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Why do we have managers? Vernon: Why do you have managers? Who won the argument? The employer did of course, not that it was an argument in the true sense - I just enjoyed posing some awkward questions. I don't believe that we can ever completely do away with managers. What I do believe is that we can dramatically reduce the amount of managers out there making ad-hoc decisions that could have been covered by a more systemised approach and at a lower level. Staff would often be perfectly capable of following a pre-planned decision tree or some other systemised way of coming to decisions without the need to refer to a manager. You could call this empowerment of the lower ranks. You could even call it downsizing if you wish. But it does make sense to have potential conflicts resolved in a consistent way and at the lowest rate of pay by taking some of the mystery out of management decisions and putting them through a decision-making machine. But not all procedures will cover every issue that arises. Even if a company was to take up this challenge and sack all its managers they will soon be caught out. The world changes as technology progresses, new laws are passed and competitors, suppliers or customers change their way of working. Managers help companies keep up with the times. My point is that many managers do not manage a few exceptions to the rule or manage change. Many of them make routine decisions day in and day out. Take this scenario: employee goes to the manager and tells him that the printer is broken and no invoices can be sent out. The manager telephones the repair company and calls them out. Here the manager is being an overpaid messenger. Another scenario: a salesman can only close a deal by busting his permitted discount and eating into potential margin. He must go to his manager to get authorisation. Does the sales manager have a better calculator than the salesman? Surely the employee with the faulty printer could have telephoned the repair company himself? Surely it is possible for a salesman to have a remuneration system that could be flexed to allow reward or punishment based on the amount of profit margin he could achieve. Exploring this scenario further, one may argue that the sales manager can see a bigger picture than an individual salesman and can decide whether to eat into margin based on this wider knowledge base. Question is: why couldn't the salesman be made aware of the bigger picture? I think that a great manager spends his time trying to do himself out of a job. He not only solves day to day problems but puts in place procedures and structures to prevent such problems recurring. He anticipates future changes and helps to smooth bumps along the way before they become obstacles. This kind of manager would be happy to do himself out of a job because he knows he will be promoted or, at the least, be given a larger department to manage. Er....well, not always, though. Managers that anticipate problems are not always noticed by senior management, especially in large organisations. This is because they don't cause problems and therefore are not often seen solving them. The truth is, of course, that good managers solve problems before they become problems. Boring isn't it? - but this style of working is worth its weight in gold and it's a pity that some CEOs don't always recognise this fact. That aside, it must surely be beneficial to have a manager that gives away his authority to his staff through systemising decision-making, empowering staff and making his department so efficient that he is no longer required - or at least only required for a few hours each week. Another example: a veterinary practice has a problem with fly infestation in the height of summer. What does a good manager do about this? Well, the manager needs look no further than Arkay Hygiene. This company sells a wide range of Insectocutor fly killers. If the it is to be on display to the public (and the pets!) then perhaps a good looking fly killer machine, such as the Insectocutor SE44, may do the trick, especially if the room to be protected is as large as 300 square metres. Just when I thought I had defined a good manager I went and found a new definition - someone knows a good fly killer machine when they see one! Affiliate Cash Vault. - Affiliate Cash Vault! New fail-safe system virtually runs 100% on autopilot. Just set it and forget it! Consistently 10-15% The MasterTrader eBook. - Your complete guide to active trading/day trading. Learn proven strategies and make money consistently!
It is that time of the year. You are most likely sitting down with each of your team members and are helping them with their personal development plans. On this episode of AlignIT Manager Tech Talk, Ruth and I talk with Stuart Ngai about the importance of training as part of personal development, as well as when and how training can and should be weaved into employees’ busy schedules. Watch Online This episode is also available as a podcast.
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Featured Guest: Stuart Ngai
About AlignIT Manager Tech Talk The AlignIT Manager Tech Talk is a monthly live streamed video series hosted by Ruth Morton (LinkedIn) and Jonathan Rozenblit (LinkedIn). Each Tech Talk episode airs on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 12:00pm to 12:30pm ET. The show focuses on a range of topics for both infrastructure and development managers and is interactive, taking questions via a live chat and providing answers on air. About AlignIT The AlignIT program is dedicated to keeping IT leaders informed about what matters in business and technology. We do that through in-person events, web casts, our blog and, of course, this audio and video series. You can find more information about the Align IT program at www.alignit.ca. If you have comments, suggestions, and ideas for future topics please let us know by connecting with us via email, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Article Index: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 |
More Articles:1. Culture Management and Creativity By Kal Bishop Many concepts in the fields of managing creativity are very much applicable to culture management in general. The same concepts that foster creativity and innovation also maximise human capital potential, increase productivity, reduce costs and maintain competitive advantage etc. Some of the many commonalities between culture and creativity management follow.a) A culture of psychological safety and freedom. A culture that limits experience, information and expression and allows relatively few … Macbook Case 2. Sending Documents Through Email? Don't Get Burned by Metadata! By Anthony Licate During a recent seminar I gave located in the suburbs of Philadelphia, I discussed something called, "metadata". When I asked whether anyone ever heard of metadata, I was confronted with blank stares. This is exactly why I decided to write here about what it is and how it can impact your company.Metadata is information that exists in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Metadata is simply “data about data”, and your electronic documents probably contain lots of it. Metadata describes … 3. Are You Cascading Your Strategy, or Fragmenting It? By Stacey Barr INTRODUCTIONThe typical approach executive teams use to cascade, or roll out, their strategic direction is to produce a clear set of goals, objectives, critical success factors or a scorecard and then get each departmental or functional manager to take this on board and customize it for their part of the organisation. The trouble then begins…A TYPICAL APPROACH: EACH DEPARTMENT ADOPTS OR ADAPTS A VERSION OF THE CORPORATE STRATEGYThe first phase of most organisational planning processes is that … 4. The Difference Between Managers and Leaders It is often difficult to understand the difference between managers and leaders. Do managers lead? Do leaders manage? To understand how these two concepts are distinct yet different, here are 7 ways to understand them. 1. Course and Steering. The word 'leadership' comes from the Old English word 'lad' for a 'course'. A 'lode' is a vein that leads or guides to ore; a lodestone is a magnetic stone that guides; the lode-star is the name for the star that guides sailors, the Pole star. The word 'man… |
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Stuart Ngai, Director of Technology Solutions at