by Barry Marcus

Created on: March 28, 2009   Last Updated: June 06, 2009

Few people begin their working life as a manager. They start as an accountant, a software developer or a salesman. Those that do well in their fields are inevitably promoted to the role of manager. Employers and managers alike often assume that exceptional technical performers will become great managers. They are often wrong, and the result is poor management.

The effects of poor management can be quite devastating on the performance of a department or a company. Many managers may blame employees for the failure to meet objectives, but poor service, financial losses and low quality products are the result of poor management.

Management is a complex field. The role of a manager is to achieve results through the efforts of others. The manager must understand the needs of the organisation as well as his or her own domain. Traditionally, the role of the manager has been defined as controlling, planning and organising.

The manager must plan what needs to be done, organise his resources to enable the job to be done and to control the entire process.

Not included in this definition is the role of the manager as communicator, delegator, motivator and leader.

In this true scenario a new employee was recruited to work on a key project and arrived at the office for the first time to begin the challenging task ahead.

She spent the next few hours waiting. The contract had not been finalised and the manager was tied up in an all day workshop. Having arrived at 8:00 a.m. the employee was finally invited to join the workshop at 2:00 p.m. The next morning involved more waiting. There was no workstation available and the manager was once again tied-up in important meetings.

At midday the manager finally managed a brief explanation of the project objectives and tasks at hand. A workstation became available a week later.

The new recruit had arrived on the job brimming with enthusiasm. She was keen to get started and make an impact. The project deadlines were tight and there was little time to waste. Not only had much valuable time been wasted, but the recruit's urgency and motivation were diminished.

As the project continued there was very little interaction between the manager and the new recruit. The recruit was left to her own devices to find out what had to be done, the key people required to do the job and how to use the tools. The weekly project reviews were rushed and without substance. It is only through the competence and dedication of the employees that the job somehow got done.

The deadlines were not met. Management involvement was too little. There did not seem to be anyone driving the project.

A manager must have the ability to provide leadership and to communicate clearly and effectively what is required. In this example, poor management were largely responsible for misunderstandings of what needed to be done. Much of the work had to be re-worked to attain satisfactory results. Time was wasted on a range of issues. Most of this was as a result of poor communication.

Poor management is all too often allowed to prevail in many organisations. The result is wasted time and resources and ultimately a reduced bottom line. Management needs to be involved and committed to achieve results.

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