What is Management?

I’ve been doing some deep thinking, trying to work out what “management” actually is. When somebody tells you that they are “a manager”, what does that mean they do? Frankly, I am not sure I know

Shaun the manager

In times past I have been “a manager” and for the life of me I can’t remember much about what I physically did. In fact a while ago I reached the firm conclusion that I wasn’t cut out for this management mallarky. I liked nothing more than when people just got on with things and left me alone. When they came to me and gave me something to do, it usually meant that something or someone wasn’t working properly, or that something unexpected or inconvenient had cropped up. Either way it meant hassle for me and the potential to screw up. So for years I’ve been telling people that I was a really, really bad manager. I could only manage people and systems that didn’t need “managing”

Anyway, my conclusion, based on my own experiences and reflections, has been that “management” is some sort of intervention, that is required when something has gone wrong, to either mitigate or rectify a situation. Or sometimes to hide it

Why do systems need “management”?

I think this is a burning question, rather than a rhetorical one. Am I so wrong to yearn for systems that don’t need “management”? Systems that don’t really have “problems” and don’t need continual management intervention? I don’t think I am. A system that didn’t need management, or not much of it, would by definition work well all of the time. It would also be efficient, as its overhead would be lower

Conversely, then, is it such a stretch to suggest that systems that need lots of this “management” must have pretty big problems? Could we argue that the heavier the management burden (and I do see it as a burden) the worse shape the system is in? So far as system health is concerned, less is more. I could go so far as to say that “management” could be viewed as not much more than a systematic and accepted “work around”, there to compensate for endemic and inherent system weaknesses

Research project anyone?

I would love some bright (but not necessarily young) thing to take this on as a thesis, as I’d really like to see some statistical analysis done on it. If anyone out there wishes to take it on, please cite me as your inspiration, and let me in on what you find