You are the manager of a business firm

The concept of optimization used in this scenario is Delegation of Work.

Delegation is the assignment of authority to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. It is the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person. Delegation is one of the core concepts of management leadership. The process involves managers deciding which work they should do themselves and which work should be delegated to others for completion. From a managerial standpoint, delegation involves shifting project responsibility to team members, giving them the opportunity to finalise the work product effectively, with minimal intervention. The opposite of effective delegation is micromanagement, where a manager provides too much input, direction, and review of delegated work. Delegation empowers a subordinate to make decisions. It is a shifting of decision-making authority as well as responsibility for the results from one organisational level to another lower one. However, a certain level of accountability for the outcome of the work does remain with the person who delegated the work to begin with.

There are a number of reasons someone may decide to delegate. These include:

• To free themselves up to do other tasks
• To have the most qualified person making the decisions
• To seek another qualified person's perspective on an issue
• To develop someone else's ability to handle the additional assignments judiciously and successfully

The choice variables here are the two subordinates and the four tasks (jobs).

The objective function here is the maximization of efficiency and minimization of workload.