Managing Systems vs Managing People
Businesses have traditionally been much more successful at solving systems problems than at solving people problems. With systems problems, you are dealing with:
- objective information
- quantified information
- a common frame of reference
When it comes to people problems, managers generally base their actions on less-reliable sources of information, such as:
- observation
- opinion
- emotion
Let’s take a closer look at these sources of information:
Observation is not entirely reliable, because disorganized employees who put in long hours of frenzied work often come across as being more dedicated than top performers, whose approach is more relaxed and even casual.
Advise based on opinion is valid only to the extent that the circumstances and people involved are the same as those of past experience. When people with different abilities and behaviors are involved, well-meant advice often goes awry.
Human beings ride the waves of emotion. When revenues are up, businesses happily conclude that the employees are doing things right. When revenues drop, they assume that the employees are doing things wrong.
Despite the inherent weakness of these sources of information, businesses look for solutions to people problems with no less intensity than they look for solutions to systems problems. Systems problems are simply easier to solve, because better information is available.
If management has better information about its people and why they behave the way they do, management will inevitably make better decisions.
Excerpt from, Right Person-Right Job | Guess Or Know | The Breakthrough Technologies of Performance Information , Chuck Russell
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