Despite a lot of good news concerning employment (more jobs, highest number of people employed since records began and unemployment levels better than most European countries) the bad news is labour productivity is stagnant and at some stage this will have negative consequences unless tackled.
There may be many reasons for this such as low or no pay awards, little training, growth in unskilled work, over worked managers and continued insecurity due to forecast declines in growth in some major countries round the globe.
One real explanation may be the ‘box ticking environment’ operated by many businesses which often eliminates creativity and initiative by employees and managers alike. A recent study by the Chartered Management Institute found that too many managers are robotically following rules rather than making decisions based on their own intuition, common sense and compassion for others. The study went on to say that managers are not using their hearts and minds, but concentrating on complying with rules. In effect managers are just trying to meet targets set by someone else as opposed to questioning whether what they are doing is the right thing to achieve the best result.
We do work in a business world where bureaucracy has been increasing year on year for some time, especially the impact of EU legislation and this is making managers and employees more robotic. Too much regulation makes people defensive and more risk averse so they often fail to take initiatives which would improve performance. Performance management initiatives have often inhibited the very performance they were designed to improve. Performance management assesses people on results and outcomes rather than on behaviours. As a result many will go blindly on to achieve the target without understanding the consequences of others and we find a one step forward two steps backwards situation.
So what can managers do to avoid becoming robots? Well they can become realists and start to think out what is best to improve performance overall. They must be part of the decision-making process which creates a business culture which is not burdened by weighty rule books and bureaucracy. The manager must become a realist and ensure his behaviour stimulates those in his team to think and act in the best interests of the business which should, in turn, create a continuous improvement cycle of performance.
Dr Hugh Billot
HR GO Group of Recruitment Companies
HR GO Recruitment offers solutions to all your staffing needs, temporary and permanent, please call 0845 130 7000
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