Running head: TEN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO AXE

TEN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO AXE Article Review (Group Assignment)

Table of Contents Executive Summary.................................................................................................................2 01. The Writer..........................................................................................................................2 02. Critical Reflections.............................................................................................................3 2.02 Front Loaded Recruiting Systems.................................................................................3 2.03 Overdone Policy Manuals.............................................................................................4 2.04 Social Media Thought Police.........................................................................................4 2.05 Rules That Force Employees to Lie...............................................................................5 2.06 Theft of Miles.................................................................................................................5 2.07 Jack Booted Layoffs......................................................................................................6 2.08 360- Degree Feedback Programs ..................................................................................6 2.09 Mandatory Performance Review Bell Curves................................................................7 2.10 Timekeeping Courtesy of Henry Ford...........................................................................8 3.01 Organization...................................................................................................................8 3.02 Comparison ...................................................................................................................9 04. Conclusion.........................................................................................................................10 05. Reference...........................................................................................................................11 06. Bibliography.....................................................................................................................11 Ten Management Practices to Axe.......................................................................................12 So you've studied all the best sellers about how to make yourself into a better manager? Well, you can't believe everything you read........................................................................12 Annexure

TEN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO AXE

Executive Summary The Article Ten Management Practices to Axe by Liz Ryan in Bloomberg Business Week is centered on ten management practices namely; Forced Ranking, Front Loaded Recruiting Systems, Overdone Policy Manuals, Social Media Thought Police, Rules That Force Employees to Lie, Theft of Miles, Jack Booted Layoffs, 360- Degree Feedback Programs, Mandatory Performance Review Bell Curves and Timekeeping Courtesy of Henry Ford. The Writers opinion is that the said management practices be axed as she considers them to be the ten most brainless and injurious management practices. A systematic review of this Article is followed by an Analysis of the Management Practices of Cisco Systems Incorporation in relation to the ten management practices.

01. The Writer Liz Ryan is a career, workplace and Human Resources advisor and commentator. Liz helps people find their voice and their power. She works with individuals on career reinvention and with organizations on reimagining their leadership and HR practices to attract and keep the people who can help them the most. Liz was an HR leader for eons, and believes that people in their power are the most important competitive advantage an organization can have. Liz studied vocal performance at the Manhattan School of Music before she'd ever heard of Human Resources and then led the HR function at Chicago-area manufacturing companies for twenty years; the last ten with data communications maker U.S. Robotics during its period of growth from $17M to $2.5B in sales. Liz co-founded the startup Ucentric Systems, now a division of Motorola, and launched the professional women's network WorldWIT, the largest online community for women in business and technology, before creating Ask Liz Ryan in 2007. Liz is one of the most widely-read and well-respected workplace experts in the world, with millions of readers across the U.S. and abroad. She

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writes for Business Week Online, the Huffington Post, Glassdoor.com, Yahoo!, and many other publications, and is a commentator for CNN, MSNBC, NPR and BBC Radio. Liz is the leader of the Ask Liz Ryan online community, where she and 25,000 members share business, work and life advice every day. Liz is a sought-after keynote speaker to corporate and university groups and associations. Further, Liz is a lecturer at the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business (www.asklizryan.com)

02. Critical Reflections

2.1

Forced Ranking The writer has identified forced ranking as a brainless management practice based on

the assumption that the ranking of employees are done only annually. This raises the question what would be its validity if forced ranking is done periodically. If it is the case then positive aspects of forced ranking mentioned by the writer, such as ability to identify most critical and most expendable employees cannot be simply ignored. The main concern with regard to force ranking is whether the organizational culture is compatible with such a method. If so, when a company implements such a method, some important issues to consider include, providing adequate training and ongoing support to managers who will be carrying out the method and also conducting adverse impact analyses to reduce any risk. Under such circumstances forced ranking enables managers to make difficult decisions and identify the most and least talented members of the work group and create and sustain a high performance culture in which the workforce continuously improves. On the other hand if organizational attitudes, beliefs and values do not create a competitive environment, forced ranking may increase unhealthy cut-throat competitiveness, may discourage collaboration and teamwork and harm morale. In the light of the above reasoning the writers acceptance of forced ranking as a management practice to axe is questionable. 2.02 Front Loaded Recruiting Systems According to Paul Falcone, author of the book The Hiring and Firing, background checks serve many purposes: to enhance security in the workforce, to reduce staff turnover, to minimize the occurrence of employee theft and to ensure the peace of mind that one has made the right decision in the hiring process. As a business owner, it is imperative to know who is

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working for you and what their background is (http://ezinearticles.com). Although in recruiting no one formula will work for every company, every employer would thrive to ensure the correct selection is made based on different parameters since a wrong selection can cost a company millions in terms of lost business opportunities, training costs and etc. The writer has defined and touched complexities of front loaded recruiting systems but then moved on to a completely alienated suggestion of giving power to hiring managers rather than factually proving why front loaded recruiting systems should be axed. 2.03 Overdone Policy Manuals Any policy manual needs to be concise if the intention is for a practical administrative guide. Same can be achieved only if a policy manual is developed, written, and updated with the user in mind. The employee policy manual mainly addresses two points. Firstly, policy manuals address many legal and regulatory items as a direct communication from the company to the employee. Secondly, a policy manual is the first step to assure that there is no confusion about basic items such as dress code, company standards, staff leave policy, working hours, and many more procedural topics. The writer has successfully resorted to sarcasm to prove a management practices that needs to be axed and further has made highly valid contribution in recommending an approach to nuke outdated policies. After all policy documents are not marketing documents or creative writing pieces. 2.04 Social Media Thought Police The writer has pointed out that in restricting social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter in the organization would create a negative impact among the employees. This practice is prevalent in most companies. It extends to these applications as well as You Tube, Skype & Yahoo Messenger. Some companies have moved further by imposing no-web or noemail policies. It is evident that employees will tend to become unhappy about such a working environment and be felt like being treated as children. This will act as a de-motivator for the employees and as a result of same the productivity levels could come down. Another valid point is that the employees have a social life beyond the four corners of the workplace. The social relationships created through these networks will actually contribute positively towards the business rather than harming it.

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It is advisable to have some sort of general controls in place in order to avoid misusing the resources given to the employees as a tool of the trade. For example, you may restrict access to pornography sites which are socially unacceptable. On the other hand a company may have strict data security policies due to the nature of the business that they are engaged in. This should be viewed separately and appropriate control measures should be introduced accordingly.

2.05 Rules That Force Employees to Lie The article reveals that the majority of working people believe their employers dont trust them. And certain rules have been imposed that encourage employees to lie. In Sri Lankan companies, we believe this practice is less heard of and hence it is less important. Though some of the writers examples are not much practiced here (especially the insurance premium case during maternity), we can still find certain policies wrapped within this pitfall. One significant instance where this effect comes into play is when employees apply for leave. If someone has utilized the available quota of annual leave for the year and if sick leave is available, employees tend to utilize same stating that they are sick thus hiding facts to the Company. So having two such leave categories is one instance where rules force employees to lie. For whatever reason unless otherwise it is not a labor rule, the only impact on the company is that the employee is out. It should not matter much to the company why. However having an employee lie to the company is of serious consequences however harmless it is intended to be.

2.06 Theft of Miles The writer has critically condemned the stealing of air and hotel frequent-flier miles by the employers. Since the travel is for official purposes the end in mind being to bring more business or profits to the organization, its not fair if the earned miles are stolen, since the employees face hardships in travel, sacrifice personal time when travelling sometimes even without any extra pay for the companys benefit.

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Companies may argue that since miles are earned with company expense, they should be redeemed by the company itself but from the employee point of view every foreign traveller for official purpose select the flights to optimize the time, meet the schedules, strict deadlines, reduce travel cost and not dependent on the number of frequent-flier miles offered for the tour. Some organizations have travel agents dedicated in planning the official tours. In that instance the individual employees do not have any control of selecting hotels, flights or which carrier they fly in this instance totally nullifying the argument of employees tendency of selecting flights or hotels on miles rewarded. 2.07 Jack Booted Layoffs The article is against companies reducing workforce by treating the departing employees as convicted felons. For ethical organizations the normal practice has become to have a one-on-one discussion with the selected work force employees to reduce and provide sufficient timeline to depart rather than the usual practice of immediate departures. Also its stated that if there is a need to escort the loyal, redundant employees to the door, it will describe a negative impression on the organization itself. A suggestion made by the author is to treat the redundant employees as mature professionals. No ethical company should resort to layoffs of this nature. Among other things it sends a wrong signal to the other employees as well to witness a superior, a peer or even a subordinate to be treated in this manner. These employees would have been at one time an asset to the company. They would have given their utmost to the company. Thus company owes it to the employee to treat all employees in a dignified manner when in employment or at the time of separation. 2.08 360- Degree Feedback Programs The writer is very critical of the 360 Degree Feedback Program which is conducted anonymously so much so that she states to: Ditch the 360 system and teach your employees how to give one another constructive criticism. The 360 degree performance review process is used by Companies as a helpful evaluation tool. It is meant to help employees to continue to develop and grow with inputs on

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how his/her effectiveness is viewed by his/her peers and colleagues. Basically it is about feedback of the behaviour that is demonstrated by the Employee that the others can see. It is also used to differentiate between levels of performance when determining overall assessment and ratings. The feedback should be to provide insight about the skills and behaviours that is required by the Company. People chosen to provide feedback should interact on a routine basis very closely with the employee concerned. The purpose of the 360 degree feedback should be to assist each individual to understand his or her weaknesses and not sneaky group feedback mechanisms masquerading as career development tools as described by the Writer. A 360 degree feedback will be helpful in creating team development as an employee would learn to work together more efficiently in the team. Also it should be about assisting each employee to understand his or her strengths and weaknesses as perceived by others, other than the Manager and to meaningfully use in professional development. However it is important to note that since this is done anonymously further clarification by employee if required is not possible on any unclear statement and the process should be connected with the overall strategy of the organization. 2.09 Mandatory Performance Review Bell Curves The Writer believes that Forcing performance-review and (salary increase) distributions into a bell curve exalts and institutionalizes mediocrity. Instead she advocates setting high standards for employee reviews and raising them every year. To counsel or remove managers who cant move past Easy Grader status, and trust the rest of the managers to review their employees fairly. The bell curve forces the organizations to rank the employees in to categories from outstanding to below average performers in line with the percentage of employees decided by the organization for each category. This system leads to one team member being forced to be ranked below another. Necessary actions will be taken on low performers as the case may be while the top performers are given special treatment in relation to salary increases or any other top performer programs in the Company. The governing principle is that over a period of time low performers will slowly deteriorate .increasing the overall effectiveness of the Organization.

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Forced ranking may lose its effectiveness over a period of time especially if it is used to identify workers who should be out of the system as bottom ranking employees because you retain the performing employees only. This system creates a competitive environment amongst the employees and not a means to creating a collaborative one. Employees are aware that they are compared to others on a comparative scale and not an absolute one. This will create an atmosphere of distrust amongst the peers and indirectly undermine a structured evaluation system the organization has based on the goals set out to the employee at the beginning of the year where his measurements are evaluated. 2.10 Timekeeping Courtesy of Henry Ford The Article suggests to set goals with the salaried employees, see that they meet them, and leave the how-and where issues to the brilliant team to manage for themselves. It further states that if you employee white-collar knowledge workers in your organization, youre better off giving them challenging assignments and standing back than managing them like assembly-line workers. Especially in the times where Diversity is recognized as a powerful tool of innovation and Companies strive to create a work life balance for the employees since it is accepted that Company in the longer term will benefit by retaining the best talent it is important that timekeeping is not practiced by them. This gives the employees the flexibility and the capability to do the work in a manner that works best for them while meeting the deadlines. This will bring out the best in the employee. The employee should be measured on the output and timeliness rather than how they did it. 03. Application of the Practices 3.01 Organization Cisco Systems Incorporation (Cisco) is a multinational company engaged in designing, manufacturing and selling Internet protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry worldwide. Cisco commenced its local operations in 2002 and currently operates in Sri Lanka with 10 employees.

TEN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO AXE 3.02 Comparison

At Cisco employees are evaluated against clearly defined written objectives which are spelt out at the beginning of the year by the employee Manager. However, forced ranking is indirectly used to compare individuals to create a challenging competitive working environment in order to bring out the best in individual employees. Since a local operation consists of only ten employees and the ranking is done amongst the ten employees this creates unnecessary competition and division amongst the employees. Cisco relies on referrals by employee themselves and engages head hunters in recruiting employees. No direct advertising is done by Cisco in any form to attract potential employees. Cisco does not leverage in their Brand name to attract employees which could be the best of breed in the industry. Further, empowerment in Cisco is significantly high and operationally it is required to deal with diverse group of internal and external customers adjusting quickly to volatile business environments whilst demonstrating multitasking abilities at a given time. These unique features demand selection of best of the best employees without making allowance for any wrong choice. As such front loaded recruiting systems have become an imperative in the success of Cisco. Present worldwide staff strength of Cisco is approximately 65,000 employees. In this regard Ciscos intranet plays a crucial role in managing its operational activities since all policy documents are stored therein. There is no visible Human Resources personnel or any other interface to the employee for interpretation of policy documents. Discussions had with employees of Cisco revealed interpretation of policy guidelines requires minimum effort due to the simplicity and concise nature of same. At Cisco there is no restriction in using the internet however employees are given training on the system usage and to use same diligently so that the freedom one has is not abused. This issue of forcing employees to lie especially in terms of leave is avoided at Cisco by having a single leave type like Paid Leave or labeling the sick leave as Casual Leave. The key to success of Cisco is the implicit trust it has with the employees. All employee travel is done by a defined company approved process which includes the company appointed travel agent, the cheapest route to destination and etc. However, any air miles collected as a result of official travel belongs to the employee and not the Company.

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Cisco believes in the highest levels of ethics and integrity when dealing with Customers or Employees. In instances where workforce had to be reduced, a practice of JackBooted layoff is not foreseen to be in practice. The Company Policy is to discuss with employees and alternatives or simply let the employee leave the Company on an agreed time line as would be done with any resigned employee. Further the Company would even offer counselling if required at the company expense to any laid off employee. There is no 360 degree feedback programme in Cisco. The system is totally dependant on direct employee Manager for assessment/ evaluation of employee concerned. Such heavy reliance of one individual makes it important that the selection of line management should go through a very systematic selection process that proper Managers are selected and also necessary education be provided to them on people management from time to time . By the introduction of the Bell Curve reviews to Cisco Systems Incorporation in Sri Lanka the collaboration and the team cohesiveness that is expected of a small team of ten gets defeated. An unnecessary competitiveness amongst the team members is created which may have a negative impact on the Company especially in the absence of a local Manager in Sri Lanka. There is no time keeping in any sort practiced at Cisco Systems Incorporation. Employees are free to decide on how and the manner in which they choose to work. This works very well especially in Sri Lanka as the local operations consists of sellers and they are strictly measured by their achievements against the targets set at the beginning of the year. Cisco Systems Incorporation has also used other mechanisms to ensure that the employees perform as per the expectation of the company for example a portion of employee salary is at risk.

04. Conclusion

We believe that there is no one singular right method to be used as a rule in dealing with the 10 Management Practices that has been described by the writer. The writer is a person with an opinion only. The Company should be flexible to adapt what works well for them as the particular situation demands keeping in mind the pros and cons of the adaptation. Each situation should be assessed separately in the proper context taking into consideration

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the company, country culture, employees, circumstance and background and the merits of each situation and adopt the practices suitable to the Organization at that point in time since the companies need to respond to the rapidly changing market environment keeping in mind the growth, complicacy and competitiveness of the global economy along with its consequential socio political changes.

05. Reference Ask Liz Rayan. (n.d.). About Liz Ryan. Retrieved 02 02, 2011, from Ask Liz Rayan: http://www.asklizryan.com/aboutliz.html Martin, D. (n.d.). The Importance of Background Checks. Retrieved 02 03, 2011, from Ezine Articles: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Importance-of-Background-Checks&id=42943 Ryan, L. (2010, 02 05). Ten Management Practices to Axe. Retrieved 02 01, 2011, from Bloomberg.com: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/feb2010/ca2010024_442061.htm

06. Bibliography Ellen, S. (2010, 06 14). How to Apply the Bell Curve to Employee Reviews. Retrieved 02 06, 2011, from eHow: http://www.ehow.com/how_6627697_apply-bell-curve-employeereviews.html Heathfield, S. M. (n.d.). 360 Degree Feedback: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Retrieved 02 05, 2011, from About.Com: http://humanresources.about.com/od/360feedback/a/360feedback_2.htm

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05.02.2010

Ten Management Practices to Axe

So you've studied all the best sellers about how to make yourself into a better manager? Well, you can't believe everything you read
By Liz Ryan Every few years, a management book or philosophy emerges to change our thinking about the best ways to lead employees. From The One Minute Manager to Who Moved My Cheese?, new and revived leadership concepts have shaped the way we organize, evaluate, inspire, and reward team members. With so many competing management theories in the mix, some ill-conceived practices were bound to take holdand indeed, many have. Here's our list of the 10 most brainless and injurious: 1. Forced Ranking The idea behind forced ranking is that when you evaluate your employees against one another, you'll see who's most critical on the team and who's most expendable. This theory rests on the notion that we can exhort our reports to work together for the sake of the team 364 days a year and then, when it really counts, pit them against one another in a zero-sum competitive exercise. That's a decent strategy for TV shows such as Survivor but disastrous

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for organizations that intend to stay in business for the long term. What to do instead: Evaluate employees against written goals and move quickly to remove poor performers all the time (not just once a year). 2. Front-Loaded Recruiting Systems All the rage in the corporate hiring arena, so-called front-loaded hiring processes require candidates to surmount the Seven Trials of Hercules before earning so much as a phone call from your HR staff. Those trials can include credit checks, reference checks, online honesty tests, questionnaires, sample work assignments, and other mandatory drills that signal "We'll just need you to crawl over a few more bits of broken glass, and you may get that interview." Don't be fooled by job-market reportstalented, creative employees are as hard to snag as ever. Insulting and demeaning hiring practices are a big reason. What to do instead: Dismantle your Kafka-esque recruiting system and give hiring power back to your hiring managers. They'll thank you for it, and the quality and speed of your recruitment will skyrocket. 3. Overdone Policy Manuals You know who's making money for your employer right now? Workers who are selling, building, or inventing stuff. You know who's spending the business's money right now? Other employees (most easily found in HR, IT, and Finance) who've been commanded to write, administer, and enforce the 10,000 policies that make up your company's employee handbook. Overblown policy efforts squelch creativity, bake fear into your culture, and make busywork for countless office admins, on top of wasting paper, time, and brain cells. What to do instead? Nuke one unnecessary or outdated policy every week and require the CEO's signature to add any new ones. 4. Social Media Thought Police It's reasonable to block Youtube (GOOG) in the office because of the bandwidth it consumes. The recent e-mail message I received from a worker who'd just been informed of her employer's "no LinkedIn profiles permitted" policy sets a new low for organizational paranoia. Memo to your general counsel: Human beings work in your business, not robots or replicants. People have lives, brands, and connections beyond your walls, and those human entanglements are more likely to help your business than to hurt it. What to do instead: Treat people like babies only if you want them to act like babies. Let the rest of them update their

TEN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO AXE done, deal with that problem on its own. 5. Rules That Force Employees To Lie

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LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts appropriately, and if they're not getting their work

You won't be shocked to hear that a majority of working people believe their employers don't trust them. We throw gas on the fire when we install rules that encourage our employees to lie. A great example is the time-honored policy that says "Congratulations on the upcoming birth or adoption of your baby. We'll pay your insurance premiums while you're on maternity leave if you're planning to return to work afterward. If not, you'll be terminated when your leave starts, and pay your own premiums." Which Einstein dreamed up that brain-dead policy? What to do instead: Pay the same percentage of insurance premiums for all employees in a category (e.g. new moms) without requiring pointless declarations of their intentions. Don't allow any new rules (sick-time policies are a prime offender) that reward employees for withholding information. 6. Theft of Miles Saving money is in, but taking it out of employees' hides in the form of stolen frequent-flier miles is the hallmark of a Mickey Mouse outfit. If your employees are trotting the globe to advance your cause, let them keep their hard-earned air and hotel miles. (Have you flown economy class recently?) What to do instead: Tell your travel agent to book one-stop flights in place of non-stop ones, saving a few bucks. 7. Jack-Booted Layoffs It's no shame to have to reduce your workforce, but why treat departing employees like convicted felons? Anyone who tells you that an RIF requires perp-walk guided exits is someone to add to the next layoff list himself. One-on-one pink-slip discussions and dignified, non-immediate departures are the new norm for ethical organizations. If you have to march your loyal, redundant co-workers out the door, it says lots about the kind of workplace you've built. What to do instead: Deal with performance problems independently of staff reductions. Treat those employees you're forced to let go like the mature professionals they are. 8. 360-Degree Feedback Programs

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I have a second-grader, and if my second-grader has something to say to his little friend Dylan, I encourage him to say it directly. I don't tell him, "Fill out this form, and we'll have the other kids fill out forms, too, and then we'll tell Dylan what all the kids think of him, anonymously." Apart from the fact that my kid doesn't know what "anonymously" means, this is very bad coaching for a budding communicator. The 360-degree feedback system is a crutch for poor managers. We need more forthright discussion among our teams, not sneaky group feedback mechanisms masquerading as career development tools. What to do instead: Ditch the 360 system and teach your employees how to give one another constructive criticism. (Teach your managers how to do it, too.) 9. Mandatory Performance-Review Bell Curves The evil twin to forced ranking systems is the annual review protocol that commands managers to assign their employees in equal numbers into groups of Poor, Fair, Good, Above Average, and Excellent employees. If a CEO has so little faith in his or her managers that she'd plan for, much less settle for, a workforce where 50% of the people range from so-so to dismal, that CEO requires too little from the management team. Forcing performance-review (and salary-increase) distributions into a bell curve exalts and institutionalizes mediocrity. What to do instead: Set high standards for employee reviews and raise them every year. Counsel or remove managers who can't move past Easy Grader status, and trust the rest of your managers to review their employees fairly. If you can't trust your leadership team members to assess their employees, how can you trust them to manage at all? 10. Timekeeping Courtesy of Henry Ford If you employ white-collar "knowledge workers" in your organization, you're better off giving them challenging assignments and standing back than managing them like assemblyline workers. An obsession with arrival and departure times is not the way to signal to your employees, "We're expecting great things from you," and neither are picky payroll practices that require salaried employees to use fractions of sick and personal days to attend to pressing life situations. Nothing spells "you're a cog in the machine" like a policy that happily allows you to work until midnight on a client project, then docks your pay when you're half an hour late arriving to work the next day. What to do instead: Set goals with your salaried employees, see that they meet them, and leave the how-and-where issues to your brilliant team members to manage for themselves.

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Liz Ryan is an expert on the new-millennium workplace and a former Fortune 500 HR executive.

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/feb2010/ca2010024_442061.htm