Why Your Best Employees Don't Deserve To Be ManagersLearn Management Articles on management-info.biz. Why Your Best Employees Don't Deserve To Be Managers article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
After all, the skill set required to practice a specific profession -- whether it's plumbing, hairdressing, engineering, selling, teaching, accounting or whatever -- is entirely different from the skill set required to manage people. Yet organizations persist in promoting 'doers' into management roles. These promotions come with better-sounding titles, more money, more perquisites, more prestige and... more responsibility. And they involve doing less -- perhaps none -- of the 'technical' work that the manager did previously, and more (or all) of the work of managing others. In one sense it's logical -- a manager who used to do the work himself or herself should understand what his staff need to do the work now. And yes, there are many managers who are just as good, if not better, at managing others as they are performing the actual work. In fact, many managers prefer to manage rather than do. But, as indicated above, there's no reason to assume that a good doer will make automatically make a good manager! Now, this isn't to say that a pyramidal organizational structure -- where the many are managed by the few -- is necessarily a bad thing. As a delegation or management structure it works fine for many companies. But when getting more pay and other rewards is contingent on becoming a manager, it's inevitable that people will try to get, and will get, promoted into management roles -- regardless of whether they have the talent or passion to manage. The result? Plenty of unhappy and ineffective managers. Plenty of frustrated people working for ineffective managers. And an organization that isn't performing at its optimum. Doesn't it make more sense for people to do the work they enjoy and are good at? To reward them for getting better and better at that work, rather than only paying them more if they step 'up' to management... where they may generate less value for the organization? Isn't a top salesman better off staying in the field selling... than floundering in the office, struggling to organize and motivate his staff? Doesn't a terrific teacher do more for her students, herself and the school by staying in the classroom, than spending her time doing paperwork and trying to manage other teachers? Fortunately, some organizations have seen the light. They do tie greater rewards to greater responsibilities and greater performances within the same role. In fact, some companies, like investment banks, are renown for paying traders and sales people much, much more than the people who manage them, simply because, in the eyes of the bank, the traders and sales people generate more value. Of course, as a 'manager's advocate' I would never suggest that managers shouldn't be compensated well, especially given the challenges of managing people. But to be as productive and profitable as possible, organizations should tie greater pay and rewards to greater responsibilities and performances, whatever the role. That way, they'll have people doing and being their best. So if you're responsible for 'promoting' people, I urge you to think twice before promoting your best people into management roles... and out of the jobs they love and do well at. Instead, consider whether you can enlarge, or give them more challenges in, their current role? Or, if they've performed exceptionally well, can you give them a bonus or some other special reward to recognize their efforts?
Of course, if you work for someone else, you may be limited in terms of what you can do... but if that's the case, and you're committed to staying with your current employer... it may be time to start a revolution! |
More Articles:1. Leadership Development - Leadership Styles and Training What makes a good leader? Leadership development Ever since we started Impact Factory, lo these many years ago, we have struggled with the whole notion of leadership development or leadership training. Indeed, we have resisted writing about it in much detail because the subject is so subjective. Are leaders born or made? Can you use management leadership training to give leadership skills to someone who isn't leadership material? How is it done? Given that we're being asked to create a lot more … 2. One Minute Feedback Like team leaders in any industry, Call Center managers must accomplish countless tasks in a given day. From presiding over call allocations and reading and responding to e-mails, to responding to supervisors' requests, reviewing resumes and setting up interviews and meetings, it's a wonder that they are able to walk the Call Center floor to oversee regular operations. This makes delivering one-minute feedback crucial to a manager's skill set. Research shows that delivering effective feedback in… 3. Classifying Motivational Needs By Andrew E. Schwartz While there exist several useful definitions of motivation, for our purposes we will define it as an individual’s desire to do something based upon a need. When a person is confronted with a need (either perceived or actual), he or she usually is motivated to perform specific actions for some sort of gratification. Once a particular need has been satisfied, the motivation to continue the actions diminishes and remains at “zero level” until the need arises again. In order to fully appreciate th… 4. New UK Laws on Staff Dispute Resolution and Disciplinary Procedures By David Miles October 2004 saw the introduction of the Employment Act 2002, which has brought a new approach to staff dispute resolution.It has long been acknowledged that disputes in the workplace are disruptive, stressful, and costly – both for employers and employees. Once time and legal expenses are taken into account, the average cost of an employment tribunal for a UK employer is £2,000. In addition, it is said that 50% of employees who take a case to a tribunal end up in lower paid or lower sta… |
||||
