Management 201 … maybe
Phil points to a 4-part series on management techniques articulated by Joel Spolsky:
At the risk of becoming a Spolsky link blog I wanted to point people toward a recent series of articles which look at different management styles. Joel disects each with respect to managing high tech, knowledge-oriented teams.
1) The Command and Control method
- Shout at people
- Incentivise people with rewards
3) The Identity Management Method
- get workers to identify with the problem by telling them stuff
Joel frames his thesis in terms of managing highly educated software developers but if you ask me his framework is equally relevant for any “knowledge worker”, say for instance professionals working in an investment bank.
Obviously - at least to me - he comes down in favour of method 3 - the Identity Management Method. Not always easy to implement but who said managing (or doing anything well) was ever easy… It boils down to treating people as responsible and intelligent and helping them find something they are passionate about (see the collected works of the great Kathy Sierra.) I think this is probably a universal truth with respect to the human condition, but if earlier generations were prepared to put up with methods 1 and 2, I’m pretty damn sure the digital generation won’t. Anyhow the funny (peculiar not ha ha) thing is anyone who has worked in investment banking for any length of time will find a predominance of methods 1 and 2. But wait a second, investment banks have generally been extremely successful and have made many of their employees and shareholders very wealthy and happy. Ok wealthy. So 1 and 2 work.
To this I would say two things: has worked (ie in the past) and just imagine how well these organisations would succeed using method 3! Indeed perhaps Goldman Sachs is at the top of the class because they have the biggest proportion of method 3 in their management mix? (I can’t say for sure having never worked there but anecdotally it does seem so from the outside…)
This thread reminded me of a book I read a few years ago called “The Paradox of Control in Organisations” (great insightful ideas, awful writing), here is the synopsis:
…the author takes self-organization and emergence as central themes in thinking about life in organizations. He focuses on the tension between spontaneously forming patterns of conversation and intentional actions arguing that the order of organizations emerges through a combination of collective interaction and individual intentions. In today’s organization, managers find that they have to live with the paradox of being ‘in control’ and ‘not in control’ simultaneously. It is this capacity to live with paradox, and to continue to participate creatively in spite of ‘not being in control’, that constitutes effective management.
Anyone with a bit of self-awareness who has ever managed an organisation will immediately identify with this paradox.
Anyhow, Spolky’s thesis is by definition a bit reductionist but nonetheless pretty accurate and taken as such is an excellent primer/refresher on how to manage knowledge workers, especially in this digital age. Definitely worth the 10 minutes of your life it will take to read.
