Is management at most companies just a big useless insider club? (extension, analysis)
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Without a shadow of a doubt. Work is a social club today (Where connections trump things that SHOULD matter like value, knowledge, ability etc) and generally when certain managers take over they bring their crew of butt sniffers with them and surround themselves with them. If you expose these inept managers as useless voids in business, you'll be deemed an IMMEDIATE Threat and ostracized.
If there is anything insecure, useless management teams hate, its workers with ability who get things done and need no supervision and show their true value and show the ineptness and uselessness of said management.
For any ONE good legitimate manager in the private sector today, theres 20 human sacks of snake feces that shouldn't even be in those positions. They do nothing positive for a workplace and cause costly turnover rates.
I still can't believe employers overlook constant, costly turnover rates today. How can you put blinders on to this when you consider how costly it is for your company and all the talent that could be lost? Thats just money being thrown out the door or burned in a trash. Idiots
At my current employer, senior management (SVP and CEO) really do seem to "get it." Middle management to line level staff is where the screw ups occur.
It seems like management does not understand the work being done at many companies I have worked for. They are completely in the dark, have no interest in learning, and are often very lazy and unmotivated. Many of them have a difficult time controlling their emotions. Some are real whiny and wouldn't last a day doing a real job.
I never had any real trouble working with management. They are just people trying to make a living too I assume. But it seems like when the ratio of management to worker grows, the work environments get worse.
Do companies have a tendency to just take all the useless people and make them managers?
Many companies , yes.
Most? I don't know. I will say some are better than others.
Overall, my feeling is that individuals in management are , like most workers, mostly concerned about maximizing their personal compensation and minimizing personal risks.
Executives as benevolent, enlightened rulers is kind of a fantasy. Many of them are just good at BS.
I have been offered management positions before. I don't come to work to babysit though. Not for me, thank you.
Well, that's fine. Look, I'm not picking a fight, this is a discussion board and not the schoolyard, but I "am" a pretty senior manager, in IT. But I'm joining others in asking: what is the question? You don't want to manage, so all managers are halfwits (my interpretation of earlier comments)? It doesn't sound like there is one. Hitting a nerve, in the sense of poo-pooing what managers do? You bet, I'm feeling it too at least a little. Your mission(?) is accomplished, I suppose.
I wrote code, mostly server scripts, and worked in labs for years. That was line-level work, requiring skills more than ability to abstract and think strategically. Doing that, I had few responsibilities. I wouldn't call it piecemeal; keeping the ball rolling in the bowels of Microsoft Corporation was the beginning and end of the work. If it (whatever "it" was) worked and I was liked, all was good. If it broke, I and others were yelled at. Period.
There are useless managers. In some companies, they seem to roll right along. I tend to believe OP that he's observed more than a few.
However, I guaranty that there are managers who bust their buns. I'm not having a Christ Complex moment...promise...but as a Sr. manager in IT, my job is pretty much on-call various hours of the day, 5-6 days/week, and there is no standard workday. I have offshore teams in Australia and India. I am in Seattle (PST). I'm on a call right now, my development lead is speaking with offshore, but it's after 10pm and will go on another 45 minutes or so with my lead and offshore doing most of the talking and coding. I'm steering them along and keeping the conversation on-point with our strategic priorities, and deciding what we'll do with what resources we have. That's pretty much 3-5 nights per week, plus a long day of tons of email and making decisions with $$ ramifications all day, and leading/coaching/mentoring teams and individuals.
It's stressful work, guy. Call me rude, but yes we're well paid, and we earn it or we're terminated. And we're under major stress, from the GM on down, as a mid-size business in a ruthless ecosystem where only the most efficient survive. All leadership, and the outer circle managers (like me), have P&L plus other metrics we *must* meet. If we don't, well, do the math and there goes a well-paying IT job.
To be clear, the rewards are equally lavish. That's the point: we work hard, we play hard, we sometimes crash hard, and sometimes we need to move on or be managed out the door.
Companies have an awful habit of promoting the most useless up the chain while leaving the best qualified individuals where they are at which only breeds problems. In 10 years never seen anything good come of it
Not only are you putting know nothing idiots in charge of things (who only got the job because they were buddy buddy with someone or the hiring a managers were too lazy to get anyone else trained/up to speed) you are only making the top performers more disgruntled and they will either: leave or eventually just become clock punchers
Anyone that engages in this type of hiring practiced should be fired on the spot. Hell if it was up to me they would be fined and jailed for 6 months. It's BS. It happens to often today and only damages/hurts the company from many angles (financially, operationally etc)
Just over the last 10 years I have already seen two facilities go under because of engaging in this BS practice
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this is a discussion board and not the schoolyard, but I "am" a pretty senior manager, in IT. But I'm joining others in asking: what is the question? You don't want to manage, so all managers are halfwits (my interpretation of earlier comments)? It doesn't sound like there is one. Hitting a nerve, in the sense of poo-pooing what managers do? You bet, I'm feeling it too at least a little. Your mission(?) is accomplished, I suppose.
