If there’s a Survey on best Micro-Managers of the generation today’s Home-makers and Working Women (and from our times, always ‘working from home’ Mothers!) would get top rankings simply because of their ability to multi-task and keep track of everything.
The line ‘Mom knows..’ would apply to all objects of the house ranging from books & pens, school uniforms & white socks to cushion-covers & bed-sheets and tea, sugar & cookies in the kitchen etc etc, as also having encyclopedic knowledge of price of veggies & best eateries in town and birthdays of close relatives. This has been a blessing for all family members, many depend upon it for their dear lives or they would feel quite lost.
But when micro-management starts operating at the work-place by senior functionaries it’s entails focusing on details instead of results, avoiding delegating responsibilities to employees, being against change and can lead to decreased productivity, less creativity, negative work environment, unhappiness, disengagement. Sometimes over-supervision & constantly monitoring ones who don’t need the reminders, can be counter productive.
Here’s a true story of a Branch Head of a Metro Branch at a prominent place in Mumbai. In an effort to showcase the Bank’s presence in the area it was decided by Authorities to keep the entire exterior lit up with decorative lighting throughout the night. This was followed for some time, but Mumbai rains when they descend don’t bother taking your permission. In one such stormy evening, the fused lights didn’t work & branch was dark. It happened that the CMD was passing on his way back home and it caught his attention
That’s when the entire administrative machinery were set into motion. CMD quite irked called the Zonal Head and gave him a piece of his mind about the Zonal functioning. He in turn called the concerned Regional Head and did the same and added that CMD was very annoyed. This created such a panic that the RM made ‘24’ calls to the Branch Head but didn’t get a reply because being only human, the BM was having an evening out with his family. Finally when he saw the missed calls, he called his RM. He also apologized for missed calls and said he’d already arranged to get electricians to fix the fused lights.
Next day he was asked to report to Zonal Head & explain why the lights were not on in the evening ! His explanation didn’t cut much ice & he was let off with a stern warning . The matter didn’t end there – during the Promotion Interviews after a couple months the CMD reminded him that the lights outside his Branch were not found working. Clearly he hadn’t lived up to the high standards of efficiency expected. And yes, NOT Promoted !
Working on Living 