One of a manager's primary roles is to guide and lead their department, or even the entire organisation if they are a senior manager or managing director. This means that they will need to be able to concentrate on the bigger picture instead of having to spend all of their time gathering or checking lots of small details like figures or gathering detailed information on the market share of competitors for example.

When it comes to work like this, managers will need to delegate it to others, not because they are lazy or feel it is beneath them (although for some this will be their way of thinking!), but because they will not have enough time to do this and examine/assess the big decisions which have serious repercussions on the future success or failure of the firm.

A manager is in many ways like the captain of a ship. Rather than have to scurry around finding all the information themselves, they need to be presented with accurate facts and details from those around them from which they can then weigh up the options and make an informed decision about the best course of action to take.

Some managers will deliberately try to do the work themselves for a variety of reasons. Usually it is because they are afraid of delegating in case the person(s) doing the work or gathering the information gets it wrong, which is then used by the manager as a foundation for making a decision which ultimately proves to be detrimental for the company. Also, the manager may actually enjoy gathering the information, particularly if they were doing this or a similar task before they were promoted to the new management position. Thirdly, a manager may deliberately bury themselves in time-consuming details in order to postpone having to make any significant decisions, especially if they are unpopular ones such as making staff redundant as a result of detailed gathering and analysis of financial figures and forward projections. This however is not a good management strategy as the tough decisions will not get any easier the longer they are put off, and conditions may weaken further whilst the manager procrastinates.