An Essay on “The Micromanager”

The end study entitled The Micromanager was written by Bronwyn Fryer, Jim Goodnight, Mark Goulston, Craig Chappelow and Michael Lawrie for the Harvard air Review ledger last September 2004.The fictional falsehood was about a CEO of Retronics Corporation, George Latour. George be take a breatherves that he is an exceptional drawing card and has a master to increase the companys benefit with a goal of excellence towards the softw be-engineering degenerate. Instructed by the board chairman, George hired a natural marketing straight offor, Shelley Stern, who, according to the chairman, only inescapably a bit of training in the softw be-engineering business. He does his topper to bring Shelly up to date.George has her sit in on developer meetings, agonistic her to do client calls, and even has the finance office explain the companys financial affairs on her. George has tendencies to be meticulous, interfering with Shellys do work, suppressing her creativity and suggesting his own better ideas. George withal gives blind comments like when he state Thanks, Shel. Youre the best although Shelly felt down that clock time when George repelled her creativity. Doing all this made Shelley unhappy and neer seems to show interest. In truth, she sees Georges management course as oppressive, making her awfully depressed. In the end, Shelly rebelled and acc apply George as a micromanager, plot of ground leaving George taken aback and could neer believe what he heard.Both parties, George and Shelly, contrive about puzzles in terms of belief and character. As CEO of the company, George carries a lot of twinge on his shoulders that is why he tries his best to excel the demands of the profligate since the company is non in a well-behaved shape. He overexerts himself by interfering with the work of his subordinates. Clearly, he lacks some sensitivity and trust to his underlings and makes the work done by doing it himself. George is uncomfortable with his com munication channel and thinks that the blame could only point at him thats why he is cowardly to accept radical ideas from his underlings.Shelly, on the other(a) hand, is quite new to the business. Although she has the qualifications for the line of work, she still require a lot to learn and inevitably to adjust spontaneously according to the demands of the firm and her political old-timer. Shelly believes that she has good qualities and gives overconfidence on her work. She withal thinks that her ideas are excellent and require to be praised not criticized, as done nonchalantly by George. As a fresh hired employee, she is pressured to show her good qualities to her co-workers and appropriate a good impression as a marketing director. Shelly trusts herself and believes that she can corroborate on her own without the help or intervention of her superiors.According to the U.S. array Handbook of 1973, in that respect are three general types of drawing cardship. They are ( 1) dictatorial or domineering vogue (2) Participative or democratic trend, and (3) Delegative or thaw reign manner. Authoritarian or autocratic vogue is basically aimd when the boss tells his subordinates what he wants done and how he wants the job done without getting the advice or sound judgement of his subordinates. An appropriate condition to use this style is when all the information to solve the problem is provided, there is time pressure, and the subordinates are easy motivated to accept hasty commands.Some trap minded people think of this style as an excuse for yelling, using bruise language, leading to threats and abuse of power. This is not the haughty style only rather an abusive, unethical style called bossing people around. Authoritarian style is normally used on rare homes when necessary. Participative or democratic style of leadership is preferred if time is much(prenominal) forthcoming and the leader wants to gain much commitment and motivation fr om the subordinates. This style includes the employees in on the finale making litigatees. However, internal and skillful employees should take part in the cover and the leader affirms the final decision as a foreshorten of authority.Using this style does not show weakness of the leader but rather a sign of strength and trust that the employees will respect. In delegative or free reign style, the boss allows the employees to make their own decision. This style is used when employees are able fully receptive of analyzing the situation and can determine what needs to be done to solve a certain problem. Although the employees had the power to make decisions, the tariff and final decision always lie on the leader himself.For a good leader to become more powerful he should be able to use all three styles depending on the situation and the forces involved between him and his subordinates. The leader should recognize when and how to adjust to meet the demands of the firm as well a s to maintain a good image to his employees. As for George Latour, he should improve on becoming a leader by listening more to develop more productive ideas and to have a mutual relationship to his followers. He should not concentrate himself on how his employee sees him but focus on maximizing the available resources to have better and productive planning.The biggest problem for Shelly and George would be the lack of efficient communication. to the highest degree of the problems and conflicts that occur in a firm or organization are the direct result failure to put across and misunderstanding. unseasonable communication leads to confusion and can creator good plans to be unsuccessful. Communication is tell to be the exchange of information or ideas from a vector to a telephone receiver. (Communication and Leadership) competent communication happens if the receiver comprehends the information that the sender wanted to address. Open mindedness in like manner plays a big part in communication. It sharpens the cogency of the receiver to understand what the sender is adage thus making the communication process more efficient.Good communication is also stark to attain especially when there are some barriers that prevent the sender and receiver to understand for each one other. Some of these verbalize barriers of communication are culture, beliefs, noise, physical and rational stresses, past experiences, and environmental factors such as bright lights, unnatural sights, unattractive soul or any stimuli that can build distraction. (Communication and Leadership)For a good communication process to happen, both parties should overcome these barriers to have a more productive relationship with each other. In the case of George and Shelly, they must bear themselves of the stresses that they carry so that they can communicate effectively. Shelly should exert herself on listening to suggestions and cartel it with her creative ideas while George must also try to become more slight and to give more trust to his employees.ReferencesBronwyn Fryer, J. G. (Sep 2004). The Micromanager. Harvard Business Review 8p, 2c, 4bw , p31-40, 8p, 2c, 4bw.Communication and Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved August 27, 2007, from The Skagit Watershed Council Website http//www.skagitwatershed.org/donclark/leader/leadcom.htmlLeadership Styles. (n.d.). Retrieved August 27, 2007, from The Skagit Watershed Council Website http//www.skagitwatershed.org/donclark/leader/leadstl.htmlUnited States Army Handbook. (1973).