The Micromanager
Although George seems to be a nice man, he is really a true micromanager because he can be persistent and stubborn on a lot of things. Although he would like to think that he is personable, at work, he insists on getting things done in his own way and keeps track of Shelley’s progress in doing it. He also eats up Shelley’s time in making her accompany him to meetings that take her concentration away from true work. Even at home, he can dictate the time his children need to do certain things like homework.
George also insists that at least two press releases are published monthly even when there is nothing to write about. He oversteps on the instructions that Shelley has already given to her own staff which causes additional confusion on the part of their subordinates. Even if Shelley has already asked for assistance in the form of additional staff, he would still rather that she list down her priorities first and do things his way.
Shelley obviously detests being bullied into doing what should otherwise be something creative because she does not like George’s leadership style. However, leadership style can affect many people in different ways depending on personality types and the situations they are in. This can be seen in the way Rich Harmon admires George for being innovative and ahead of him in thinking of solutions to his department’s problems.
The micromanager is good in doing everybody else’s job but as can be seen in George’s situation, he spends too much time in dealing with the nitty gritty that should be delegated to his subordinates. As Chief-Executive-Officer, he should be concentrating on motivating his employees to do their work as a team instead of finding the little stuff that they might be doing wrong or finding solutions to small problems that should be the job of his managers.
2. Is it the appropriate style ? Why or why not? (Hint, consider the characteristics of the environment, the employee, the task, leader discretion, etc.)
Retronics is in a very delicate situation because its market is going down and it needs to reinvent itself to keep up with the industry. George’s style cannot be successful in this light because he insists on doing things hands-on while the need of the company is for its head to create new ideas that could bring new life to the crippled corporation.
George has his own following and he can be effective to certain types of personalities. However, although there are employees who admire George’s ideas that really help in the development of their departments, he is actually creating followers instead of true leaders because of the dependency culture he is encouraging. He should instead try to hone his managers’ leadership skills and encourage more innovative ideas that come from below his rank if he really wants to keep up with the new wave in his industry. Otherwise, he would be trapped in solving everybody else’s problems and no one will be overseeing the company.
On the other hand, his way of micromanaging Shelley causes her to loose motivation to work because she feels cramped by her position and his leadership style. It can be assumed that Shelley might not be the only one who feels this way because he is the type who would really delve into the smallest of details of each department to keep him self abreast of what is happening within his company.
Aside from embarrassing his managers for overpowering them in their own departments or divisions, George’s style can also cause a lot of confusion and power struggle which can be detrimental to a company who is already trying so hard to survive in an ailing industry. Instead of working towards a concrete goal, his style of management causes factions which can affect the time frame and quality of work that needs to be done.
Another negative consequence of George’s leadership style is that his managers will tend to imitate his leadership style and this could cause too much stress in the company. The pressure that is felt by the subordinates will just result to poor results due to lack of morale. Instead of overseeing and managing, his executives would end up picking on their employees and wasting too much time trying to correct mistakes that could have been done properly if they had the freedom to deal with things individually.
George’s leadership style encourages individualism instead of team building. A big company can become strong if its foundations are supportive groups of people instead of individuals who have their own motives for staying in the company. To be a good leader is to foster team work and understanding among subordinates. Better relationships build loyalty and sincerity in getting things done.
3. What strategies can Shelley employ to better manage her boss? (To answer this question, you may want to read this short piece by Harry E. Chambers: (You can find it through the EBSCO database in Business Source Complete).
Shelley has to get over her feelings of being mislead into the predicament she was in. She has to stop feeling like a victim and put things in proper perspective. When emotions are put aside, she will be able to see that George is coming from a completely different background from hers. She is into the arts while George, an engineer academic standards, uses more of logic to understand and solve problems. She also has to go beyond her department’s problems to understand that George’s problems are way much heavier than hers.
Being a subordinate, it is also required of Shelley that she learns how to follow her boss… even if it seems wrong. Otherwise, she can manipulate George’s decisions into her favor by finding out what motivates him to do things in another way. She can also use her communication skills in professionally sharing her ideas even before George can shoot it down. It can be seen that Shelley tends to just hold back instead of verbally defending her ideas. Micromanagers can still feel in control as long as they see that their subordinates see their problems from the boss’ point of view too. Shelley should put her ideas to work and then find ways of explaining it to George in the light of his perception and not hers.
Shelley also has to inform George of her ideas before she starts writing them. This way, they can discuss which ones he prefer and how they can compromise on how the subject should be given treatment. Simply making a press release, for example, without taking into consideration the boss’ view can be a waste of time because of the corrections. However, if Shelley takes the initiative to place the information needed in front of her boss so that he just has to decide among the choices she offers, then things would be easier to do quickly.
Shelley should also try to find out what makes George have a better relationship with the other managers. She does not have to suck up to him and change her attitude but just analyzing those relationships could create better understanding of how to handle her boss.
Lastly, Shelley really needs to go beyond her department and see things generally from the CEO’s point of view too. George’s responsibilities are far harder to manage than hers and this could give her insight on why he treats her that way.
