Archive for the ‘People Management’ Category
Why I didn’t do some of the things I had to do…
Why do people postpone important tasks? Research by Sean McCrea and his colleagues may provide a partial answer. Theyfound that people tend to procrastinate when asked to perform tasks that are defined in abstract terms. What this means is best explained through one of their experiments: half of a group of students were asked to describe how they would carry out a mundane task such as opening a bank account, and the other half were asked to describe reasons why one might do that task – i.e. why one might want to open a bank account. The first task is straightforward, and needs little thought prior to execution. The second one is more abstract; some deliberation is required before doing it. Even though all participants were offered a small (but interesting enough) sum of money if they completed the task within three weeks, it was found that most of those who were given the concrete task completed it on time whereas more than half those assigned the abstract task failed to complete it. The researchers use the concept of psychological distance to describe this behaviour. Psychological distance in this context is a measure of the closeness (or remoteness) a person feels to a task, abstract tasks being more “distant” in this sense than concrete ones.
Reading about this reminded me of an incident that occurred many years ago, just after I’d made a career switch from academic research to business consulting. One of the partners in the firm I was working for had asked me to write a project proposal for a new client. He assumed I knew what was needed, and offered no guidance. I had a half-hearted try at it, but couldn’t make much headway. Like the stereotypical student, I then put it off for several days. The day before the deadline, fearing the consequences of inaction, I got down to it. I spoke to a few colleagues to make the task clearer, spent some thinking it through then, finally, wrote (and rewrote) the proposal well into the night.
Seen in the light of Dr. McCrea’s research, my procrastination was simply a normal human reaction to an abstract task. Once I was able to define the task better – with the help of my colleagues and some thought – my reasons for procrastination vanished, and with it my mental block.
I see this operate in my current job too. I work with a small group of developers who tackle a wide range of projects ranging from enterprisey stuff (such as the implementation of CRM systems), to the development of niche applications used by a handful of people. The small size of our group means that everyone has to do a bit of everything – design, coding, testing, maintenance, support and (unfortunately) … documentation. Now, in keeping with the stereotypical developer, most of the mob detest doing documentation. “I’d rather do maintenance coding,” said one. When asked why, he replied that it took him a lot more effort to write than it did to do design or coding work. Of course, this is not to say that cutting coding is easy, but that developers (or the ones I work with, at any rate) find it less remote psychologically – and hence easier – than writing. So, when required to do documentation, they typically put it off if as much as possible.
The relationship between task abstraction and procrastination indicates how managers can help reduce the tendency to procrastinate. The basic idea is to reduce task abstraction, and hence reduce the psychological remoteness an assignee feels in relation to a task. For example, when asking a coder to write documentation, it might help to provide a template with headings and sub-headings, or make suggestions on what should and should not be included in the documentation. Anything that makes the task less abstract will help counter procrastination.
Tasks can be made more concrete in a number of ways. Some suggestions:
- Outline steps required to perform the task.
- Providing more detail about the task.
- Narrow the task down to specifics.
- Provide examples or templates of how the task might be done.
Of course, not all procrastination can be attributed to task abstraction. Folks put off tasks for all kinds of reasons – and sometimes even for no reason at all. However, speaking from personal experience, Dr. McCrea’s work does ring true: I didn’t do some of the things I had to do simply because they weren’t clear enough to me – like that project plan I was supposed to have started on a week ago. But advice is easier given than taken. With only a gentle pang of guilt, I put it off until tomorrow.
Management games
It is an unfortunate fact of corporate life that management is sometimes practiced as a series of games between the manager and the managed (with the odds stacked against the latter, of course). In this post I list some of the more common games I have witnessed over time. As with all games, it is useful to know the ground rules before proceeding. In this case it’s simple because there’s only one: the manager always wins. Now that the ground rule is set, let the games begin…
Two cents up: Some managers feel obliged to contribute to any and every discussion – even those involving topics they know nothing about. These gents (and ladies) are professional players of the game of Two Cents Up. The game is played as follows: contribute your two cents (or equivalent in any other currency) to all discussions. There is no limit on the number of turns, and at the end of the discussion you simply tot up your contributions to get your net score. In case it isn’t clear, only managers get a turn. Expert players of this game routinely end up with several dollars worth of pointless contributions.
Now I delegate; now I don’t: This is essentially a game of delegation peekaboo. The manager delegates responsibility to an employee then, a little while later, takes it back. Then, later still delegates again and so on. The game can be played through several such delegation-undelegation cycles, driving the subordinate to responsibility uncertainty: a state where the subordinate knows not what he or she is (or isn’t) responsible for. The best exponents of this game can ensure that nothing ever gets done because no one on the team (the manager included) knows who is responsible making decisions.
The second guess: This game is the favourite of managers who find it hard to delegate real responsibility to their subordinates. They delegate only when forced to (by their managers), but then constantly second guess decisions made by the delegatee. As per the Merriam-Webster definition of second-guess, the game can be played at two levels: a) criticise decisions when they are made and then b) criticise them again after the result of the decision is known. Two bites of the cherry! What more could a second-guesser want? No, no… don’t bother answering that.
My way: This is the management version of the well-known childrens’ adage: he who owns the ball, makes the rules. In the grown-ups game the manager insists on doing things his or her way, riding roughshod over his team’s opinions or advice. The best way to sum up this game is through the (edited) lyrics of the eponymous song:
I’ll plan each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
We’ll do it my way.
A more cut-throat version of the game is called my way or the highway – a cliche that nicely sums up what happens to those who choose not to follow the leader.
Bolt from the blue: This game is invoked by some managers when their opinion is challenged by an employee with a well thought out, irrefutable case. Just when the employee reckons the manager is about to concede, the manager invokes a bolt from the blue: a statement that has no relevance to the discussion, but serves as an effective distractor to confuse his opponent (sorry, I mean, employee). Here’s an almost true example from real life:
Ben – “So, from the evaluation, I think we can safely conclude that Oracle is a better than option SQL Server for this project.”
Manager – “May be so, but have you considered using SOA…”
This non sequitur usually results in game, set and match to the manager.
Leap of logic: This game is an insidious variant of the previous one. Like the bolt from the blue, the leap of logic is aimed at distracting the employee. However, it is harder to tackle a leap of logic because the argument isn’t as obviously unrelated to the discussion as the bolt from the blue. Illustrating the leap of logic using the previous example, the manager’s response to Ben might be:
Manager – “Ah, but what about non-relational databases…”
Brilliant! Although the manager is ostensibly talking about databases, he is really spouting nonsense. Ben’s gobsmacked, and doesn’t know where to begin refuting the point.
Picking nits: This game is played when the manager wants to find fault with work done. It’s an axiom that nothing’s perfect, so one can always find things that haven’t been done right. Some managers are specialist nitpickers – expressing great creativity in finding so-called errors or problems with the work done. Like the first game described in this post, this one can be scored. too. The scoring works as follows: a point per nit picked. At the risk of stating the obvious: only the manager can score.
Although management games are common in corporate settings, they aren’t particular to the business world. Games such as these are played out everyday in organisations ranging from government bureaucracies to universities. I should caution my readers that the foregoing listing is far from comprehensive – it is but a small list of the more common games that one might encounter. No doubt, other games (and variants of the ones I’ve described) exist, and still more are being invented by creative managers. Please feel free to add in management games that you have come across – if they’re good you might even score a point or two.
Assumptions of competence
In a recent post, I wrote: “…most folks don’t really need to be managed because they’re competent at what they do, and go about doing their jobs in a generally diligent manner.”
On reading this an old friend wrote to me saying, “I am sincerely of the opinion that most people are not competent at their jobs…” And a bit later in the same message, “If you are looking for quality and excellence, don’t expect to find it in business and corporate culture.”
Incidentally, he is an independent consultant with over fifteen years experience, much of it gained in large corporations . His observations regarding the general lack of competence and quality in the business world must, therefore, be taken seriously. Nevertheless, I reckon he’s at least partly off the mark: I believe it behooves managers to begin with the assumption that people are competent, and that they want to do high-quality work.
Let me start my case with three stories which may sound familiar:
Jim is a developer at the regional office of a large multinational. He is overloaded with work, typically working on at least two (often three) major projects concurrently. As a consequence he cannot do justice to any of them. It is clear that Jim will not meet the deadlines on any of the projects. Though it is clear that his situation has been caused by poor management, he’ll be the one carrying the can.
Tracy is an experienced database programmer working on a large project. She has worked on similar projects before, and is arguably the best person to provide technical input regarding the design and implementation of database program modules for the product. Yet, her manager insists that every suggestion she makes be approved by him prior to presentation to the team, often adding his two-cents to her designs. Of late the team has noticed that Tracy has been unusually quiet during project meetings.
Sanjay has been working as an ERP adminstrator for a while. He has the job well under control, and is looking to pick up some new skills. The company he works for has just purchased a large number of licenses for a major business intelligence platform, so there’s going to be plenty of work building new reports. Sanjay knows this area is under-resourced: there’s only one person working on the new platform, right from metadata design to creating reports. Clearly, this person could use some help, and it’s a perfect opportunity for Sanjay to pick up new skills. Sanjay approaches his manager for permission to get involved, but the manager refuses outright.
Sooner or later…
Jim’s blamed for the failure of his project(s).
Tracy has lost interest in her job.
Sanjay’s administering his ERP system competently enough, but spends his (considerable) free time surfing the Net. He’s bored, and makes no effort to hide it.
To a casual onlooker it may appear that Jim, Tracy and Sanjay “are not competent at their jobs”, but that is a superficial observation. The real problem is that they are no longer motivated by their work. The basic reason for their demotivation is bad management. More specifically:
Jim’s expected to achieve the unreasonable or impossible.
Tracy isn’t empowered to make decisions that affect her work.
Sanjay isn’t given the opportunity to learn new skills.
Fact of the matter is, these folks want to succeed at their jobs and even go beyond their job description, but they aren’t given the support, opportunity and / or the means to do so.
I did say my friend’s partially right, and he is: with a demotivated team, quality and excellence and all those wonderful things we’re supposed to strive for in the workplace aren’t going to happen. The question is, who is responsible? As Deming mentions in his management / quality classic, Out of The Crisis, the fault lies largely with management. I agree, but many don’t. I’d be interested in hearing what you think. Do let me know through your comments.
Eight to Late 