Are Bosses Needed?
by Miki Saxon
Is the picture true? Do people need bosses?
A study about the value of middle management and what happens when it is significantly improved focused on manufacturing in India, but the bottom line, and what is universal, is that good managers and management practices can raise productivity in any situation.
But do highly educated knowledge workers need bosses as much as unskilled factory workers or could they produce the same results on their own?
Let’s make this very personal.
Think about the differences you found when working for a good boss and for a bad one—even if the relativity was more like good/great, bad/worse, or the most common, OK/so-so.
Think about how you felt when the alarm went off; did you look forward to your destination or shrink from it?
During the day did you feel part of a productive team; one that was making a difference and helping the company accomplish its goals or did it feel dysfunctional, untrustworthy, with everyone faking it?
Did you end the work day with a feeling of accomplishment and good mental attitude that you could share with family and friends or did you go home, slam the door and yell at the humans or animals that greeted you?
Trace those feelings back to the management actions and attitudes that fostered them.
Now you know what to do and not do yourself and which to do more of or eliminate.
No question that people need bosses, but what they really need are good to great bosses—and with a little effort you can be one.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/builtbydave/2149638304/
