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Jul/100
Fading Micromanagers and their results or what is the productivity go?
I recently received this e-mail: "I work for the administration Municipal and City Council has launched the word "micromanagement" around the meetings of the Council. As there is an election coming, they all seem to have their own idea of what the word "micromanage" means (some are so off base). What micromanagement and what is not? "
Micro-management has become a hot buzzword. I use my customers use it, and now the government begins to use it. As indicated in the foregoing the term can be misused. Perhaps it is time to better define the concept.
Micromanagement usually means the old way of doing things. "" Dinosaur 'managers use the approach of micromanagement. The term essentially means to supervise every small step in the workflow process – hence the microphone.
This method works quite well in 'Old' production days where workers were uneducated and unskilled assembly. These workers are normally a step routine and it was. They have little or no decisions. They had a minimum production quota.
Their breaks were monitored, their lunches have been followed and of course the clock has been monitored. There was a time considered what has been "bought" by the company.
Close supervision or micromanaging ensured that production levels have been achieved. Management literally tell employees what to do and watch to make sure they did.
This system worked well during the workflow is simple. As business became more complex, micromanaging became less effective. There was a time not that the company has bought and sold the worker. The Productivity became the key.
As the process became more complex, workers should have more powers. Skilled have become more in demand and could go elsewhere if not treated properly. Skilled workers eventually found Micromanagers offensive and most important option.
After 2000, it seems companies have become more focused on results. In an economic environment increasingly competitive, they had to. As time became even less of an equation factor in the results, motivation and innovation have begun to be understood as real forces in productivity results.
The workers became employees and associates team members and. Employees began to be regarded as assets and not just spending. Employers have begun to understand that employees can provide the greatest competitive advantage, as the number one management headache. In short, employees could make or break the company.
Managers began to understand that good management meant maximizing employee productivity, which could not be accomplished by micromanaging. The managers began to understand that knowledge of their people and help them do their best was the best way to reach production levels superiors.
Instead of being an obstacle, managers began to understand that their job was to remove obstacles and limitations have long been one of the last barriers to fall.
today's managers understand they must constantly assess and improve their work processes. They understand that the responsibility is much more than putting in time and punch the clock.
They no longer insist on telling their employees how to do something because often the employee knows more about what they do than the manager.
So the managers learned that employees can not only solve the problems in the workplace, but also to create and innovate. The employee that creates and innovates does not appreciate being treated like assembly line workers of the past. Many employees feel qualified Micromanagers resent their contributions.
Micro-management is a process that works reasonably well when the work was simple and the line bottom is simple. As work became more complex micromanagement lost its effectiveness. In the workplace today, micro-management is responsible for many bad bottom lines, poor performance and failures.
With all the negatives, which is to love micromanagement?
About the Author
Jack Deal is the owner of JD Deal Business Consulting, Santa Cruz, CA. Related articlesmay be found at http://www.jddeal.com/blog/management and http://www.freeandinquiringmind.typepad.com
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