“I was viscerally reminded every day that managers, wielding all the power and authority, enjoyed special privileges while looking down on us lowly hourly workers as if we were stupid and lazy.”
Ronald Purser does not like managers. As a manger, it is awesome someone has finally recognized my true evil nature. I feel seen. Perhaps even a little aroused. Excuse me, I just need to adjust my hump.
“I am determinèd to prove a villain / And hate the idle pleasures of these days. / Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous” - quote from In Search Of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies by Robert H Waterman Jr and Tom Peters
Do I recognize the picture of myself that Purser paints? Or perhaps more relevantly, do the people whom I manage? Well, may be. A bit. But also not.
Let me start with the parts Purser’s analysis that I agree with. And there is a fair bit to agree with. There’s a lengthy takedown of Mayo that may well be correct. I am more interested in the claims about the present day.
“Managers-cum-leaders practice a dramaturgical performance art, learning to present themselves as an empathic coach, friendly counselor, and a source of moral authority.”
That’s outrageous! Who could possibly say something like that! Except my take has a different tone to Purser’s. For him, all managers are manipulators seeking to control their underlings. And TBF some are. However many are simply trying to get a job done. We are flawed human beings working with flawed human beings. I know that this totally sounds like a #notallmanagers (and it is) but there is a broad range of management practice out there:
Some managers try to see their direct reports as little as possible and focus on their own work. For their reports this can mean that they are free to get on with the job. But others actually want coaching and support and someone to help them navigate the treacherous organizational waters (full of sharks and jellyfish and the smelly seaweed of unanswered emails).
Some want to be one of the gang. Which is fine until something harsh has to be done and everyone discovers that they aren’t one of the gang after all.
Some managers are completely out for themselves and will absolutely use and abuse those working for them.
Some managers genuinely care about their team and try to negotiate the needs of the individuals with the diktats of the organization.
Some managers seek to micromanage the actions of their underlings (and generally annoy everyone in the process).
Some managers try to give the team as much autonomy as they can.
And many managers have probably been each of those archetypes at some point.
As Peter Kropotkin so memorably opined: Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
We can talk about the systemic iniquities of the various forms of capitalisms that we live under and in. But at the end of the article I felt like a kulak requiring liquidation rather than a potential ally to be engaged with. “No, you misunderstand! I am not against kulaks. I am against kulakism!” Not that I am going to pull some BS move that Prof Purser is a threat to me. The most dangerous threats to me are my superiors. Psychological safety anyone?
Let me go through some other points of agreement and disagreement.
I agree that our “modern” organizations have more in common with communist dictatorships and feudal hierarchies (one reason I could not watch Game of Thrones was that its political machinations offered me no escapism).
I agree that the managerialist lens is often incorrectly presented as the only valid epistemology for the world - as dissected by Anand Giridharadas.
I agree that the treating of CEOs (esp. Founders) as secular saints is stupid and pernicious.
I agree that we need different ways of making organizations happen and ensuring people have the things they need to survive and thrive.
Purser finally turns his ire on his own peers - business school professors. Elite business schools do effectively act as finishing schools for people who become investment bankers, management consultants, or start-upers. But most business schools have comparatively little impact on the world of business. Most managers I have met do not have an MBA. And most MBA holders can remember 3/5ths of f- all from their degree. Most business professors are more concerned with getting their papers in top-rated journals and so are mostly harmless. As Kylie Minogue so memorably sang: We Are All Prostitutes.
Ronnie. Baby. The Zombie Leadership guys want to team up and have a crack at making stuff less rubbish. Waddaya say?
I am not the enemy. Or maybe I am. In which case, I demand satisfaction. Choose your weapon, Prof. Purser.
This is totally a picture of me, a manager, yesterday. Definitely not one I downloaded off the internet. Oh no.
ADDENDUM
Paul King MSc (Psychology) writes about Chiefs. As well as a mutual agreement that the fretless bass is the most awesome instrument ever, he and I agree on a lot. I think he may be asking for a bit much. But if you don’t ask, you don’t get.