Years ago, I worked for a company president who recently read the latest management book. It was about Participatory Management. That’s where employees at all levels participate in decision-making. To be sure, engaging employees in their work is commendable. But this went to an extreme.
First, with the stroke of his pen, the president did away with all company policies & procedures with the thought that workplace guidance, by definition, was an unreasonable and unneeded burden for employees. The Human Resources VP and the Legal VP almost lost their minds… there are lots of legal and regulatory compliance matters that require you have written policies & procedures. Further this mandated guidance is typically a large part of business systems (such as IT Systems, Purchasing Systems, Accounting Systems, Engineering Systems, Manufacturing Systems, Property Systems, Security Systems) that larger and more sophisticated clients want to know exist and are effective.
Despite the contrary rhetoric, folks do want to be told what to do (i.e., given guidance) at some level and in a respectful way. Especially so with larger groups which require some fundamental level of guidance to prevent confusion, provide organization, ensure legal compliance, etc.
After a few days of aggressive client and employee pushback, the president relented and allowed that the company, with its thousands of employees scattered across the globe, could exist with 10 one-page policy statements. I have no idea why 10. Of course, this vacuum of guidance detail led to confusion ad nauseam. From “how do I get travel reimbursement?” to “how do I get evaluated and promoted?” You can imagine the fallout. Typically, the work around was to send out the previously outlawed guidance… too funny.
Second, he empowered employees with unlimited decision-making authority within their respective workgroups. This was my favorite. Within a week, employee workgroups met to “vote” fellow members “off the team”. No legal compliance check, no discrimination testing, no due process, no anything… just a note saying you’re off the team, good luck.
I’ve seen this repeated throughout my career. Excessive management enthusiasm for something that probably has some merit, but definitely has some weaknesses. Remember these??
- Management by Walking Around (more engaged management, but hard to implement with today’s dispersed workers, especially with the COVID home offices)
- Total Quality Management (task standardization over creativity?)
- One Minute Management (catching people doing things right is nice, but one minute critiquing and praising? am i paper training human beings?)
- Flat Organizations (limits to span of control?)
- Matrix Management (where authority is uncertain, does it exist?)
- International Standards Organization (ISO)(more about documentation than actual results)
- Lean Manufacturing (Just in Time inventory in the recent age of Supply Chain failure? How did that work for you?)
- 360-Degree Feedback (evaluated by inexperienced raters and by peers I compete with for promotion? Sign me up.)
Please do not misunderstand me. I’m not saying these are all bad. In fact, most have more benefits than criticisms. What I am saying is this:
I don’t recommend you define your business based on the latest trend. Your business is more complex than that and the enthusiasm for the trend will pass. Instead, consider the many time-tested solutions that we know work.
Guy Stevenson
Yes, today’s manager has to pay attention to multiple things at a time. One cannot just overreact and focus on one thing (such as quality, or safety, or the customer, or the employee) to the exclusion of others. You must have balance. And there is not much new under the sun regarding what those balanced items might be.
This is my list of proven and balanced focus areas at a high level. You probably have something similar:
Nothing new or brilliant here. Most all trends will incorporate one or more of these really well and in depth, but are not robust enough to cover them all. And all must be meaningfully addressed.
Cheers!
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