COB-9: the importance of management
This month's Carnival of the Bureaucrats is dedicated to the importance of management. Nothing is more important to bureaucracy than periodic restructuring of management, along with associated renaming of business divisions. In a well-functioning bureaucracy, management generates the work demand that sustains the existence of the organization. Moreover, management statements determine the success or failure of the organization.
Noted management consultants Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman worked with The Turtles, a rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s. Using frequent managerial restructuring combined with a multi-manager generalization of matrix management, Kaylan and Volman succeeding in getting the organization to sing Happy Together.
[if you don't see the video, try here]
Charles H. Green's Trust Matters states:
The continued existence of a particular corporate organization is a pretty un-inspiring goal, when you think of it. ...
The point is not to last. The point is to do great things for all your constituents. Where continued existence helps, great. Otherwise, standing water stagnates. The visionary thing works; but these days, the vision had better be to change, morph, grow, evolve, turnover, shift.
Self-perpetuation is a primary imperative of life. Bureaucracy has a life of its own. Thus self-perpetuation is a primary imperative of bureaucracy. Maybe that's not inspiring, but that's the way life is.
Jack Yoest at Reasoned Audacity discusses an influential article on managing management time. The article asks:
Why is it that managers are typically running out of time while their subordinates are typically running out of work?
While this outcome is theoretically possible, it's unlikely in a well-functioning bureaucracy. In a well-functioning bureaucracy, the persons who rise to management positions are skilled at making work and directing it to others.
Dan Harris at the China Law Blog reports that a government bureaucrat in China has declared that ethnic descrimination does not exist in China: "The 56 ethnic groups are like brothers and sisters living in one family," said the government bureaucrat. This outcome is an example of superb bureaucratic work. The only remaining issue is when they'll be ready to record a Chinese version of Happy Together.
That's all for this month's Carnival of the Bureaucrats. Submit your blog article to the next edition using our carnival submission form. Submissions should conform to the Carnival regulations. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the Carnival index page.
Tags: management, success, Turtles