Article Abstract:
Two British corporate trainers, Bruce Nixon and Richard Allen, have worked to improve management quality at Sun Alliance, a United Kingdom insurance company that employs 12,000 people. Unlike many trainers, who focus their attention on upper management or entry level workers, Nixon and Allen have directed most of their efforts at middle management. They discuss several lessons learned about management development: the necessity of acting, at times, without desired approval; to clearly define objectives and be committed to them; to avoid being involved in politics while still being cognizant of them; to develop trust; to always maintain an egalitarian team effort; to know when to stop; and to encourage independent action.
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Article Abstract:
Managers should use self-analytical techniques to determine whether they are supervising employees effectively. Four warning signs of bad management are: poor employee morale; high turnover; a positive change in work environment in the supervisor's absence; and domination, by demanding approval of everything leaving the department. There are three types of bad managers: those who believe they are too important to take subordinates seriously; those who are self-made managers and like to be surrounded by 'yes men'; and those who believe they are the only truly competent workers in their department. A seven-point test is presented to gauge managerial ability in a quantitative way.
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Article Abstract:
Upper levels of management should welcome newly appointed supervisors to the ranks of management, since this demonstrates the camaraderie of company management and impresses upon new supervisors that subordinate employees are important. Company loyalty can be promoted when meeting new supervisors. Four hypothetical cases involving new supervisors are discussed; the cases include: supervisors promoted from non-supervisory positions after years of service, supervisors who have been promoted after a short employment history with the firm, supervisors transferred within the corporation, and employees who have been brought in at the supervisory level.
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