I think there is something that makes bosses crazy, when they get to be bosses.
Direct reports?
Actually I think it's the in-betweenness. Managing people is tough, but when you're in middle management you're getting yelled at by people up the org chart all the time.
So it's sort of like a doctor sitting down beside a patient and attempting their best bedside manner, while somebody stands behind them punching them in the head.
Then again, this may just be my experience in law firms.
What is the old saying? That employees get promoted until they reach their level of incompetence?
Really, I think it's just the Peter Principle. People get promoted because they are good at their jobs, until they are in jobs they are not good at. I think most crazy bosses are insecure managers.
Peter Principle xpost!
I cite once again this year's Ig-Nobel winner for the Management Prize:
MANAGEMENT PRIZE: Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo of the University of Catania, Italy, for demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random.
Personally, I think companies would be more productive if 6% of all management were Daleks and 8% were Cylons.
ION, I got a flu shot because the government told me to, and now my arm is sore!
I wish I could find the article on this -- it may have been in the NYT -- but there is data on premise that supervisors become less empathetic and more irrational. Power corrupts the soul.
I think companies would be more productive if 6% of all management were Daleks and 8% were Cylons.
And perhaps 7% Cybermen, to enhance workflow and productivity?
Perhaps 7% Cybermen, to enhance workflow and productivity?
Good point!
And perhaps companies should hire the occasional Borg consultant....
It's kind of sad, if you don't want to be promoted to a job where you can't be as effective as where you're at, you're not considered to be serious about your career or you're just lazy. But if they left a kickass manager at a mid-level, they'd get all sorts of great effort.