If you can't trust your people
Or, you don't know your people well enough to trust them
And, you can't replace the former
Nor do you have time to get to know the latter .....
Then the management solution is simplicity itself:
Invent a bureaucracy and assign them to it!
Bureaucracy is the management alternative to trust.
- Rules, regulations, and punishment do all the work. No fuss, no muss!
- Sometimes, incentives are useful, so don't leave them out.
Now admittedly, bureaucracy cuts against the flat, agile grain which is "the way to do it" for modern managers.
But, beyond a point, flat is too flat, and agile is too agile.
Let's be realistic:
- Many can not handle complete freedom,
- Have questionable judgement,
- Are misaligned to strategic goals and imperatives, and
- Generally spend time and money without regard to the fact that neither the time nor the money is theirs.
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