Getting Control of Activities

Managers are paid to control activities—which they may do in a more or less sensitive and appropriate way.

► Effective «good» control feels just like proper organization.
► Ineffective «bad» control feels like coercion or mismanagement.

Control is a dirty word for many professionals, management consultants, academics, social theorists and even some managers. It shouldn't be. Organizations offer employment on a voluntary basis, and part of the price of employment is allowing control of personal activities. More about obligations of employment.

Managerial control over personal activity is legitimate because organizations have limited resources to pursue a specifically defined mission, and employ people on that basis. Organizations are not natural communities enabling diversity and freedom.

When is Enough Enough?

The way to strengthen a pragmatic management culture is to introduce additional values as rules or principles that constrain expedient responses. See explanation.

But when is the time right to add a new value-set?

Three Key Questions

► Are staff complaining? 

Everyone sees poor coordination and crises that are due to lack of essential posts, procedures and meetings.  They openly criticize managerial impotence that occurs because staff are not sufficiently capable, or in the wrong post, or unsuitable for some other reason.

► Is achievement faltering?

Once pragmatic activities start defeating themselves, crises keep recurring and needed work simply does not get done. An atmosphere of bravado or fear is not uncommon, as corrupt or unethical practices are used to meet targets.

► Are there vicious cycles?

The vicious cycle of pragmatic solutions cause stresses requiring solutions that cause more stresses &c. As shown in the diagrams, it is slightly different in public services than in businesses.

Where Next?

To break out of the stranglehold of pragmatic fixes, it becomes essential:

● to clarify exactly what work has to be done and make arrangements to ensure all of it is done properly

● to get people of the right calibre, experience and qualifications into suitable well-defined posts with appropriate authority

● to introduce procedures and systems that are efficient and prevent crises.

This is pure structuralist thinking.

Without this base of structural clarity and management capability, no other mode of achieving can address pragmatic follies and improve the organizational culture.

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• Next step: Stage-2: Structuralist.

Originally posted: 17-Jun-2011