By Eugene le Roux, mechanical engineer, one of his regular online articles on general project management principles.
This is the second article on the subject, common mistakes made by managers.
Eugene le Roux, retired mechanical engineer.
© RACA Journal
This article covers:
- Resistance to change
- Wanting to be liked
Could people perhaps reason that if everything seems to be in place, one should stick to the adage: ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Is this view based only on the present conditions, and negates potential future developments?
Could people be scared that changes could open a small Pandora’s box of unseen complications and consequences?
Management systems might be working well, but what if there is place for unexplored substantial improvement?
Do you think that any organisational, or other change must first be evaluated from a total system context? Would this be easy to do? Must the modelling be done then, or should a model of the organization, or product, be available all of the time?
Wanting to be liked
Must our loyalty be towards the organisation, or towards ourselves as employees, or a compromise between the two? One often encounters situations where the ‘man gets bigger than the industry’. Could a person vying for personal popularity perhaps be seen as a step in this direction, where his or her importance is placed above that of the industry?
Is there a chance, just the slightest chance, that such a manager could use the organisation’s resources to enhance his or her popularity, by funding unnecessary trips, courses, and renewal of office furniture? Or could these actions be a legitimate tool to motivate good performance?
Your views are keenly awaited.
