Sunday, February 03, 2008

Manage The Work Not The People

I ve read the first few chapters of "Rules of Management" by Richard Templar a few times already (never mind that I have never got to the end of the book and would always start again and again from the first page) and I think Ive read the principle of managing the work and not the people, but it had never really hit me until last night.

I suddenly realized that to be a manager is not to manage the people.. its more about managing the WORK. People, according to Templar, will know how to manage themselves. Its the work or the system that takes priority here, because even when the machines take over humans jobs, you still have to manage the system and the way the works are done by the machine. Work is still work irregardless whether its done by human being or machines.

The concept really hit me because, whatever all other motivators write in their books about getting your staffs motivated and everything, people in their true and nature selves cannot easily change. You just cant expect people to transform themselves after a few days of motivational camp. After a couple of weeks they will forget everything they've vowed to do, all the working commandments, the ethics... bla bla bla bla... and soon after you will find that they will turn into their usual selves again.

How long can we sustain being eager, motivated, excited about our work... and how often can the employer keep on sending staffs for courses and camps ? When jobs need to be done, we dont wait for the staffs to be motivated .. All we would want is the tasks to ready in due time and without so many mistakes ...


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