WM #9.5: Planning ahead (The Critical Path)

(I had promised to keep these Blogs short, which my spouse so purposefully pointed out to me after the last one; it was a tad overkill creating a glazed-over look on his face - so I cut it in half. This is probably "Blog suicide" but since I'm trying to keep this an active post for students taking my Fundamentals of Management courseI decided I'd better edit this particular post - my apologies to those who have been reading and are confused by this recent edit.)

WM #9.5: How to avoid a train wreck - Plan Ahead!

Through the identification of "critical path" (often with the use of a Gantt chart), a manager defines one sequence of events that take the longest and cannot easily be reduced in size, speed, or time. In other words, what ensures that the project is accomplished safely, correctly and with the least amount of risk if things go wrong. An easy example to illustrate this process is envision constructing a skyscraper; the main structure or foundation must be completed first before any of the plumbing, dry wall, or windows can be installed, hung, or inserted. Henry L. Gantt was the first to develop this very simplistic idea in the form of a bar chart that lists activities and dates enabling projects to be accomplished by visualizing the project activity duration.

Understanding what takes precedence in a project to ensure that other's activities can take place either concurrently or right after one is accomplished.

In a complex society where work is accomplished not just by one person but many, this type of planning is paramount to project delivery and meeting business objectives while ensuring safety to the humans performing and receiving the new service or project. Especially in contemporary society where everything seems to be done YESTERDAY! Time is literally money in every aspect of business life and often corners are cut for the sake of reducing the amount of time to save on costs. This is wrong but often done in many instances of human economic development and a topic for another blog.

Why did this train drive through a tornado (see previous post)? Probably because they didn't consider the consequences (assessed risk) and maybe had never done it before (Train Engineer says, "We're heavy with umpteen cars weighing 15 tons apiece - a tornado won't be a problem"). I bet they'll never do that again! Now I gotta go change my shirt - I spilled grape koolaide (again, refer to last post)!

WM #7: "Here kitty, kitty!"

Wierd Management #7

I have a great friend who works as a Director of Security for a large East coast retail distribution center. She's worked for this company for many years and is a wonderful storyteller relating illustrative and "weird" analogies to share with her staff. She oversees a mostly male security guards staff with the stressful management obligation of security of a vast variety of merchandise ordered, delivered, and distributed through this huge-a-mongous warehouse. Located in bucolic mid-western Connecticut, you'd think this job would be relatively non-drama but alas - it is NOT! Often she forgivingly hires individuals who are either just-recovered drug addicts, prostitutes, convicts along with laid-off executives, retired military, and college students. It's a mixture of drama and intrigue that should be made into a movie! I often call her during my commute home from work knowing that she will be doing the same to get the latest on her trials and tribulations while on the job that day. It's always entertaining!

This weekend, while visiting for a girls weekend, she shared with me the most recent drama between two security guards who regularly worked together - one male and one female. They became 'deeply involved' and then proceeded to break up shortly there after creating a very uncomfortable work environment not lost on ALL of the employees that make this very busy distribution center roll. The young man caught in the drama with the love-thwarted female guard attempted to avoid her at all cost but my friend knew he had to learn this hard lesson of on-the-job love affair gone wrong and she was going to make sure of it. While he was in her office there was some problem reported over the radio requiring a security guard to go check and help as needed. This young buck knew he'd be asked to go but since he knew the person who was reporting trouble was the broken-hearted, ex-girl friend he wanted to get out of it. He pleaded with my friend to get someone else to go. Nothin' doin' thought my friend! This was a perfect opportunity to share a metaphorical analogy as well as ensure that he thought before he leaped into his next work-place romance.

My friend situated herself comfortably in her director chair and begun to wax poetic toward the young fella.

Cute Kitty!

"You know what happens when a cute stray kitty comes around?"

"Ya?"

"What do you do?"

"Feed it."

"And what does it do after you have fed it?"

"It keeps coming back to get fed."

"So what happens if you stop feeding it?"

"It gets mad and bites you."

"Thats right - so what should you do?"

"Keep feeding it?"

"Well you could but then you are stuck with a cat that you don't really want - right?"

"Right - but I don't want to get bit either!"

"So this is what you do at the very beginning - you sprinkle pepper all around the parameter of your house to keep those cute kitties away! Then you'll never have a problem!"

"Oh - right - Wow! Ok so what do I do now?"

"I don't care what you do but right now, you gotta do what I say - get out there and find out what the problem is."

BAD KITTY!

What is weird management?

You may be asking yourself - what is "weird management" and why should I care? Here is why:
1) Weird, according to my circa 1998 Webster Dictionary states: "Having an extraordinary or strange character." (This is right up my alley).
2) Management, according to Peter Drucker the guru of management (in my humble opinion)  is succiently described as: "Management and managers are the specific need of all institutions, from the smallest to the largest. They are the specific organ  of every instituion. They are what holds it together and makes it work" (Drucker, 2008, p. 2).

So this is a blog about the extraordinary "organ" called management. How is that for weird! And a catchy title in the competitive blog-o-sphere. As a teacher and student of management I am always struck how few people understand and practice this most basic and fundamental skill and process. Essentially the act of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Now while that may not seem so "weird," what is weird is how few organizations recognize the necessity of this very basic task and try to sustain it and support it. And likely that is why it is so often diminished because of its "basic" nature - people assume they can manage because they can breath, walk upright, and chew gum at the same time - WRONG!

Now full disclosure - I am NOT an expert on management. At 48 years of age and, although I've spent countless hours studying, researching, teaching, and practicing management, I am not remotely close to the required time to be considered an expert (1 million hours should do it!). I decided to start this blog as an opportunity to share and impart some of my experiences as a student (Ph.D.), teacher (adjunct faculty at Eastern CT State University), and practioner (multiple positions in private, non-profit, and public sector jobs). Also, to learn from you!

After hearing that my only sibling had his second heart attack (first at 36, he's now 45) yesterday on Easter Sunday, I realized time is short. If it hadn't been for a well-timed phone call from my father and the decisive actions of my 13 year old niece, he would likely be dead. My niece saved her daddy and helped me to recognize the need to get off my butt do what I do well before it's too late:  write, teach, and advise. I've spent the last few years languishing in the hopes that opportunities would present themselves to me instead of the other way around - I'm taking charge as well as you all should before our time is up on this crazy planet!

So this is what you can expect from these posts:

• Weird and obscure facts about management.
• Mistakes and successes in management.
• Case studies 
• Weird analogies and insights relating life to management
• Perspective 
• Resources

Again - I know you are probably thinking - hmmm really? What does this mean for me, I'm not a manager. WE ARE ALL MANAGERS! We manage our lives every day and work, experience, suffer through management that regularly mess with our heads. When was the last time that you went into a restaurant and thought after getting a cold cheese burger and fries or was confronted by a rude server: "WOW! Somebody needs to tell the manager"? Or how about when you are working on a project at work or a  social club, church committee, college class project and realized the person who was leading it had no clue how to manage people and tasks!  Everyone can benefit from this multi-faceted 'organ' that enables us to move effectively and efficiently through this chaos called life!

So there you have it - this is the end of this first diatribe - now it's up to you to decide whether you think it's worth the effort to read (I promise, I'll keep future posts shorter).

Welcome to Weird Management!

Lisa D. McRoberts Ph.D. (abd)
Adjunct Professor of Business Management
Eastern CT State University

Reference:
Drucker, P. F. (2008). Mangement (Revised Ed.). New York, NY: Harper Collins.