Practice of Management
The science of management is not a very new concept but one that has been repeated over and over again in different forms since ancient times. The entire concept as a whole has more or less been passed down as it is. Therefore, it hasn’t evolved very much.
In Today’s Generation :
In today’s modern age as well, managers are still struggling to understand that each worker happens to differ somewhat in nature from the others.
Of course, deep down they are pretending that the rough edges of human differences don’t exist and tend to simplify things extensively. Managers don’t always like to try and understand what ticks an employee’s competitive streak. They don’t feel that they should know another person’s “why” about everything. This is because most of the managers feel they aren’t exactly getting paid for showing sympathy. They are getting paid for productivity only. This however, shouldn’t be taken as a critique of managers but a critique of the modern practice of management.
The management style that is still followed today is basically an artifact of the Industrial Revolution. Which happened to get updated postwar, for white-collar jobs. The Industrial Revolution didn’t teach managers how to identify or develop others according to their differences. This was first identified by Don Clifton.
In 19’s Generation :
In the 1950’s, Don Clifton, while teaching at the University of Nebraska, realized that there happens to be a huge gap between what Plato initially wrote and what managers these days happen to practice. This is why Clifton sought to find a way to put numbers to these human differences and then analyze them. He wanted the entire world to learn from this endeavor of his and apply them productively in their workspace.
Clifton Strengths Assessment:
The infamous Clifton Strengths Assessment finally allowed the whole world to start naming and understanding their own unique talents and abilities, so that they can develop them into core strengths. Today, many business experts recognize this as a turning point for management in general.
Soon enough managers began to realize that individuals who were coached to use their strength were six times as likely to strongly agree that they have the opportunity to do what they do best every day. Last, but not the least, they were found to be three times as likely to have a great quality of life.
Additional Content:
Additionally, teams that were coached to use their strengths using the Clifton Strengths assessment were observed in achieving up to 29% higher profits, along with 19% higher sales. There were also 59% fewer safety incidents and 72% lower turnover at high-turnover organizations and workplaces.
This was nothing short of a true miracle. Therefore, managers of today should take a step back and analyze themselves on where exactly they are going wrong. Also, it is high time they start taking interest in understanding what exactly ticks their employees’ motivation in the workplace.
