Best Practices Q & A - Part 7

Question: “What do you think of the “kick a__, take names” approach? Doesn’t this serve as a strong reminder of who is in charge, that work is serious, not just a game?”

Answer: “These myths seem to persist for a variety of reasons. However, close examination of the cultures of the most consistently high performing organizations over time, will consistently reveal that these practices are a sign of immature managers. Even in the military this practice is not deemed acceptable any more, but is a sign of weak leadership.

The basic reasons are that it forces those being “managed” this way to pay more attention to “keeping their noses clean,” to covering their actions with memos, reports, and political alliances than to the actual value added by their work. All of the CYA activity is essentially organizational waste – it is not value adding work, but only serves to deflect criticism, potential punishment, or worse.
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