The story of how far managers and subordinates should keep reminds us how far managers and managed people should be in management practice. Too close is afraid of affecting work, too far is afraid of alienation. There is no doubt that the hedgehog theory gives us the most appropriate answer.
The distance between the manager and the managed may not be specific, depending on your team style, but the different forms of the work team will also determine the management distance.
Problem solving team
Such teams usually don't have to work together day and night, but they may spare a few hours a week to discuss organizational issues such as how to improve product quality, how to improve sales performance, and how to plan and organize marketing activities, such as project teams or quality circles that prevailed in Europe and America in the 1980 s. Managers working in such teams usually don't need much management work. Usually, they pay more attention to the authority, coordination, communication and decision of leaders, and don't care about the relationship between leaders and members in the organization. They are more inclined to regard the relationship between leaders and members as purely private friendly exchanges. So this? Loose? Most of our teams rely on the mental work of team members to come up with ideas, and there is not much boundary between managers and managed people. It doesn't matter whether they are as far away as possible or as close as possible.
self directed work team
This kind of team is popular now, such as GM, Xerox, Pepsi and so on. It is a typical representative of implementing the self-management team model. This kind of organization usually has a strong team spirit, but it also has its imperfections. Relatively speaking, the management of members within the organization is rather chaotic. Everyone feels that they have no right to interfere with each other, or that they have no responsibility for this matter, so they should not ask.
But if you are the superior manager of this team, you should pay great attention to the monitoring of this team, including of course the authorization work. Because your every move may make members of the organization think that you have a preference for someone. At the same time, you should keep good communication with some members of the organization, so as to better understand some decisions of the organization and everyone's views on some issues, and use this information as a reference for future management and decision-making. Therefore, in such a team, managers usually keep a roughly equal distance from employees on the surface, but they have to further communicate with some members in private.
Traditional team
This team model is usually adopted by small and medium-sized enterprises in China. A manager, with several supervisors (usually no more than four), and then five in each group? 10 employees. This management framework is more in line with the traditional management mode and management thinking. It can also be said that most management textbooks and books are designed for this type of organization. At the same time, this kind of organization is relatively controllable, so in China, especially enterprises with relatively weak management ability prefer this model, because it has a strong sense of security and control over business owners.
In addition, psychologists' research shows that leaders who work in traditional teams should maintain close relations with their subordinates if they want to do a good job, so that they can easily win the respect of their subordinates, and their subordinates are willing to consider the leadership from the perspective of leadership and try their best to do things well. But at the same time, we should keep a proper distance, especially psychological distance, so as to maintain the mystery and authority of the leader, reduce the random suspicion among subordinates and avoid unnecessary fighting. Of course, the following situations will be treated differently when analyzing specific problems.
1, when you only have one subordinate.
Many small and medium-sized enterprises often have few personnel in the personnel department, administration department, customer service department and other departments, and most of them are led by one manager. Soldiers? Or two? Soldiers? . At this time, the distance between the two is often very close, and there is a feeling of living and dying together. At this time, the management is usually very simple, and there is no need to use too complicated management skills and means. Many times, as long as the manager gives the order, subordinates will do it. But the effect on performance is usually not very good, because the distance between employees and managers is very close, and managers are usually embarrassed to urge or supervise the work of their subordinates after assigning work, even if they say a few words casually sometimes, they are ignored because of their close relationship. Therefore, management under this condition should pay attention to keeping a psychological distance and not talking too much about personal privacy at work. Although this is very good for enhancing feelings, because of being too intimate and without the pressure of competition, if coupled with improper management, it will cause delays, slackness and low performance.
2. When you have several subordinates.
The situation is usually complicated. If your subordinates work in the same office as you, that is, when working with you, at this time, your subordinates are usually divided into several small circles with different forces, and the center of the circle is the red man in front of you. Of course, there may be a few people who are the most difficult to manage and form a small camp. At this time, the most important task of leaders is to balance their relationship and distance with various camps, rather than being limited to their relationship with everyone. What we should pay attention to at ordinary times is whether the arrangement of daily work is reasonable, whether the performance appraisal is fair and just, and the distance from each celebrity. In the absence of special circumstances, leaders should try their best to keep the balance of power among the camps, and avoid some camps being too strong to ignore the authority of managers, resulting in management difficulties and inconvenience.
3, when your subordinates have dozens or more.
At this time, most managers are playing the role that your position should play, not being yourself. In this case, leaders should pay attention to the maintenance of their own image and status in a lot of work, and keep a proper distance from employees, even a little farther away, which is more conducive to the embodiment of their authority. But after work, you can get closer to employees and be as approachable as possible, so that employees will show more respect and awe in their work. However, you must not get too close. On the contrary, it is easy to expose personal shortcomings, affect subordinates' admiration for leaders, and even cause disappointment.
Management is inconclusive, and the relationship between leaders and employees is like a flower in the water in the mirror, which will be close or far because of the gender of managers and other factors. Hedgehog theory actually gives us a very meaningful hint, no matter far or near, it is good to be comfortable and warm.