What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

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  1

  psvend

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Screaming at subordinates in a demeaning way in front of others.

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  2

  okioway

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Shooting the messenger.

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  3

  bjnbrown

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Combining job functions that are temperamentally incompatible instead of hiring two individuals properly suited to each task. Particularly today, not hiring two half time experienced experts instead of a single full-time compromise.
  Distain for the value of experience and wisdom of older workers.
  

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  4

  jeankeller

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Ditto on all of the above-- especially disdain for the value of experience and wisdom of older workers.

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  5

  Keruise

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Making it so complicated to suggest or implement new ideas that people soon stop trying and let things stay the way they are.

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  6

  Overestimated Myself

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  yeah, what is it about dysfunctional internal competition?...so counterproductive...as is the hoarding of knowledge and failure to share same
  
  collegial cooperative teamwork is almost unheard of anymore...does everything have to be adversarial?
  
  i was once chastised by my president when i expressed shock at not knowing a particular fact directly involved with my position...I was told "well, frankly, it was none of your business"...seriously, wtf?
  
  all i can figure is that all of them are not smart, but at least smart enough to know they've risen above their level of competence and live in constant fear of being pulled off whatever rung of the ladder they perceive themselves to be on
  
  yertle the turtle-ism

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  7

  Rational_Observer

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  PIP - Peformance Improvement Plan (HRs usual way to check out people with out any legal implication - sounds benevolent 30-60-90 day interval evaluation AND OUT ) I wonder if there are stats on the success rates for PIPs
  
  To get people out who typically fall into the following categoriies (and rarely has any thing to do with the actual performance):
  WHO peform well above the supervisor and become a threat for his job,
  WHO are indepndent thinking and questioning status quo
  WHO NEED to PUSHED OUT TO ACCOMDATE a fair haired boy won't get the job

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  8

  practicalleadership

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Stupid management practices are not confined to America alone. I'm from New Zealand and we, like economies all over the world, suffer from management myopia; the most insidious example being a variation of dangerous complexity ... where a complex, topical, "sexy" solution is employed for a problem that cries out for a simple, practical, commonsense solution. The reason is that when it goes to hell in a handbasket you can always avoid blame and say it was the consultants' fault! That's why I advise my clients to get the basics right before they look at anything more complicated.

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  9

  Ronio@...

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Hiring a big consulting company to fix problems you don't understand..and oh yea, firing all of the people who do.

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  10

  bjwtaylor

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Destroying teamwork by tolerating, even supporting and promoting, prima donnas who openly refuse to work with others and thrive on destroying everyone else with outright lies to make themselves look good.
  
  Taking loyalty for granted and abusing those loyalists who are keeping them (the managers) in their jobs, while kissing down to openly disloyal subordinates because they (the managers) are afraid of these subordinates. Then they wonder why neither the loyal nor the disloyal respect them.
  
  Not supporting subordinates who hold the responsibility for getting the work done when those subordinates run into stonewalling peers. Why? Because they stonewallers might get upset and quit.
  
  Listening to high-priced consultants who have never set foot in the company or the industry before and know nothing about a particular issue while not even allowing their own internal experts and audit groups to speak frankly to tell them what the problem is.
  

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  11

  thecurvyjeweller

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Is that all you have Jessica? Hardly worth mentioning isn't it?

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  12

  Inthesky

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Believing in what management gurus say.

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  13

  tticeric

  09/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  I must say, this is not only America's practice.
  
  And I would say the biggest minus is chasing after a result or a
  goal at any cost.

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  KRSCHRADER

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  How is a fair amount of people ignore the fact that most managers feel threatened by those they "manage" and the best way to survive or succeed in most cases is to "dumb down". Do not ignore the fact that you are a threat to them....in their own insecure way, they want you to not be brighter, quicker etc....they thrive on this phobia of insecurity as they demonstrate in their "meetings" ..ie.any type of emails...conference calls...new policy statements..the next time you are involved...you will succeed by mouth closed...ears open....and "dumming down".....and for you managers reading this...be honest with yourself...and if you are...you will then be on the right path to real management.

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  15

  jenyj89

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  America's stupidist management practice is to promote just because someone does a good job or worse yet, because they're a butt-kisser. This usually guarantees that you are not going to be getting a good manager in the process. You will be getting someone who is terrified they will be found out to be a fraud, a butt-kisser, incompetent, and so on....so they generally stab their own people in the back to keep them in their places!! It's ugly but it generally tends to work because the good-old-boy-system backs itself up. They all back each other up, until one of they screws up so bad that everyone steps back and has to let that one take the fall for them all.
  
  It's not a hard system to figure out...it's at work and well in every place of business in America.

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  16

  LSCOOK

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Taking someones idea and representing it as your own.

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  17

  C.A.J.

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Extreme Top Down practices.
  
  Griping about incompetent work but not doing anything about it.
  
  In "Top Down" negative environments it can be difficult to draw any attention to the problem for fear of the repercussions.
  
  "Top Down" is old school. The newer generations were not raised or schooled that way.
  
  Inability or refusal to change with the times, learn new methods and work towards the long term benefits. Especially when the new methods are proven to be more effective and efficient.

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  18

  bad_with_the_internets

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  When did Stupidest become an accepted word?

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  19

  SteveTIB

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Just look at Deming's 14 points for Management from his 1982 book, Out of the Crisis and pick one.
  
  I'll pick "drive out fear".
  
  How many times have you been or seen a manager punish someone for making a mistake or error without looking into what casued it in the first place? Causes of errors are typically 85-95 percent system based and top management owns the system?
  
  ?Only about 15 percent of [problems] can be traced to someone who didn?t care or wasn?t conscientious enough. But the last person to touch the process, pass the product, or deliver the service may have been burned out by ceaseless [problem solving]; overwhelmed with the volume of work or problems; turned off by a ?snoopervising? manager; out of touch with who his or her team?s customers are and what they value; unrewarded and unrecognized for efforts to improve things; poorly trained; given shoddy material, tools, or information to work with; not given feedback on when and how products or services went wrong; measured (and rewarded or punished) by management for results conflicting with his or her immediate customer?s needs; unsure of how to resolve issues and jointly fix a process with other functions; trying to protect himself or herself or the team from searches for the guilty; unaware of where to go for help. All this lies within the system, processes, structure, or practices of the organization.? Jim Clemmer Firing on All Cylinders", 1992

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  20

  mnotter

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  I agree with "thecurvyjeweller". It saddens me that a bright young woman could only come up with reading someone elses's blog for their idea and then having readers submit their ideas. It'd be nice to get your view point on American Managment -- difficult as that may be when you're living in England.
  This article does illustrate another stupid management mistake... Let's bring up a subject that was someone else's idea and then ask for the legwork and input to be done by others, and then we'll compile it, present it, and make ourselves feel like we've accomplished something.
  Jessica, you're smarter than this. Do some of your own digging and give us "your" fresh take on management -- not just all you know about blogging.

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  21

  mkubik7

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  You can see that readers are both passionate about this subject, and have lots of experience (probably both being and seeing bad managers). I have made plenty of dumb mistakes as a leader, but hopefully I learn from them and don't repeat them! I have 3 Stupid Management Practices that I want to share:
  1) Socializing bad behavior. Just because someone produces on a project, doesn't mean that they should get away with treating people poorly. Reward the good work, fix the bad behavior.
  2) The Yearly Review Process (especially with "high performance" teams). First the process ends up being an excuse to tell people what is "wrong" with them. Second, we tend to use it with forced ranking layered over the top. You can always tell when it is review time - the "Top 10%" are happy and everyone else is not.
  3) Managers who represent their team's work as all their own. As a leader you should always look for opportunities to bring the expert with you and get them exposure to other leaders. Good leaders look for ways to make their folks feel special; they will deliver results if they know they are appreciated for what they do!

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  22

  adeangulo

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  In 14 years of executive recruiting, it is apparent to me that candidates do not leave companies, they leave managers.
  
  While I have heard numerous reasons for wanting to make a change in employment, most often the reason is being micromanaged.
  
  This is problem that really starts at one or two levels above the micro-manager. Often, second-level managers hire a subordinate manager who does not have the specific knowledge and experience commensurate with the group and processes that they will be managing. There are two reasons for this. One is that senior management does not respect what it takes to do the job. Or, they are looking for a new set of eyes to give the group a different perspective on the business.
  
  Regardless, the result is often the same. These misplaced managers gravitate to what they know best, and are often afraid of being caught off guard by senior management. They begin taking deep dives into what they know best, pointing to what needs to be fixed - not feeling confident enough to be more strategic and selective in choosing their battles. As KRSCHRADER pointed out, in most cases, they are insecure. Consequently, they consistently focus on the negatives and not the positives.
  
  This creates a miserable working environment.
  

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  23

  Camrismom

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  In 10 years of being a middle level manager, the consistently resounding poor management practice was one that is very simple; allowing greed to motivate your decisions. Very few Americans can get past this one, manager or not, but in my experience I see on a regular basis decisions made that are determined not by what is best for the customer, company, or employee (ya know, the people trying to support their family...) but instead on what is best for lining the pocket of the manager.

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  24

  ms211

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  What have you done for me lately?

  1: Horribly unrealistic growth goals and sales expectations: It's all about your current results, measured in nanoseconds. Everybody's got to be a salesperson, no, make that rainmaker.
  
  2: Dumbing down (and not paying for) technical expertise, primarily making everyone a salesperson. (Look at the proliferation of "professional" designations!). Here's my pro designation: BMF.
  
  Everybody sells, no body services. Everybody sells devoid of real advice (unbiased, technically and fundamentally sound advice). Look at the banking/financial services mess. Used to be you needed a real economics/finance education to be a banker, now just be a retail salesperson and move product!
  
  Buy the wrong or a bad mattress, ruin your back. Buy the wrong or a bad financial product, destroy your financial health.
  
  3. Making "maximizing shareholder value" a goal of frontline employees. WTF. It's about the quality of my job, my care of our clients and, if we get that right, shareholders will be very happy.
  
  4. Career administrative cowards: Managers who have never done any of the jobs of the people who report to them, yet, seem to have all of the answers and make the ridiculous demands. (By the way, it takes courage to maintain ethics!).
  
  I have a few more for later!

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  R. B.

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  There are some good comments and observations above, which indicates there are a lot of bad role models out there.
  
  Here are a few stupid management practices I've observed:
  

  • Playing favorites.
  • Playing the blame game and teaching (via demonstration, through their actions) their subordinates to do likewise.
  • Hidden agendas. Seeking their own "good" over the good of the organization as a whole.
  • Demeaning, egotistical, disrespectful, backstabbing behavior toward subordinates as well as toward others in the organization. I guess you could sum it up by saying they have low EQ, are self-centered and self-serving and try to make themselves look good by making others look bad.
  • Unethical behavior and practices.
  • Setting unrealistic expectations / goals / deadlines.
  • Negative outlook and talk, especially about others in the organization.
  • Micromanaging.
  • Seek power and control, even though this is destructive to the business.
  • Thinking they are better, smarter, more on top of things than everyone else. Basically, they judge themselves very favorably and judge others very harshly - and they're very verbal about it. Pick apart everyone else and always point out their faults, but never acknowledge their own.

  
  
  Personally, I have a very difficult time with a manipulative, negative manager who has hidden agendas and who is always trying to make themselves look better by tearing others apart. Sad thing is, these manipulators tend to win, even though they hurt the organization and damage others in their quest for power. It's discouraging, to me anyway.
  
  From all the comments, looks like poor / stupid managers are abundant and thriving...
  

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  26

  ivana235

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Taking for granted the "rightness" of all above stated into other countries' practices.

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  27

  dukemt

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Using elaborate and costly strategic planning processes to "shake up the world" and even disrupt those teams that were running efficiently and productively before, in order to achieve some personal agenda, avoid a comparatively minor communication or personnel problems, or who knows for what reason. Consultants do quite well though. Change - it's an industry!

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  28

  virtualweb

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  All of the above are examples of bad management in action. I agree they all are prevalent in the workplace. These actions are driven by managements' failure to place the long-term viability of the organization before their short-term career goals or short-term shareholder/stakeholder demands.
  
  Has anyone seen a change in the works, or are management practices becoming increasingly dysfunctional?
  
  Cindy
  

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  29

  Fiesty1

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  I agree with mkubik7. Performance Reviews have got to be one of the most ill conceived ideas of the 20th century. Being a manager for 12 years, I can truthfully say that I only do them because I have to. The format we use in our office does not benefit me or the employee. It does make HR happy and makes them feel good when they can spout numbers of manager's who don't turn Performance Reviews in....so what's the point.
  
  I also agree with mkubik7 point on manager's who use their staff ideas as theirs. I have a lot of truly talented technicians, who should get credit for the hard work they do. In my 30 years here I have seen this happen so many times. What the manager's in our company need to know is that we know who you are and we know those aren't your ideas.

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  cac_70@...

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  OMG have u seen our candy machin it only has stupid chocolate bars and jolly ranchers grrrr what am i sposed to eat for lunch grrrr makes me scream out loud almost grrrrr

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  kjenkins

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Giving nothing, expecting everything!

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  32

  Fseppy

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  As a consultant who gets to pop in and out of some of
  America's largest companies, I see frenetic, overscheduled,
  overstructured, everything-is-a-priority-until-its-a-crisis
  management as a huge dysfunction that causes many of the
  practices described above.

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  slow,clumsy&dumb

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Lack of monitoring. As an internal auditor, my results shouldnt be a suprise to you. Many managers do not know what systems / processes arent working properly until we point it out, or it becomes a crisis.
  
  Lack of accountability. Its a military principle that you can delegate authority but not responsibility. You still own and are accountable for what you delegate, but many managers give up any sense of ownership when they delegate a task.
  
  And then there is the idea that attrition is a good thing because they are separating the wheat from the chaff. High attrition means that they require high performance and those who leave are inferior employees. Usually, the ones who leave are the ones who are talented enough to find a less dysfunctional envirnment and the ones who stay do so because they have nowhere to go.
  
  As pointed out frequently above, most of these are cause by insecurity, either because the manager feels like he is in over his head, or because he has a manager who is dysfunctional as well.

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  34

  Modyfied1

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  R.B. must have worked in the same companies I have!
  So if there is such an understanding of bad management, why does it flourish? We used to have leaded paint, found out it was hazardous, eradicated it, scraped away the bad, replaced it with good. No more problem.
  
  And Nepotism also flourishes....

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  35

  Justa Productmanager

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Time wasting through repetitious tasks. In my company, we have a meeting every Monday to update everyone on what we accomplished the week before and what we are working on this week. Then we go back to our desks and type it up and email it to everyone. Then once a month we have a one-on-one sit down with our manager to go over what we?ve discussed every Monday and emailed every week. Then also once a month, we convert all that information into a PowerPoint presentation and have a meeting where we present the same basic information that?s been discussed every Monday and emailed every week to the same group of people all over again? only this time it has graphics!
  In between all that, we try to actually do our jobs so that we have new information to present the following Monday.
  

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  36

  bromosapien

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Praise in public, chew in private.

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  37

  bobsut@...

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Thanks to everyone for your diverse and wonderful comments. And I agree especially about performance reviews. Also, it is interesting that on be of the the themes people keep sending my emails about is the disease where senior executives spend money on management consultants as a substitute for thinking themselves and for getting things done. I am NOT slamming all consultants here, as many do help leaders with their thinking process and do help them take action -- it is when they are used as a substitute rather than an impetus for doing the right thing.
  
  Again, thanks so much for your thoughtful comments
  
  Bob Sutton
  www.bobsutton.net
  

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  38

  kathleen.roedell@...

  09/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  The one thing that I don't see listed here, and forgive me if I missed a post regarding it, is limited communications. Sometimes this is done intentionally, management withholds crucial pieces of information, or only doles out bits and pieces to certain individuals - other times it is done unconsciously, management is consumed with putting out fires and attending meetings, and has no time to diseminate information. Either way, the workforce is left out of the decision making process, and left in the dark when major changes occur.
  
  It always makes sense to have individuals outside of your organization look through a plan to see if there are any logic flaws - I do that with and for my coworkers, they do that for me as well. Sometimes when communications are closed, the people that can help you the most are left out of the loop.

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  39

  drcassie8

  09/26/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  I'm in The Federal Government:
  
  (1) repeatedly sending managers who actually require remedial help to VERY expensive "Leadership Training" where they are primarily told:
  
  (a) dump vs. delegate
  (b) make things 'look' good even when they aren't and
  (c) that they are inherently 'leaders' by virtue of ..being there....
  
  Meanwhile NO training (especially for newly promoted managers) seems to be provided on basic skilds such as
  
  (a) delegating vs. dumping
  (b) prioritizing
  (c) learning to stay on top of what is going on
  (d) learning to hold effective meetings vs. setting up longer and longer staff meetings without a true agenda or purpose
  (e) learning to hire effectively but also, to determine types of staff that are needed; this would seem obvious but is apparently not
  (e) learning to gain respect of employees, many of whom have substantially more expertise and experience but would welcome a true 'leader.'
  
  (2) incentivizing the wrong things. "Pay for performance" sounds great but:
  
  (a) At least at my agency, managers who 'rate' employees are competing for the same pot of bonus money: 71% of those who got the 'exceptional' ratings were the ones making the decision on who should get the awards. Apparently some very complex and difficult work was accomplished solely by managers operating in isolation and beaming out thought waves; sadly, many couldn't tell you who is doing what among 10-15 employees--who tend to be able to work quite well on their own.
  
  (b) same managers deliberately avoid giving 'too good' ratings to their most competent employees because they don't want others (potential employers etc) to poach them.
  
  (c) same managers will sprinkle the 'good' ratings to 'young things,' employees who 'want to buy a new house,' etc. because the agency really wants to see smiling faces (see below). And gosh, it sure helps buy personal loyalty.
  
  (d) too many (and this should scare the tax-paying public) have become ruthless about doing only what will 'show up' on their ratings vs. what is right. At my agency--which has basement-level employee satisfaction ratings--overall administration has launched all sorts of touchy-feely events which employees are however pressured to attend via sign-off sheets, constant e-mail reminders, 'visitors' interrupting their work to insist on attendance; photos are taken to document all management is doing. Employees still miserable but 'up top' they will get some really nice bonuses.
  
  (e) managers are incentivized to 'replace lost positions quickly'--but no one seemed to notice that one manager had to replace almost 6 people, almost half his workforce, because of employees fleeing from his mediocrity. Nope, he got more points for then circumventing the competitive hiring practice through various 'tricks' available in government.
  
  (f) managers are rewarded for 'entrepreneurial' outlook which in some cases has translated to illegal/unethical practices. Employees are pressured to 'collaborate' even while exhorted to take training which makes very clear what is proper and what is not; managers are NOT required to take same training. Said one: "I'm not the one who will get in trouble." Outcome for the taxpayer: more naive employees are rewarded for 'going along' while those who try to keep things on the straight and narrow must spend a ridiculous amount of time simply documenting and attempting to get someone higher up to "do something." Which also detracts from time and energy left to do good work.
  
  Really, it always seems to come down to 'what is so hard about doing the right thing and doing it intelligently.'
  
  
  
  

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  40

  MarthaL

  09/26/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Implementing new process-improvement strategies...every month or right after the manager finished reading the "most innovative" management book

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  41

  KRSCHRADER

  09/27/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  I have returned ..and after reading the comments of others...my main threaded view is that there is a sect of liar's out there in the management ranks....IF ALL WERE BRUTALLY TRUTHFUL, would they improve their tasks as managers? And would you accept this frankness?

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  42

  johnbaerg@...

  09/27/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Ditto on these two:
  1) Praise in public, criticize in private.
  
  2) Annual reviews. The employee doesn't appreciate being told once every 12 months what they're doing right or wrong. In most cases, the employee is listening to the manager drone, while awaiting the end result: how much of a raise am I going to get?

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  43

  maverickone

  09/28/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  When an organization identifies key pitfalls to the current way of doing business, brings in new blood to drive needed change, but when change-adverse individuals raise their voices, senior management transitions leadership of change from the driver to the challenger...and nothing gets done!

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  44

  jenyj89

  09/28/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  As another Federal employee, a stupid Management practice that I see constantly is upper managers that ignore talented people who have worked for their agencies for years when hiring for vacanies. Instead they go out and hire a just-retired MSgt for the job..."because he needs a job." Or they hire someone from another agency..."because we really need some new blood in here."
  
  It's demoralizing and demeaning, when there are many people already in the agency that put in for the job, get told they are qualified and do not get the job!!

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  45

  JSWcap

  09/28/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Lots of good thoughts here. I would add my own underline to:
  1. Meetings for the sake of having meetings.
  2. Using corporate values buzzwords without demonstrating their implementation and practice at a senior level. (100% guaranteed to breed cynicism and eye-rolling)
  3. Adding complexity to systems and processes as a substitute for critically examining if they are necessary at all. Why do we need another program to get employees involved? So that we have an excuse to bombard them with an extra 4 e-mails a week....which they will all delete. How did 'streamlining' come to mean 'increasing the expected speed at which this process should be accomplished, thus increasing the amount of stress, errors etc.'
  
  I hope that everyone else posting has had the luxury of having or working with a great manager, or at a well-managed company...I think that you learn equally from those that do it poorly, and those that do it well. May we all avoid these mistakes in our own careers!

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  46

  LifeisBella

  09/29/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  I've been fortunate in that the majority of managers I've worked for have been supportive and fair. There is one notable exception however. That particular individual was extremely narcissistic and self serving.
  
  She would assign projects to the mid-level managers that reported to her then never follow-up or utilize the work product; consistently schedule meetings causing others to rearrange their own schedules and then cancel at the last minute; take personal credit for client accounts courted and landed by her subordinates; and blame subordinates when her shortcomings came back to bite her.
  
  The straw that broke the camel's back for me, however, was when she agreed with my assessment of my team's challenges and my plan for course correction with the understanding that certain individuals would probably have a problem with the changes. Two months later I found out (before they happened) that she had agreed to meet with two of my subordinates behind my back. It was by chance that I happened to see these meetings on her public calendar and called her on it before they took place. She never did meet with them probably more because of her propensity to cancel at the last miniute than from my objections. I was only there for 7 months before I moved on to much greener pastures.
  
  
  
  Sidebar *** It's is also interesting to note that in this instance I broke my own rule of never giving negative information in an exit interview. Everyone who worked for this woman was suffering and I thought my candor might help them. She was eventually let go but it took almost another year.

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  47

  almcfarland

  09/29/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Mistaking cutting costs with saving money... but it's a long list.
  
  http://pivotpointsolutions.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/cutting-costs-vs-saving-money/

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  48

  Rational_Observer

  09/30/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Extraordinarily Egotistic: "Thank us you have a job !!! ".. which in the current economy is very appropriate. However, may not be true in all cases -- especially when dealing with top heavy senior producers in their particular technical specialties.
  
  "If not you there are many on the street !! " -- there is not a consideration of whether prospective employee from off the street wil have similar qualifications / matching skills / functionality etc..
  
  They would rather loose / get a rid of a valuable long tnenued and producing employee to the utter surprise of 99.99% of colleagues, peers and managers --just to make a point , lest others may folow the suit.

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  49

  Fiesty1

  10/01/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Holding a staff meeting even when there is nothing to talk about, just because it is on the calendar.

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  50

  Ancient_One

  10/04/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Selling dishonestly at the staff. Staff lives in the envirionment; it does not take long for many to learn when their so-called leadership is fouling the nest, and polluting the working relationships.
  
  Integrity is a key componenet to sustainable leadership. Effective communications maintain that role, with communications efficiency being a multiplier.
  
  Managing by contract is not leading people. It betrays a lack of commitment, and often failure to develop professional leadership skills.
  
  

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  51

  Lori Campbell

  10/16/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Amen to about 90% of these comments. I would add the futility of focusing on training (or worse, punishment!) to improve employee weaknesses instead of identifying their strengths and playing to those. Many weaknesses and strengths are hardwired and difficult to truly change. The results of trying to fix a weakness are usually lukewarm and short-lived. But the results of putting employees in the right jobs based on their strengths can be amazing!!

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  52

  rich solomon

  10/16/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Bob Sutton sure picks good comment-provoking titles, doesn't he? Though managers are often no more intelligent or thoughtful than the people who work for them, their flaws and errors in judgment are magnified by the positions they hold. I recently read through an old copy of The Peter Principle and was struck by how much more on the mark it was than most books about management: that hierarchies reward through patronage rather than achievement, and that the only reward for hard work is being put in a position one is unqualified to fill. There's plenty more as well.
  It's apparent from reading the previous posts that respect for one's subordinates and the honest desire to help them succeed on their own terms is lacking in many organizations, that both incomprehensible solutions and overly simple ones plague us, and that many workplaces are destructive to the mental clarity and well-being of those who work in them. With all that in mind, I especially agreed with camrismom's insight about greed, and would add that monetary greed is only one of may types that provoke many of the behaviors we've all aired out here. All of you provided a gratifying after-work read, except that now I'm still thinking about work.

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  53

  Ancient_One

  10/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Believing they are actually worth the salaries they get, and additionally deserve bonuses. Believing that managers and executives should be paid more than their staff members because they are "in charge".
  
  Eliminating non-management career paths.
  
  Requiring staff trained in other specialties to talk, write, and make presentations in management speak, rather than management accepting the responsibility to learn about the specialties being managed. Requiring technical staff to "sell" ideas for improvements or new products/services to management. (Anyone got comparative numbers on selling ideas within the company, to competitors, or in other markets?)
  

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  54

  mphcoach

  10/31/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  Not using the ears for their true purpose - to really listen, and show that you are listening.
  
  Martin Haworth
  Super Successful Manager!

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  55

  mphcoach

  10/31/09 | Report as spam

  RE: What are America's Stupidest Management Practices?

  BTW, keep these coming, there's a management book in all these - or at least in reminding managers of how to do the opposite to them!
  
  I've counted at least 50 articles I can write for my blog already!
  
  Martin Haworth
  Super Successful Manager!