There is NOT a Micromanagement "Pandemic"

Bravo! Look, Intel laid off 1000

Bravo!

Look, Intel laid off 1000 managers and now that goliath has to manage with less folks doing more work. This is a global phenomenon. Manage more with less. Under these circumstances micromanagement is a luxury most managers cannot afford. Some may want to but relentless pressure and multiple priorities (where are thou Drucker?) make it almost impossible.

BUT(ah,here it comes) there IS one ally for wannabe micromanagers : technology.

BlackBerry, Laptops and Mobile phone on 24/7 makes 'Snoopervision' very easy so the path to the darkside of management is easy if one is so inclined.

Of course, Manager Tool listeners know better :)

I've been at this game for 25+ years,

I've been at this game for 25+ years, and I have NEVER been micro-managed. On occasion, some of my co-workers have complained that our common boss has been a micro-manager. My response was that ensuring you do your job on time and to standard hardly counted as micromanagement.

I would hazard two guesses:
1 -- If there's a pandemic it's a pandemic of too LITTLE management.
2 -- The ones complaining are throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.

I find it difficult to accept any

I find it difficult to accept any statement from any of my teammates re: being micromanaged. I manage 15 people from Krakow to Sinagpore to Uberlandia...all on their own schedules, with their own work ethic. All virtual EEs. I may be a pain in the rear about getting things done on time to exceptional quality standards for the client, but does that make me a micromanager? I don't think so. We have entitlement generations in the workforce that don't see perceived "micromanagement" for what it really is: driving to a deliverable, a service, or some other contract. Things have to get done, and done well. Is SixSigma a micromanagement approach?

As for what this article says about journalism today, that is a different topic string, but I'll say it anyway - it's all about an agenda, and quoting academics can be weak. A pandemic? Please.

In my opinion, micromanagement occurs

In my opinion, micromanagement occurs as a symptom of poorly defined and communicated direction and shifting priorities. It's like when you learn to ride a bike; because you're uncertain of where you're going and how you'll get there, the bike wobbles back and forth requiring a lot of adjustment to stay upright.

In organizations where the direction is clear and clearly communicated, micromanagement is replaced by actual effectiveness as all contributors have their sights fixed on the same goal.

Micromanagement occurs because there

Micromanagement occurs because there are managers who don't know how to manage people. Those that do, In my opinion lack the social skills to effectively communicate with their directs. The reason managers micromanage is because they lack the self esteem to delegate and allow their directs to grow, learn, and flurish because they do not want to look bad towards their bosses.

I have a manager who is such a micro-manager that she has referred to one of my colleagues as her own daughter during a heated arguement. This manager constistently calls on her cell phone to make sure people are working when she's away at long-distance meetings. If projects are done to her liking, she doesn't send it back for revision, she makes the corrections herself without any input to the staff.

I have been to conferences with my manager, and have heard her talking to other directors about "I've done this", "I've done that", "My Service does this"...... There is no "Our Service", "We have....", etc.. When working on projects and not getting recognized for the work that the TEAM has put in and making it look like ONE person did all the work....... Makes one not appreciate the working relationship.

This may not be true for IT, Technology, communications, banking, But I rest assure you, it frequently occurs in Health Care. Primarily in Nursing. Please know that I am not bitter about this, but wanting to make a point. I personnally cannot be a micromanager. I see the effects every day, and it creates a hostile and unfriendly work environment. That's why it's nice when the boss is away... Things really do get done and more efficiently.

I hope this discussion goes on and I can learn other avenues in dealing with a MICROMANAGING BOSS.

Micromangemanagement, macromanagement,

Micromangemanagement, macromanagement, I don't know. I think its absolutely a case of myopia management--management that is out of focus. Too directed when it doesn't need to be, too undirected when the opposite is needed. And that's the skill of it, isn't it? It's like a great umpire or referee. He knows when to step in and make a call and when to back off an let teams play.

Is there a micromanagement

Is there a micromanagement pandemic?

The Manager Tools blogs rails against a recent American Way article that painted a picture of micromanagement as being rampant and a crisis. The post is called There is NOT and Micromanagement Pandemic. I agree with MT that the statistics

I am a Programme Manager by profession

I am a Programme Manager by profession and Micro-management in rapant in the UK in Project Management.

I frequently come across project managers that plan projects down to a matter of hours - each task being divided into subtasks until the PM can track EVERY stage of the task.

I encourage my Project Managers to set larger packages of work, delegating the day to day execution of the work package to the team leader or manager involved. In the process of delegation, I detail the estimated duration, cost, resources and quality and a TOLERATION. I set the budget/timescales etc and expect to be notified immediately if the expenditure exceeds or is expected to exceed the budget+tolerance. In this way it empowers the directs to take delivery for responsibility whilst still retaining overall control (in order to stop a run-away programme/project).

I once heard that if your average project task is less than 10 working days for a mid size project then it would indicate that you do not trust your project workers. I would prefer here to set a larger work package and employ management by exception combined with Mark's FEEDBACK model.

General Management (not including supervisory management) on the other hand seems to follow the micromanagement model and seems well on the track of Mark's analysis above.

The question then arises ... why do Project Managers Micro-manage more than regular managers.

I believe that it is due to the nature of projects. Being unique and often drawing in significant amounts of corporate resources (man days, budget) this places the manager in a more vunerable situation when compared to operational duties.

Ian- I think you're right about

Ian-

I think you're right about project managers - they do tend to micromanage more than "regular" managers.

And, I generally agree with your reasoning. I might have said it this way: project managers are all about the work. There's a culture that says work is more important than people, and people stuff - which regular managers are more likely to be held accountable for - is given short shrift.

Further, I think project managers are more like technical managers (and of course, often ARE technical managers. Tech managers tend a little more to the work over people mantra.

And I think it's really all because no one ;-) has taught them how to develop relationships which engender trust, nor do organizations incent for it.

Without a how or a why, behavior stops.

Mark

Lori Richardson wrote in her Management

Lori Richardson wrote in her Management Craft article that you might know if we are micro-managing if "You specify HOW everything ought to be done." This is a key point for myself. Especially in light of the feedback model, where the key phrase that has stuck with me is "May I..." May I offer a suggestion for accomplishing a task?

During the O3, we are able to establish the objectives of a project, and in my line of work with a virtual team, I won't see the "how," (for the most part) but will be able to track the results. It is my job to be able to systematically track these results and derive a conclusion that it was satisfactory, or needed improvements.

As regas14 notes, clear communication is a prerequisite for eliminating micro-managing...and through the O3 process and feedback and coaching, communicating the objectives and focusing on specific behavior will help you move from the realm of micro-managing to one of trust, as your comments will be based on facts.

In closing, I agree with this statement: Look, it’s unlikely you are a micromanager. (But if your team reads this article, they might think you are, just to make themselves feel like part of the majority!)

And finally, I was disappointed with all of the examples of "micro-managing" in this article as they read of a classic case of rebellion against an injection of accountability, where they previously had free reign of their tasks. For instance, with Rebecca, I didn't know that the editing process was considered "micro-managing." If that's the case, everyone in the media is a victim.

Along with other contributors, my

Along with other contributors, my problem with the research is the premise that if someone claims to be micro-managed they have been and this is bad management behaviour and nothing else.

My experience is that sometimes when someone grumbles they are being micro-managed it's because they have not completed the task/work load they've been asked to and the manager has had to step in to give deadlines and guidelines to make sure the work is done. In short, it's feedback to help to correct unwelcome behaviour by an employee.

I've seen it because a person wants to pick and choose what they do and leave the tasks that do not interest them undone, or in another case because that person is lazy and does as little as they can. Or in one case it was a colleague who didn't like having to report back on his work to his manager - he resented not being the manager and saw any request for information on progress etc as micro-management.

To make this useful research I would think it would be best to have the researcher define micro-management and then insist that examples are given to show this really is micro-management and not just unwelcome feedback. Of course this would make it much harder to do, but all this research shows is people think they are being m-m not that they are.

[...] The Manager Tools blogs rails

[...] The Manager Tools blogs rails against a recent American Way article that painted a picture of micromanagement as being rampant and a crisis. The post is called There is NOT and Micromanagement “Pandemic.” [...]

I don't know if there's a

I don't know if there's a micromanagement pandemic but when you are the "recipient", it feels like a pandemic to you !!

We have the following hierarchy in my company (MEGA BIG MUCHO TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY):

Worker Bee (Moi)

Group Lead (Major league technical expertise which is why he is there)

Manager (not sure of role due to next line)

Senior Manager -- she's into EVERYTHING !!! We use trouble ticketing to track problems and a network engineer can be working a ticket and she will throw a comment into the ticket from her HOME computer at midnight !!

Director (ULTRA MACRO-Manager thus the widened gap twixt him and his Senior Manager who is doing MY job)

I found this article while searching Google for "micromanament". I had previously searched for "Negative Effects of Micromanagement" and later for "Positive Effects of Micromanagement". You probably know which search came back with the most hits.

Wayne- A boss's boss checking

Wayne-

A boss's boss checking trouble tickets isn't micro-managing.

Mark

No there isn't but there is

No there isn't but there is a h1n1 pandemic or lets just say flu pandemic first bird flu now swing and before both we had west nile to worry about, working in addiction treatments of all the problems we have around us today drugs is the biggest.