Musings about Management

Time Management is one thing where in I always used to fail. Note that I used to fail and now...I am much better faring in this aspect. I have learnt to keep up to my commitments and be on time to any appointment. Unlike the traditional Indian who feels that it is quite normal if you enter a party at a time where in the last rites of the party is being conducted i.e., all the guests are ready for dinner or a few of them already have had dinner and on their way to the parking lot, when you announce your arrival in by either :

1. Loudly speaking out by exclaiming that "Party Over So Soon!!!!!"
2. Honking in the parking lot where another guest is taking his Car out and you are just going to park it.
3. Exclaiming abt a Traffic Jam (though you might not have got delayed even by a min in any traffic signal!!! )

While surfing the blognet (internet of blogs), I got this site which has an article abt Time Management. This Article gives a few instructions or ideas by which you can manage your time properly. Though this is a pretty old article, this gives us some ideas of managing time.

What Pallavi fails to mention in this article is about how to get things done on time even when you delegate. For a normal person who is not in the management cadre in any company, these things cannot happen. She says that being in IT Dept, Managing Time is difficult. I know and I completely agree. But, you just cannot assign your colleague your task coz he/she will also be facing the same problem of time management. If you are in the management cadre, you will be authorised to delegate work. That is the only time where you can delegate work w/o considering whether the other person will be able to complete it or not. Just delegate the work and give a deadline. If the deadline is not achieved, screw his happiness royally. If the deadline is achieved or the work is completed to the best possible extent well b4 the deadline (the other person would have slogged his ass to complete his work + this addnl work) just accept the work w/o any appreciations (Coz any appreciation might need to be put on Paper and that might lead to a subsequent promotion in time, which inturn leads to the manager's position in jeapordy)

I have worked under the best and the worst possible managers, The best and the worst possible team leads and I know how management happens and how they get the work done. It is just the way in which you request or order the subordinate that the manager becomes a best and a worst manager. It is also the knowledge of the manager which leads to this branding and conclusion that a manager is good or bad.

One of my previous managers had come from a call center and she did not know how to save a spreadsheet. She asked my team lead, who promptly gave her the path as Menu Bar -> File Menu -> Save. That manager of mine followed this for more than a month w/o noticing the Floppy button on the Menu Bar or the keyboard shortcut to save Ctrl+S. WOW!!! Basic Computer Knowledge???? One of the requirements to get into an IT/ITES Job is sound computer knowledge. If you don't know the basic knowledge of how to save a file, Shame on you as a manager.

Both the Best and the Worst managers were trained by my best friend in office. The best manager is also from a call center but he appreciates in front of all and disapproves of your actions only privately. The worst manager disapproves you in front of all and never bothers to appreciate. Naturally, ppl are more comfy with the best manager and not with this female.

There are weekends on which we are asked to work and this female comes in an attire which any person is not supposed to wear to the workstation. She thinks that she is there as a model to display stuff which normally goes unseen :) Many guys, for this reason, become close to her and are now getting promotions. They flirt around hopelessly and shamelessly in front of everyone with this manager and she takes that in a light manner. When we approach her (we in the sense, the ppl who disapprove all these things of flirting) for some work or with some doubts, we are thoughtlessly rebuked and sent off. The way you are rebuked is bad....This happens in front of all and it is shown in a way that you don't have any knowledge. If the same or an even sillier doubt is asked for by one of the privileged class (the guys who are close to her), the manager goes over and above her limits to get that solved. Invariably, she delegates one of us to solve that doubt.

Craziness I say...to keep working under the same manager in the same team. No wonder the attrition rate is increasing and the people who are experienced are the people who are quitting. The company will surely not matter this attrition rate coz at the salary of one experienced guy, the company can employ two new ppl and there will always be a bakra in the experienced who will do a successful and complete KT for these new joinees (w/o any improvement in role or position for himself)

That's life...ain't it???