"When you confront a problem you begin to solve it."
Rudy Giuliani
In business as in life, the path of least resistance really isn't although many managers would like to believe otherwise. Organizations that teach their management to identify problems as a first step to solving them are way ahead of those that don't.
The worst managers are those that allow what they know to be wrong to occur because they do not want to endure confrontation. They will let the ship sink versus plugging the hole.
ReplyDeleteSome organizations, the Japanese in particular, do all they can to prevent confrontation. They would rather not acknowledge a problem rather than do so and have some "lose face".
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree in theory with Jennifer's comment, I think the difficulty that managers face is that decision-making is very rarely, black and white.
ReplyDeleteI have issues facing me right now which an outsider may conclude has a simple answer or decision that needs to be made. In reality though, things like organizational politics and sensitivity around potential legal action have to be factored into decisions that may appear to be sub-optimal.
The cynic would point to my last sentence as an excuse for not doing the "right thing" (which is a relative term in and of itself) but someone point out the company that doesn't face these organizational dynamics so that I can apply for a job there.
GSS is talking about the "shades of truth" that are in all companies; realities that those looking in fail to see. Employees scratch their head and wonder why the manager doesn't simply do what is to them so obvious. The manager doesn't because of things the employee does not see.
ReplyDeleteMy only remedy for this is to share as much possible information with all affected by what the company does but even then that isn't always enough.