Bad Management?

One of my readers posed an interesting question. This is the question in his words:

“What is the cause of bad management?”

At first I chuckled to myself. It seemed like such a simple question, so I thought it deserved a simple answer.

My first reaction was “bad management comes from bad management.” As I thought about this question more I realized this is an oversimplified answer. I have to convey the real reason a company has bad management.

Companies have bad managers.

You are probably thinking, “That’s not the most profound statement.”

Think about it. If your manager is a real doozie, then his manager is also culpable. Why would he keep a bad manager? Why would he subject people to someone who can’t manage himself out of a paper bag?

If this manager protects the dysfunctional manager, he himself is dysfunctional. It is not acceptable for a good manager to allow one of his managers to continue to manage poorly.

If you start to go up the line, manager by manager, I bet you will see a pattern. Companies that have a poor management team overall have a weak leader. It’s a lot like dysfunctional families.

Companies that have weak executive leadership will always have weak managers throughout the organization. I am not suggesting that all of them are weak, but it is a pervasive problem. It is like weeds in a garden, choking out the good management.

Leadership starts at the top. If you wonder why your company has “bad management” look at the folks at the top. Do they make good decisions? Do they understand the business? Are they ethical?

The best companies I have worked for had excellent executive leadership.