A new survey of the workforce (5,000 adults surveyed by One Poll) highlights the three most common management styles within UK workplaces as authoritarian (according to 21 per cent), bureaucratic (16 per cent) and secretive (12.5 per cent). Only 10 per cent describe their bosses as accessible and just seven per cent think senior staff within their organisation are empowering.
To encourage UK managers to consider their strengths and weaknesses, as well as how they come across to colleagues, CMI has launched a unique online application. By visiting www.comparethemanager.com and answering 12 quick-fire questions, managers will find out whether their primary management strength is providing direction, achieving results, working with people or managing self. Individuals will also discover which celebrity manager their management style is most like and have access to practical guidance and advice which will help them to become better, all-round managers.
Responding to the survey’s findings, Ruth Spellman, chief executive of CMI said: “It is an embarrassment for the UK that over half of companies’ management style is seen to be negative by the people that know them best – their employees. And in case bosses think this doesn’t matter as long as they are turning a profit, think again. Goodwill and engagement among employees doesn’t only improve people’s working lives but it adds to the bottom line – in productivity, retention rates and customer loyalty. Negativity breeds negativity and if we are serious about pushing the UK towards economic recovery, we need more businesses that are innovative, accessible and empowering.”
“The key to improving management is knowing what is wrong, and it’s time for managers to get serious about their development, play to their strengths and develop any weaker areas. Our new digital tool is great fun but at its heart is a serious message; we cannot allow substandard management to continue to damage UK plc.”
The negative perceptions people have of their bosses, combined with a downbeat portrayal of managers by the media, may also be adversely affecting the desire of individuals to occupy senior roles. A fifth of those surveyed said the traditional stereotypical ‘suited and booted’ view of managers is a major turn-off, while celebrity TV managers, including Lord Alan Sugar and X-Factor’s Simon Cowell, are seen as off-putting by a further 12 per cent. This may also explain why both Sugar and Cowell are unpopular choices as the celebrity managers people would most like to work for, chosen by just 15 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
Ruth Spellman continued: “We need to revolutionise management and leadership in the UK, and fundamentally change the way the profession is regarded by both the general public, today’s managers and the managers of the future. Too few people aspire to occupy management roles and the negative perceptions people have of their own managers, combined with the damaging stereotypes peddled by the media, are seriously undermining the profession.”
CMI also asked people to consider who, among those key figures vying for votes in the forthcoming general election, they would rather be managed by. David Cameron was the most popular choice, for more than a third of those asked (37 per cent) with Gordon Brown in second, securing support from 22 per cent of those polled, closely followed by Nick Clegg with 21 per cent and Caroline Lucas (20 per cent).
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Further information:
Faith Riding/Donna White
Telephone: 020 7 612 8865/020 7 612 8847
Email: faith.riding@kindredagency.com / donna.white@kindredagency.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
- The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is the only chartered professional body in the UK dedicated to promoting the highest standards of management and leadership excellence. CMI is the guardian of the National Occupational Standards for Management and Leadership and sets the standards that others follow
- As a membership organisation, CMI has been providing forward-thinking advice and support to individuals and businesses, for more than 50 years, and continues to give managers and leaders, and the organisations they work in, the tools they need to improve their performance and make an impact
- As the only organisation to offer qualifications from Level 2 (GCSE) to Level 8 (PhD), CMI is committed to equipping individuals with the skills and knowledge to be exceptional managers and leaders. Qualifications and accreditations such as Chartered Manager, combined with products such as CMI’s Continuous Professional Development scheme and the online support resource, ManagementDirect, support the development of management and leadership excellence across the UK
- Through in-depth research and policy surveys of its 86,000 individual and 450 corporate members, CMI maintains its position as the premier authority on key management and leadership issues
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Comments
What a sad reflection of management in the 21st Century - and this despite the thousands of management books saying other ways work better.
I've posted more of my thoughts at http://blog.dougmather.co.uk and am very intereted to know of others' opinions
Keep up the good work CMI
Regrettably, absolutely none of this is news to me. As a former manager, I am appalled by what I see happening within my current place of employment that is classed as management. Despite all the rhetoric, autocratic command and control is rife and will not change until the management indulge in a little totally honest reflection and realise that this management style just does not work. It alienates and destroys the very people who do the work, come up with the viable ideas, and produce the results the organisation actually needs to survive. But some managers are too afraid to do this and see things like continuous professional development as a chore instead of essential to keep up with the changing nature of work and workers and improve their own performance to avoid problems happening in the first place. Thus they ignore problems with staff and blame the staff for the problems, regardless of the reality of the situation. And senior managers are just as much to blame as they circle the wagons when junior managers are challenged through official complaints and grievances, apparently believing that they are protecting the organisation, when the effect is the exact opposite.
In marketing, you are taught that a customer complaint is a chance to put things right and you only get one chance. Deal with the complaint professionally and promptly and you have a customer for life. Deal with it badly and not only do you lose your customer, you potentially lose the people that your former customer will tell - something like 17-18 I think.
Yet managers treat staff worse than they treat customers and ignore any complaints and senior managers then reinforce the actions of the junior manager regardless of the effects of that, believing what the manager tells them and effectively branding the complainer a liar and a troublemaker, who in extreme cases, must be got rid of. And slowly, trust in management as a whole is destroyed. Once that trust is gone, it will not come back, and staff who do not trust their managers will never give their all to their work effort, no matter what else is done in the name of employee engagement.
The approach will not change until management as a discipline and profession actually deals with the promotion of people to management positions. Only those who actually can manage should be put in charge of people. Those who show technical excellence should be allowed to remain in their technical positions. And promotion to a management position should never be used to reward good behaviour or past favours as that totally devalues management and managers everywhere.
Roll on management entering the 21st century.