What's Wrong With American Management

In order to understand what is wrong with American Management one must explore what is wrong with American labor because the 2 are not mutually exclusive.

Prior to the twentieth century (1900s) American labor was basically uneducated or under educated and management was seen as their Godfather and/or Dutch uncle.

Godfather here is described as a male godparent; whereas, a Dutch uncle is a person giving firm but benevolent advice. In some cases extreme tolerance was demonstrated but in other cases, it was not.

As companies got larger and more complicated, more layers of management were developed and those working on either end of the spectrum became father and farther removed from each other to the point that they had very little in common at all.

Social status, education, wealth, and dress separated management from labor even further and this distinction was exacerbated in the military where officers and enlisted men did not fraternize in any way shape or form, when not on duty.

This was particularly true after WWII although it had gradually been developing long before them.

However, at the end of WWII and steadily moving forward since then, labor was on an inevitable course of becoming smarter and more intellectual with each passing year.

If management was based upon experience and skill rather than only education then there would be a lot less educated folks in Management position; but, it is not and today if one does not have a Masters Degree then no HR Manager will ever consider talking to you for a management position.

Education then is considered to be the big difference maker between management and labor which is why so much emphasis has been place on high school graduates attending college. However, aside from the Ivy League Schools and well known schools, most colleges and universities are passing students through at an accelerated speed in order to generate revenue.

A normal in class semester is 15/16 weeks with 3 hours each week on each course or a total of 45 classroom hours and another 45 hours spent in reading, research, and writing assignments for a total of 90 hours per course per semester.

Some colleges are saying that time can be accounted for in 6 – 4 hour in classes (1 each week for 6 weeks) because those other 60+ hours will be spent reading, collaborating on discussion questions, doing research and writing papers.

Now, someone has determined that classes can complete those so-called 90 hours in only 5 weeks if it is performed online.

We are typically pumping out potential managers because of their degrees like Ford's early assembly line... and, we wonder why our manager are oftentimes performing inappropriately in specific situations.

Masters Degrees at these schools are not challenging at all and student just put in time and write papers in order to receive their degrees so it might as well be a mail ordered degree.

On the other side of the aisle, labor (as mentioned earlier) is getting smarter and smarter and smarter, especially with the advent of the internet. Consequently, many of the psychological games that management tries to play on them to get them to perform better backfires.

Labor continues however, to play stupid because that is exactly what management expects from them and they really do it well.

In the southern part of the US where I am familiar, labor outside of their 40 hour work week, manages cattle ranches, farms tobacco, maintains rental property, operates heavy machinery, fund raises for school athletics, is a Deacon in the Church, operates a gas station or grocery store, builds houses, or performs all sorts of odd jobs.

They know how to develop budgets, cash flows, income/expense statement, perform intricate marketing strategies, manage people and volunteers, and invest their money into growth opportunities.

When these same people return to work on Monday, Management treats them like they are stupid and when Management makes a bad decision that will costs the company thousands maybe millions of dollars, they will not to offer advice that may have stopped that decision from being made.

As always, I am reminded of a story.

When I was but a young boy, I would find myself performing menial labor as punishment for my inappropriate behavior as directed by my Dad and overseen by my Mother. One particular summer, my inappropriate behavior had been so bad that I had to move 2-3 cords of wood from where they were to the other side of the house, making sure that they were properly stacked and then had to move them back to the same place where I started moving them from, also making sure that they were properly stacked.

I have to perform this mindless task all day from the time my dad left for work in the morning until the time he came up the front sidewalk that evening, even if those two start and stops were performed in the dark.

Of course, I did as I was instructed but have no idea how I must of felt during this process of moving wood as it was just too long ago. I doubt that it had any significant improvements or change on my behavior(s) but I did learn a valuable lesson.

When appropriate, never question, just do... and, I have performed that ritual many times during the course of my career as I performed mindless tasks over and over and over again. When coworkers asked me what I was doing, I would reply, “I am just moving wood.”

As long as management and labor treat each other like the American Government treats Terrorists then we will continue to have management/labor issues inside most of our companies. Management is no different from labor really in that they put their pants on just like labor does, one leg at a time.

There are other issues underlying this problem as well because some managers do not want to give up power or control nor do they want to do anything that keeps their egos in check. Males, for some reason, seem to enjoy engaging in, spitting contests as a way of proving their masculinity when in reality it makes them look weak and childish.

Another issue that causes labor to back off is when they bring an idea to the table and management says that is not good, only to find out that this same management person who turned down this idea has now claimed this idea as his own and is presenting it to his superiors.

Labor will typically only let management fool them once.

So, whatever is wrong with management is exactly what is wrong with labor and one cannot improve without the other one improving and no one can do this first, they both have to do it together and learn to lean on each other when it just does not work right or as it should.

I believe this is called: Taking responsibility and earning one's trust...