Your first experience of management is a guy nicknamed The Animal who reprimands you several times in front of the whole staff. Your next boss is a woman who leaves you totally free to do your own thing and thanks you profusely for your work every day. So when you get promoted you copy her managerial style. But because your subordinates are less responsible than you were, they do not do their share of the load. So you go back to the drawing board to redefine your tactics. In the meantime, there is work to be done.
Thousands of mid-level managers have stumbled upon their jobs from front-line positions, often without the skills necessary to manage people. Do they understand what it takes to motivate and inspire, while doing the same for themselves?
Nine times out of ten, managers are hated by their subordinates. You would imagine they would balk at the discovery of how they are perceived by employees. Not so. You may find that they are behaving in the manner they feel gets the best results, ruling with an iron fist and fear. Managerial nicknames might as well just be asterisks.
As with all ideals, the ideal manager does exist except in our heads. Like the ideal parent, partner, or teacher, we are looking at an unrealistic goal. Nevertheless, ideals are necessary to set standards and understand aspirations. All employees want to be respected, motivated and have their ideas listened to, while all companies need a manager who can deliver and make a profit.
If there can be such a thing as the 'right man(ager) for the job', who within the organisation is best qualified to recognise the fact? Who reviews the reviewer? Do we rely on the employees' satisfaction, the manager's report, or the profit and loss statement? And will that person retain his or her performance over time?
The ideal leader, manager, or executive does not and cannot exist. All the books and textbooks that try to teach us to be perfect managers, leaders, or executives are based on the erroneous assumption that such a goal is possible. Even classic management theorists, including Howard Koontz and William H. Newman, present what the manager or executive should do - as if all managers have the same style and can be trained to manage the same way, ignoring the fact that different people organise, plan, and control differently.
Getting fit
"So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work," says Peter Drucker, the 94-year-old management guru.
Ineffective managers are having a hugely demotivating effect on staff across industries and in many cases are forcing employees out of their jobs. The net result of such managerial behaviour is widespread under-performance at individual and team level, increased attrition rates and unnecessarily high recruitment and training expenditure.
This is one of the key findings from a new research study recently completed by the international HR consultancy firm Cubiks. Poor managers can wreak havoc in organisations, causing problems that extend beyond their own personal sphere of influence.
Follow the leader
Most organisational theorists believe that leadership is a central factor in the effectiveness of groups and organisations. We assume that leadership is required to initiate structure, co-ordinate activities, and to direct others toward the accomplishment of group goals.
Over the years, there have been attempts to distinguish leaders from non-leaders on the basis of personality traits, to identify and describe ideal styles of leadership, and to determine the kinds of situations under which any given type of leadership behaviour is likely to be effective or ineffective.
More recently some scholars have argued that leadership and management involve two different and sometimes inconsistent forms of behaviour.
Leadership traits and style
What makes a good manager? A list of traits such as 'intelligence, responsibility' and others like them typically sound as if they came from the pages of the Boy Scout Handbook. There are those theorists who believe that at least three specific traits are associated with effective leaders across a broad range of situations: intelligence, adjustment and deviancy.
The five basic functions of every manager are decision-making, implementing, team-building, managing staff, and managing change - as well as behaviour and communication. The stylistic approach to leadership behaviour is concerned with what leaders do, rather than the personal characteristics they possess. Three basic styles of leadership as identified by White and Lippitt are authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire.
Authoritarian leaders exercise strong control over decisions and tasks. They issue and enforce orders to ensure that their plans are executed in an acceptable manner.
Democratic leaders are more oriented toward guidance than complete control of group activities. They share authority with subordinates and seek subordinate input in decision-making.
Laissez-faire leaders relinquish virtually all control of decisions and group processes to subordinates. Such leaders may remain available for consultation or problem-solving, but generally delegate all authority for tasks to subordinates.
Basic managerial styles can be identified according to their degree of concern (attitude) for production and people. The least effective style is 'impoverished management', exercising no initiative and abdicating responsibility for group outcomes. The 'authority-obedience' style of manager regards people's concerns as obstacles to production accomplishment.
In contrast, the 'country club' leader thinks of nothing but people's concerns. This leader strives primarily to maintain morale, satisfaction and harmony among the group, even if production has to suffer. The 'middle of the road manager' attempts to compromise and balance people and production concerns. To cope with the supposed contradiction, the 'middle of the road' leader may settle for moderately harmonious group relationships and adequate, but not outstanding, task performance.
The 'team leader' believes that group effectiveness depends on the integration of people's needs with production objectives. Group effectiveness is presumed to depend on the extent to which individual members are able to develop, assume responsibility, and function as a team. The team leader concentrates on bringing about this form of development.
It is important to remember that no-one will ever fit these types perfectly. Some people will fit most of a style described, but not all of it.
To lead or to manage?
One of the most intriguing themes in recent studies of leadership is the argument that leadership and management are qualitatively different organisational roles. Management functions are defined in terms of accomplishing specific organisational tasks, whereas leadership functions are or should be more concerned with providing direction for a group or organisation.
Fulfilling a true leadership role has become much more difficult in contemporary organisations because leaders must respond to many competing demands and voices, both within and without the organisation. Leaders' choices are severely limited by threats of legal and regulatory interference from the outside and political dissension from within.
To function effectively, leaders must meet the following seven basic challenges:
1. Develop vision and assertiveness to make effective decisions;
2. Concentrate on the organisational 'big picture' rather than becoming preoccupied with day-to-day details;
3. Be able to interpret events and situations in light of the organisation's unique history and goals;
4. Have the courage to make difficult decisions and take calculated risks;
5. Be able to gather relevant information for planning and decision-making and to interpret messages from many sources;
6. Shape the culture of the organisation to promote co-operation and loyalty;
7. Have the self-confidence and assurance required to handle the stress of leadership.
Time after time
Are good managers born or made? And can there be such a thing as a good manager who can deal with any type of organisation with equal effectiveness? Realistically speaking, no.
Country leaders range from the tyrant to the true democrat, and in an ideal world our first response would be that the democratic approach is best. With hindsight we can see that in times of crisis, a dictator can turn a country around swiftly.
Similarly, an organisation's leadership needs will change over time. The question is whether the managers can align with these changes, changing tactic according to the exigencies at hand.
Undoubtedly, ongoing training for management has to be a priority. When people are asked to assume managerial responsibilities without receiving the appropriate development or training, they can have a major negative impact on individual motivation levels, team morale and ultimately the bottom line.
A manager is like the control room. Ideally, he or she can discern when to combine head and heart in decisions, when to use intuition, where to go to ask the right questions.
Managers walk a tightrope most of the time. They have to consider the balance between being too friendly and too distant, keeping an open door policy and having time to themselves, managing their own time, systems and career, the integration of people needs with production objectives.
If you are a manager, examine your own ideals, understand your own management style and get ongoing training. Do not forget to motivate yourself along the way to be the best that you can. Life is all about making up for a less-than-ideal situation. And find out what your nickname is.
CSB Recruitment Agency has been supporting the local business community with its services since 1987. For further information you can write to CSB at Vincenti Buildings, 14/19 Strait Street, Valletta VLT 08, call them on 2122-5800 or 2124-6543, fax: 2123-0520, e-mail: jobs@vacancycentre.com, or visit www.Vacancy Centre.com.