A Dark Side of Specialization: Exploring Upward Delegation as a Source Of Maladaptation Costs Conference

In this paper we challenge the assumption that decision-making authority delegated to employees at lower hierarchy levels is in fact retained and productively used by individuals in problem solving. Instead we propose that the tendency for specialists to renege on delegated authority and escalate issues upwards to immediate managers increases with the perceptions of task uncertainty, complexity and time pressure; and that extensive use of reneging on delegated authority is detrimental for project performance. We will test our hypotheses on a granular dataset that we will collect from a single firm engaged in multiple new product development projects.