Great thread everyone! Lot’s of juicy bits to digest!
Before I forget, I wanted to mention the title of a book that those following this thread might want to read. The title of the book is “Control Theory” by William Glasser. It is a short read, perhaps 2 or 3 nights of reading.
Glasser speaks to the point of Environment. Particularly, he makes to distinctions. First is “Boss Management”, the traditional “Boss knows best and tells us what to do!” The other is “Leader Management” where the leader works cooperatively with subordinates on a level playing field. I think that Energy’s posts in particular raise this distinction. But what is confusing my mind a bit is the distinction between Morale and Environment. I’m thinking that they are two sides of the same coin.
Connecting this thought with Herzberg’s separation of Hygienic and Motivational Factors, it begins to clear some of the confusion. Hygienic factors include among others: security, salary, status, work conditions, and company policy (I’m missing a few I think). Then there are the Motivational Factors: Growth, Job Satisfaction, Advancement, Recognition, and Achievement. To Mike’s point, exact measurement systems may not be achievable, but with prejudice, artful measures might give us a frame of reference to work within. As Energy points out, most folks can make a fair assessment of Morale with general feedback (comments/body language, etc.). But there is great danger in accepting things on face value. If we do this, we conveniently disregard biases known and unknown to us, as well as our limitations with understanding all the assumption, true or false, that are in play.
But as Dr. Deming often said, the most important numbers are “unknown and unknowable”. He quickly follows up that it would be a blatant disregard of management not to “manage the things that can’t be accurately measured.” Here, I think it comes down to collecting the data the best we can and attempt to take the Art of Management to the Science of Management. Many of the contributors here have offered some items for consideration.
What measures, soft or hard, are the most important attributes management should be concerned with? What environment (boss or leader) do you find your organization in? It seems clear to me that while Mike and Energy chose a leader management environment, the Big Fish the work for are entrenched in the boss management environment style.
Regards,
Kevin
