What happens when managers abdicate responsibility?
That’s the underlying question behind a post + comment exchange that I’ve been having with an online acquaintance who blogs anonymously. (I’ve never met this person face-to-face.) My pal has been going through the ringer, trying to do the right thing for the company, but getting no support from management. A sample:
I ended our session with a simple question: “What is it that is motivating you? Knowing all that we know?”
His response was horrifying but typical: He looked at me in such a defiant manner and said: ‘Where do I draw my motivation, I’ll tell you where I draw my motivation…it’s the fact that there are millions of people out there without a job that would love to be in our position…”
That is all he said.
I cannot tell you how much this response disappointed me and saddened me.
I invite you to read the whole thing — there’s as much in the comments as in the original post — and then to share your own ideas, here or (preferably) there.
Some questions for you to consider:
- What do you do when management abdicates responsibility?
- What do you do when you love your company but see it making huge mistakes?
- Is CYA enough of a reason to avert your attention from the hard choices that need to be made and the hard conversations that need to be held?
- What would you do, if you were in my friend’s position?
~
Photo by Danny Hope, used under a Creative Commons license.
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Thanks Tim!
from your pal, Anon!!!
Several responses occur to me from the immediate to the macro. 1) A sad, sad, sad series of posts, 2) sadder yet not that unusual – in fact not atypical of every outfit I’ve been around including two of the world’s best by any standard (no names but one flies airplanes that are purple and orange and the other is a blueish tech outfit – the latter in particular has re-vamped it’s culture over the last 10 years to be worse than that exchange), 3) this is a grossly dysfunctional culture which means 4) a low-level manager is helpless but 5) clearly your friend anon hasn’t a clue as what it means to be a manager (you take responsibility for the performance of others within the constraints of the company as it is) nor how decisions get made or resources allocated. The Buddhists talk about Mara – the deity of illusion but he’s really the god of delusion. Believing what we want to believe when it’s false to fact – the greatest single cause of good companies gone bad in my experience and from extensive academic research. Not to be too harsh but over and over again I’ve heard similar complaints from workers who haven’t a clue as what it means to make decisions and make them work. When a middle manager has the tools taken away and destroyed all they can do is the best they can. They call it telling truth to power and tell fairy tales (does Emperor and clothes ring any bells ?). Another ancient tradition is be-heading those messengers and if it happens to be death by roo-roo pretty sooner there aren’t any left. As for macro consequences I’ve been challenger the Big D (Drucker) in some lengthy blog posts (one of which you pointed to but it was part of a series). The bottomline – the abdication of managerial responsibility is the death of the company and presents malfeasance and fiduciary failure. Literally btw. But the chickens don’t come home with cholera for a long-time and until then don’t drink the water and leave if/when you can.
[...] recently read a great post on Hoovers about what happens when managers abdicate responsibility. It reminded me of a boss I once had who [...]
[...] here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on HR topics.I recently read a great post on Hoovers about what happens when managers abdicate responsibility. It reminded me of a boss I once had who [...]
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That was an excellent article, in tough times that we are all facing currently with the financial crises that is going on all around the world, management really has to step up more and take control and not abdicate responsibility, thinking that it can just be pasted over. If this does happen then take it upon yourself to better yourself and not follow that example and rather you take the reins yourself and one never knows this could only benefit yourself in the long run.