David Howard
>In a managerial hierarchy, a manager has three critical accountabilities.
>The manager is accountable for:
>
>1. the output of staff [or of a process] and adding value to their work;
>
>2. sustaining a team of staff [or a process] capable of producing those
>outputs; and,
>
>3. exercising effective managerial leadership, ie., setting direction for
>staff and getting them to willingly work along with him/her to move in
>that direction.
I note a tone in these accountabilities (responsibilities). It is that
the manager has his/her staff as customers. The manager must add value to
their work, sustain the team, get them to willingly work.... This, it
seems to me, to be of the school of the manager (leader) as a servant.
The next observation can reinforce this concept
>In order for managers to be able to discharge these accountabilities, they
>must also have four minimum authorities:
>
>1. veto of appointment of an unacceptable staff member;
>2. decide assignment of tasks;
>3. decide (not simply recommend) personal effectiveness appraisals and
>merit rewards; and
>4. decide, after due process, to initiate removal of a staff member from
>the team (note, not necessarily the authority to dismiss the person from
>the organisation).
The manager does not have to exercise these authorities. In fact the
servant manager will make them a part of the control the staff has of
their working space (conceptual and physical).
I would be careful of this concept
> The LEVEL OF WORK or "weight of responsibility" in a role is reflected
>by the degree of complexity of that role. The greater the complexity,
>the greater the level of work.
In some, particularly engineering, disciplines the most complex work is at
the lowest level. Some of the most complex computer programs are written
by the most junior people.
Placing tongue firmly into cheek I read
>The longer the time span of discretion, the higher the level of work.
and ask; Does this mean that the pregnant elephant is working at a higher
level than a pregnant human? ~:-^)
Reading on I am releaved
>The time span measurement is not a good gauge of the degree of complexity
>of a task. ... a relatively simple task might become complex if
>it is compressed into a much shorter time frame.
Whew! Human mothers exonerated!
--bhobler@worldnet.att.net Bill Hobler
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>