The more I read about management, the more scared and in awe (in a bad way) I become about the (un)management I see all around me. There are, of course, exceptions. But most Portuguese managers don’t know the first thing about management. I won’t even get started listing the examples; it would take me all day. And I don’t think it would do much good. Most so-called managers are very hard of hearing. That’s probably why most of them think that shouting conveys orders more effectively. Go figure.
This came about while reading André’s great post on knowledge workers (go for his suggested PeopleWare). This is another aspect of managers’ ignorance: They (mis)treat knowledge workers as if they were factory workers. We are paid to think, not to produce physical goods. That makes all the difference. If you can’t see that, please don’t manage people. Manage an assembly line.
I thougth that all workers need to think about what they are doing, including assembly line workers. So if managers are a bit deaf that’s a big hurdle in any case.
Of course they do need to think, but the level of intelectual effort and creativity required makes all the difference. I’m not minimizing any kind of work at all. Far from it. The thing is, if managers do not appreciate the difference, they might as well not manage creative people, if any people.