by Nayab Naseer

Created on: February 03, 2009

Poor management occurs when those responsible for managing the firm fail to do so properly. This failure could stem from a variety of reasons like technical incompetence, unrealistic expectations from the workforce, failure to communicate effectively what is required or what is being sold, or from pure greed.

In many cases, poor management comes in when the firm evolves from a small firm, when the owner controls everything, to a medium or large size firm, when the owner-manager would have to delegate. Very often delegation would go to the person the owner trusts the most and invariably this would be the person who has been with the owner for the longest period and usually incompetents tend to stick on the longest. Competent people generally move out of small firms before long. Another reason for poor management coming in could be people who excel in their technical role being given additional managerial responsibilities, when they do not have management skills.

On the face of it, poor management leads to business failure. However, before this ultimate consequence takes place, the organization can suffer in a multitude of ways due to poor management.

The symptoms of poor management are many. Some of them are

1. The objective and policies of the firm would be vague and confused, and bereft of direction. The hierarchy, rules, and policies would change frequently, as the management would not be sure of what they are doing. The only thing constant in such organizations would be change, and the changes would not achieve anything. There would be no such thing as routine operations, and everything would be on an ad-hoc basis.

2. Poor management would place short-term goals above long-term vision and objectives, and make decisions based on hope rather than analysis and objective data. This is if they take decisions in the first place. Reacting to events usually take the place of planning in such firms.

3. Poor management is synonymous with disorganization. Nothing from record keeping to response to a customer query will be systematic, organized, or prompt.

4. Poor management, as a rule does not make efficient or optimal utilization of the human resources. There would be no job clarity or role-definition. The performance appraisal and management criteria would be subjective, and talent will invariably go unrewarded while incompetents rise up the corporate ladder.

5. Poor management tends to favor coteries, promote office politics, would generally be insecure and wary of performers

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