Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It: A Results-Only Guide to Taking Control of Work, Not People

Chapter 3

S.M.A.R.T. Goals = Senseless Minutia Against Random Tasks

This chapter is about shifting the focus away from workplace rules and policies that manage the people and toward a performance management style that manages the work and creates a thriving, productive, and happy workforce. We’ll start by looking at some popular management theories from the past, spend some time conducting a pointed (and sometimes humorous) appraisal of the workplace of today, and start working on converting our thinking and actions to the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) management model and culture.

Throughout history, management theories have hovered around the idea that dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people will produce better results for the organization. For example, in 1911, Frederick Winslow creating “Taylorism,” which argued that if managers treated employees as components that are replaceable, and directed work processes in a precise manner, both the employee and employer could prosper. The drawback was that people didn’t behave as parts, gears or mechanisms. They behaved as people.

In 1923, Alfred P. Sloan took a much different approach—creating a bureaucracy that really was more decentralized and helped GM become the leading car and truck manufacturer worldwide. The idea was to delegate power to others—division leaders taking responsibility for revenue and profit expectations—rather than controlling the entire organization.

Other management theories were born ...