The Management Paradox
Business managers today have so many things to contend with while at work that the very act of managing itself has become distorted. It is most people’s own personal experience that many company decisions made by managers are made with their own self interests in mind. This trend is running ramped everywhere we look. Today, it appears, less managers are actually managing the businesses and are spending more time managing being a manager.
The tasks facing a manager may be immensely complex, but the principles of being a manager still remain simple. We all understand that a manager, regardless of their level, is responsible for holding the company’s virtues, stability, and objectives above their own. We are to achieve the directions set forth by those that we work for, even if we are that person. We are to make sure things get done on time and with minimal impact or net increase to the company’s bottom line. We are overhead that is employed to make the organization a better organization with bigger or sustained profits.
Take a good look at the business climate that we find ourselves in today. How many times as a manager, or potential manager, do we act with the best interest of the organization in mind? How many times do we see other managers doing this? How many times have we witnessed the organization and other managers actually listen or respond to these actions? How many of those responses are personally or organizationally focused? If the answer is constantly, your business is not struggling. If the answer is few and far between, then there are serious issues.
Many times identified as organizational politics, there is an underlying identifiable problem with today’s organizational culture. Managers are learning and forced into managing their position, and potential position, in their organization instead of their area of accountability.
Enter the management paradox: “A manager will weave their personal objectives into an organization, crafting an environment that suits their needs”. Examples are by the hundreds in any business reporting agency today. When a company like AIG pays million dollars bonuses to executives while the company is failing it is evident that the managers have dictated their needs above those of the company’s.
A not too well documented subject about being a manager is that we are not just overhead, we are extreme overhead. We typically get paid the most, have the biggest incentive packages, do less income deriving work, and spend the company’s money. As a manager, at some point, we will spend countless hours playing organizational politics, promoting our own ideas, looking for self advancement, building self recognition, and delegating accountability. All while dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s to make sure nothing comes back at us.
The reality is that today this is known as getting ahead in the organization. In my opinion it is the single largest culprit leading to organizational mismanagement and inefficiencies. Self promotion over tending to the welfare of the organization will always lead to diminishing returns.
The meltdown that is occurring in today’s governments, institutions, businesses, and failing banks have exposed the self centered manager practices that have run ramped throughout the world. As the covers are ripped off and the failing naked organizations we see firsthand the management paradox in play.