Management by Spontaneity

School Administrator, Dec, 1999 by Richard M. Olson, M. Donald Thomas

Organizational gospels come and go, but this one promises to be your panacea (or so its authors insist)

Every manager is faced with a crucial decision: which management paradigm to use? Several well-known choices are available, but our observations of organizations indicate that each model can be disastrous when overzealously applied.

We have all dealt with consultants willing to change our troubled organizations by providing the latest theoretical solution to our problems. Unfortunately, many consultants do not feel responsible for implementing their theories. They usually aren't on hand for the important implementation steps.

Management philosophies come and go. Each new system promises to be the ultimate panacea above all other solutions. Thus in the last 25 years we have been subjected to these management gospels:

* by objectives,

* by exception,

* by coaching,

* by kick in the ass,

* by results,

* by total quality management,

* by walking around,

* by guess,

* by statistics and

* by empowerment.

The sooner these obsolete concepts are placed on the shelf, the better it will be for both the private and public sectors. This is in no way a criticism of the old management systems. They served us well. The current need, however, is for a new management style.

All these efforts should be replaced immediately by the new kid on the block: management by spontaneity.

Simple Tenets

Management by spontaneity should be welcomed with celebrations and high expectations. It should be introduced into schools, factories, sweatshops, computer networks and every agency wishing to become effective. Without it, no corporation, unit of government or planet will survive the pains of the 21st century.

The gospel according to Saint Spontaneity is the panacea above all other panaceas. Those who miss the boat on management by spontaneity will be doomed to eternal ineffectiveness and deprecation.

The tenets of MBS are simple. We call them "The Eight Pillars of Success in Management:"

No. 1: Avoid job descriptions like the plague. The same goes for job titles, names on doors and organizational charts.

No. 2: Never, absolutely never, conduct a needs assessment nor establish a three-year plan, a five-year plan or a 10-year plan.

No. 3: Forget group raining--deal only with individuals.

No. 4: Do not ever try o solve a problem. Think about, articulate the need for and establish processes for problem solving. Emphasize process and forget problem solutions.

No. 5: Don't ever do anything that someone else should do or anything that someone else can do better.

No. 6: Change your mind as often as needed to do the right things. Lose face as often as needed and enjoy doing so.

No. 7: Give a person who complains that he or she is working too hard additional responsibilities.

No. 8: Ensure no one has a supervisor. Each person should report to himself or herself. Everyone operates on the principle of distribution ready.

Unfamiliar Tactics

There you have it--the eight pillars of success for effective management in the 21st century. As you can see, management by spontaneity is not for everyone. MBS is different. It is a set of concepts that requires knowledge of psychology, the skills of a lawyer and the wisdom of a philosopher. Further, to manage successfully by MBS one needs to have the intellect of a Thomas Jefferson.

Management by spontaneity is extremely difficult to learn and even more difficult to practice. It flies in the face of traditional management theories and may create insecurity, especially in schools of business. MBS requires effort, hard work and significant changes in behavior--items that are foreign to most management gurus. Those who have invested most of their lives with obsolete management will be most resistant to MBS--a natural human reaction.

Why does MBS work so well? Why will it enable us to leap frog the Japanese and Germans and survive in the next century? To understand MBS requires a new paradigm--a transformation into the future.

Job Descriptions

Job descriptions have been an important part of all previous management systems. The idea was to nail down what an individual must do, what was expected, what could be controlled. It established predictability in what individuals do year after year.

The problem is that once job descriptions are completed, individuals continue to do what is no longer needed. Performance is allied to the job description rather than what needs to be done. Furthermore, job descriptions limit what individuals wish to do or what must be done, regardless of the job descriptions. It is much like telling a football player the sequence of plays that must be run, regardless of the outcome of each play. It simply does not make sense. The same is true with job titles, names on office doors and any designation that limits our individual responsibilities

Job descriptions do not allow for creativity, for sharing with others, for exceptional performance, for adjusting to new conditions and for exercising spontaneous action. They lock individuals into fixed patterns of work and soon create boredom. Job titles do much the same thing. They limit what people are expected to do. More destructively, they limit the possibility of personal growth and development.