrs. Grey's permission, to usher the young gentleman into the dingy parlor. Margaret was seated there. She had thrown off her bonnet, and smiling half pleasantly, half sadly, was examining a little frock, which had just been sent home by the dressmaker she employed. Instinctively, Arthur paused on the threshold. This rapid crowning of his hopes was so unexpected as almost to take his breath away. But looking at her he dared not presume. There was in the solitary
  • 34. woman's face at the moment that beautiful mother-look, that calm Madonna tenderness, which makes the human charm of Raphael's divine conceptions of the Virgin. Feeling that he had been presumptuous and vain, Arthur would fain have turned and fled from this calm woman's presence, but now it was too late. The opening of the door had disturbed Margaret's dream. She turned round, the tender mother-look changed into utter astonishment. Poor Arthur! She did not even seem to know him. Certainly, the room was rather dark, and his appearance had taken her completely by surprise; still, this swift forgetfulness was a terrible blow to his youthful vanity. Scarcely knowing what to do with himself or how to account for his visit, he advanced, awkwardly enough, into the little dull room, and Margaret rose from her seat. To the excited imagination of the young man the lonely, shabby woman had passed suddenly into a stately queen of society. As if awaiting his explanation she stood, but now his lips were sealed, his fine phrases deserted him, he could not stammer out a word of explanation. It was Margaret who broke the embarrassing silence: "Sir, to what do I owe—" He broke her short: "Mrs. Grey, you are cruel. Surely you must remember, you must know, I mean—understand—the interest, the enthusiasm—" She was looking at him fixedly as he spoke, and at last his confusion became so overpowering that he stopped short. Then he could have bit out his tongue for his audacity, for the astonishment in her face was replaced by a keen and bitter pain. "I remember you now," she said very slowly. "Yes, you are the young gentleman who some few days ago received the fervent thanks of a lonely woman for his chivalrous kindness."
  • 35. The red blood mounted to Arthur's cheek. Unable longer to bear the gaze of those mournful eyes, he threw himself down on the nearest chair and covered his face with his hands. "You did not understand me then," she continued very sadly; "you thought that—" "Stop, for pity's sake, stop!" cried the young man, lifting up an agitated face. "I know all you would say. I am a weak, miserable fool, not worthy of having even been allowed to assist you; but if you only knew." His penitence seemed to subdue her indignation. "Foolish boy!" she said with one of her rarely beautiful smiles. "I know perfectly well, and therefore it is that I forgive this impertinence. A little experience of the world will teach you your mistake. Three days ago I read in your young frank face that you judged me rightly, and I thanked you in my heart. I will not retract the judgment I formed of you then; but remember, what you have done is foolish and ought never to be repeated." "I know it—I know it," moaned Arthur; "but may I never see you again? Ah! if by any service, however hard, I could make you happier than you are!" She put out her hand, smiling kindly into his earnest face: "The best service you can render me now is to shake hands and say good-bye. As I said to you before, we move in different worlds. You will soon forget this infatuation, or only remember it as a warning against taking any advantage, however slight, of an unprotected woman. In that case I shall have rendered you a service." Where was Captain Mordaunt's wisdom? Banished by a few words from a weak but noble woman. Happy for Arthur that the fair face hid a fairer soul! The poison was drawn out of his heart, and youth's own chivalry took its right place in his nature. Bowing low over the offered hand, he answered in a broken voice, "I obey you, and I thank you. I cannot promise to forget, but from this
  • 36. time all my thoughts of you shall be tinged by the deep respect which is your due." CHAPTER IX. ARTHUR'S SECRET. And I loved her—loved her, certes, As I loved all heavenly objects, with uplifted eyes and hands— As I loved pure inspiration, loved the Graces, loved the Virtues, In a love content with writing his own name on desert sands. A luxurious drawing-room, furnished with all the taste and elegance that money can command; flowers here, there and everywhere— flowers in the deep recesses of lace-veiled windows, flowers on the multitude of tables that stood in every corner, flowers—and these the sweetest of them all—in the lap of a young fair-haired girl who filled a corner of one of the sofas. She was paying no great attention to the flowers, only bathing one of her hands in them from time to time, as though to refresh herself with their cool fragrance. The other hand, her eyes and her whole soul appeared to be given to the book she held, an elegant little volume bound in fawn-colored calfskin. She was so deeply engrossed that she did not hear the door open, and her cousin had time to cross the long room, sit down by her side and take possession of the hand that was trifling with the flowers before she was aware of his presence. Then she looked up, blushed charmingly and closed her book: "Arthur dear, how delightful! I began to think you were never coming near us again, and I wanted particularly to speak to you about
  • 37. something that has been in my head ever since our visit to the Academy." "Four days!" answered Arthur, languidly, throwing himself back on the sofa—"an enormous time, as young ladies would say, for one subject to engross them, especially in this age of progress." "I suppose it would be absurd to imagine that you even remember, Master Arthur," replied Adèle, quite equal to the occasion—"boys, as mamma always says, are so volatile." "Boys!" Arthur shrugged his shoulders contemptuously. "You are very polite to-day, Adèle." There was a shade of annoyance in his voice, which made Adèle look up at him, for she was a kind little lady who never carried her jokes too far. The result of the look was a rapid movement from her side of the sofa to Arthur's, and an earnest inquiry: "Arthur dear, something is wrong with you, you must surely be ill." For Arthur's face was pale, and there was a wan, anxious contraction on his broad white brow. His only answer was a faint smile. Then, after a pause, "You were reading, Adèle. Oh!" lifting the book from the small reading-table that stood conveniently near the sofa, "The Faërie Queene. I thought it would be something of the kind. Read some of it aloud, like a good girl; I'm too done up with this hot weather to talk just now." "Poor old fellow!" Adèle smoothed back his curly hair and imprinted a kiss, that did not seem to excite her cousin particularly, between his temples. "Your forehead is so hot, dear, let me bathe it with eau- de-cologne for you." She opened a little bottle of richly-cut, ruby-colored glass, and pouring some of its sweet contents on her handkerchief pressed it again and again to his brow, Arthur submitting with the delicate grace of an invalid. "There," he said at last, "that'll do, dear; you can read now."
  • 38. And the obedient Adèle, having first carefully lowered one of the Venetian blinds that no glare might offend her cousin's eyes, proceeded to read her favorite book in a soft, measured cadence that suited it admirably. There was no stumbling over the old English words. Adèle was so thoroughly acquainted with the style that the quaint language came naturally from her lips, even with a kind of delicate grace. Love had given her the art, for she loved, more than any book she had ever read, this dreamy, old-world poem, with its fair women, its armed knights, its dragons and its myths. Perhaps the force of contrast made these things specially dear to the young girl's soul, for there was not much romance in the fashionable life her mother taught her to think the best and wisest of all lives for a nineteenth-century young lady to lead. Her voice sounded like the echo of a dream in the wide room, and she herself, in her light summer dress, might well have answered to the description of one of the fair "maydes" whose woes and joys the gentle poet of another age has illumined with his silvery pen, while Arthur, as he rested on the sofa in an attitude of careless grace, his dark, lazy-looking eyes half closed, his head thrown back upon the cushions, might have been one of the brave young knights refreshing himself in his lady's bower after some terrible encounter with the many-headed, many-handed monster from whom it was his grand mission to free humanity in general, fair womankind in particular. But the afternoon wore away. Adèle had just finished the account of a mighty encounter between Arthur of the magic sword and three unknightly knights who had attacked him together. It had apparently aroused Arthur, for he rose suddenly and stood by her side, looking down upon her with a certain earnestness. "Shut the book for the present, Adèle," he said, "I am ready to talk now; it has awoke me." "What has awoke you, dear?"
  • 39. "Your favorite poet, I suppose, my little cousin; but come, what were you so anxious to say to me when I came in just now?" "Oh, Arthur, you cannot surely have forgotten. I wanted to speak to you about that beautiful fainting lady in the Academy." "Perhaps I have not forgotten, Adèle." Arthur turned away from his cousin as he spoke, for he did not wish her to see the sudden flush which not all the proud consciousness of manhood and superiority had been strong enough to restrain. "Well," he continued after a pause, as his cousin remained thoughtfully silent, "I do remember; but what of her?" "I have been thinking of her, Arthur." Adèle's eyes looked sorrowful. "And whenever I think of her I remember those miserable houses, the shabby black dress and the quiet sadness in her face. Oh, Arthur, do you think it would be possible to help her in any way?" "For you it might be," said Arthur with an appearance of sudden interest. "Unfortunately," he added bitterly, "women have the habit of looking upon any attempt at friendliness in one of the opposite sex as a species of insult." This was rather too much for Adèle. With every respect for her cousin and fiancé, he was still too young, in her estimation, to be capable of exciting indignation in the breast of any woman. She laughed merrily: "I like your vanity, sir. As if any one could be insulted with you! You would have to pin on a false moustache, draw your hat over your brows to hide those ingenuous-looking eyes of yours, and button an enormous rough great coat up to your chin, before any one—any stranger, I mean—could imagine you even grown up. Why I look ages older than you!" Adèle got up and looked at herself in the mirror. "Yes, ages!" she repeated, with provoking emphasis and in eager expectation of a delightful torrent of self-vindication from her cousin. They often indulged in this kind of wordy war, and Adèle's feminine volubility and quickness of wit generally gave her the advantage.
  • 40. No answer came from Arthur to the rash challenge. He was standing behind her, not looking into the mirror, but, as though utterly unconscious of her light words, gazing away into vacancy. Adèle caught sight of his face in the mirror, and a sudden silence seized her, for even as she spoke she saw that in her young cousin's face which warned her he was a boy no longer. He had drawn himself up to his full height, and stood seemingly rapt in earnest thought, for his brows were slightly contracted, and his ingenuous-looking eyes had taken a deep, fixed look that strangely moved his cousin. With the quickness of a woman's insight she saw that her jest had been ill-timed, that a certain indescribable change, perhaps that for which she had hoped and longed, had come to the beautiful boy whom she had loved and caressed with almost maternal tenderness, for manhood's strength of purpose was written on his face. Her first feeling was a sense of foreboding. If Arthur was indeed changed, would he be changed to her? The next was a determination, strong as the womanhood which with her love the young girl had put on early, to share his secret, whatever it might be. She was too young and too inexperienced to understand all that this change, which she certainly felt, might mean; she could not reason about the new earnestness, nor trace it to any cause which he might think it well to hide, for Adèle was eminently generous and unsuspicious. She was accustomed to her cousin's light, boyish affection, and did not expect him to be a passionate lover; she was therefore ready with all her soul to rejoice in anything that would make him less frivolous, less absorbed in self and the mere enjoyment of life. For a few moments she stood silently at the mirror, looking into it, but looking absently, for her mind was engaged in the problem of how to approach him, how to gain his confidence at this time which the young girl instinctively felt to be critical in her cousin's history. If he had ambitious dreams, was it not right that she should share
  • 41. them? She had always been his confidante; the bare idea, indeed, of being shut out from any of Arthur's secrets gave Adèle keen pain. Deciding at last that frankness was her best policy, she turned to her cousin and putting both hands on his shoulders looked earnestly into his eyes. "Arthur," she said with a slight tremor in her voice, "what are you thinking about? Tell me." He might have been called from a distant land, so great was the interval that separated his mind from hers at that moment, and at first he seemed even to have difficulty in recalling his scattered ideas. She repeated the question, with an added earnestness that lent pathos to her voice. Then he looked down upon her: "Why do you wish so much to know, Adèle?" "Oh, Arthur, how can you ask?" Her voice trembled, she was very near tears. "Dear," she continued in a lower voice, taking his hand in hers, "if I thought you had one corner in your heart of which I knew nothing, I scarcely know what I should do. 'Trust me all in all,' Arthur. I say it in all sincerity." She smiled faintly. "I promise not to be like that naughty Vivien, wrapping you up in spells, even if—if you should have any secret—" "That would pain you very much to know, little cousin." Adèle looked up bravely: "I should prefer to know it, Arthur—indeed I should; I think, dear—I think—I could put myself out of the question altogether, and help you as a sister might." He did not notice the tremulousness, the slight choking of voice with which her brave little sentence ended. "I wish with all my heart that you were my sister, Adèle: then I could tell you without any hesitation." Adèle turned a little pale: "I am your sister, Arthur. Tell me."
  • 42. He looked down upon her kindly: "I will tell you, Adèle, for in these matters I believe frankness to be the best policy; and, after all, it may be only a dream. I was thinking of Margaret Grey." CHAPTER X. HOW ADÈLE RECEIVES THE DISCLOSURE. The woman who loves should indeed Be the friend of the man that she loves. She should heed Not her selfish and often mistaken desires, But his interest whose fate her own interest inspires. And this, then, was the awakening? Like almost every thing in this wayward world of ours, it scarcely chimed in with the ideas and plans that had been formed concerning it. Adèle had often mourned her cousin's frivolity, but she was young and hopeful. He was only a boy, she had told herself. Some of the great things in the world—its art, its literature, its science, the grand sphere of politics or the grander field of benevolence—would sooner or later throw chains about his spirit, so that, following where it led, he too, with herself perhaps as a twin attendant star, like the "Laon and Laone" of Shelley, might take a place in the poet's divine temple of genius, and live a life not utterly in vain in its influences on humanity. She had even thought to arouse him herself, that by love he might rise, as others had done before him, to something higher than the fashionable life of self-pleasing. But of this she had never thought— that love indeed, but the love of another woman, should be the motive-power rousing his soul to earnestness. For she could not be mistaken. The change that had come to him—which change, she could not but remember as she cast her thoughts over the past few
  • 43. days, had dated from that memorable afternoon at the Academy— the impressive way in which he had told her of his thought, the quiet earnestness of his manner, all tended to the revelation of a fact—one that she would have put away indignantly had she not been forced to look it in the face. Arthur was in love, and not with her. The beautiful woman whom in her youthful enthusiasm she had admired—loved even for her very loveliness—had won her cousin's heart. He loved Margaret Grey as he had never loved her, his cousin, the friend of his youth and childhood: with her he had remained a boy; her beautiful rival had roused the dormant fire within him, and suddenly the boy had put on his manhood. These were some of the thoughts that crowded bewilderingly on Adèle's brain as they sat together on the sofa—she and her cousin— with his strange confession between them. He was waiting to hear what she would say; she was for the first few moments unable to speak. On the table before them lay the forgotten volume of the Faërie Queene; at their feet, in sweet confusion, were the scattered flowers fallen from Adèle's lap. She sat perfectly still, her hands crossed and her eyes cast down; he looked at her with some earnestness, and perhaps a little surprise. Arthur's affection for Adèle was of a calm, brotherly kind, and he had always imagined that she cared for him in very much the same manner. Hitherto, indeed, he had not been in a position to gauge the heights and depths of that mysterious, volatile essence which young mortals dignify by the fair name of love. But now, with this new light in his own heart, he was better able to understand his cousin's, and in her downcast face he thought he read her secret. It made him tender instantly. Young men and old men are alike in this. Whether loving or not themselves, they are pleased when they find out, by indubitable signs, that they have inspired the sentiment; and this knowledge makes them, for the moment, strangely gentle and sympathetic.
  • 44. Welcome to our website – the perfect destination for book lovers and knowledge seekers. We believe that every book holds a new world, offering opportunities for learning, discovery, and personal growth. That’s why we are dedicated to bringing you a diverse collection of books, ranging from classic literature and specialized publications to self-development guides and children's books. More than just a book-buying platform, we strive to be a bridge connecting you with timeless cultural and intellectual values. With an elegant, user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can quickly find the books that best suit your interests. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery services help you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading. Join us on a journey of knowledge exploration, passion nurturing, and personal growth every day! testbankdeal.com