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August 14th, 2008
Does Managing by Fear Ever Work?
I’ve never understood organizations that believe in ruling and controlling employees through fear, and that’s why this post at the Gannett blog—an entry titled, appropriately enough, “Probing Gannett’s Mean-Boss Legacy,” struck a nerve with me.
Full disclosure here: I was a top editor for Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, for five years in the 1990s, first as editor of the Great Falls Tribune in Montana and then later as executive editor of The Honolulu Advertiser. The passage of time helps to bring more perspective, so I generally look back at my time with Gannett as a very positive thing overall. I learned a lot of great lessons working there, and many of these lessons are things that really helped make me a better manager and editor today.
I have a line that I use when I’m asked about to describe how it is to work somewhere, and it’s this: Every company and business is screwed up in its own way. That’s true for every organization I’ve ever worked for, Gannett included. I also tell people that the trick is work for a company for that is screwed up in ways that you can live with. If you can do that, you’ll survive.
Jim Hopkins, the guy who writes the Gannett blog, was certainly a survivor. He worked for Gannett for more than 20 years, including a stint at USA Today, so he clearly has a lot more experience than me dealing with Gannett’s management culture, and he has seen a lot more than I ever did working there. But he brings back old, repressed memories when he writes things like:
“As a 20-year company veteran, I’ve run across screamers, ashtray throwers, newspaper tossers, dysfunctional alcoholics, and assorted other graduates of the Montgomery Burns School of Corporate Mismanagement. Together, they helped enforce the culture of fear that Gannett still uses to whip its now 46,000-employee workforce into obedience. My question: How long have these fear tactics been in force—and who was responsible for making them an integral part of the 102-year-old company?”
Hopkins gives some answers to that question, but unless you know Gannett, it is probably too much insider stuff. The more important point it makes is this: Does managing people through fear and intimidation ever work?
If you read this blog, you know my answer. I don’t believe fear works, and if it ever did in the past, I think it is highly unlikely it will in the years to come. That’s because how an organization treats its people really does matter, as this Harris Interactive study found.
Businesses do all sorts of nutty things when it comes to managing workers, from a culture of verbal abuse to a philosophy of moving people around and reorganizing things to give the impression that big changes were taking place. Both of these strategies, and a lot of other I could name, are dumb and counterproductive.
I saw some of that stuff at Gannett, but not to the extent that blogger Jim Hopkins did. I remember the company as a place that had its flaws, but that also taught me some great lessons about management and how to run a business.
And that’s something you should never forget: No matter how badly an organization may be managed, there is always some positive learning experience you can take away from it, even if it only consists of learning how NOT to handle and manage people. Whether your boss is Warren Buffet or Montgomery Burns, you will learn something about motivation and people from every single person you ever work for. Only time will tell what the lesson will be.
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Managing by Fear is not only a bad working environment for the employees, it’s bad for business.
Managers who use threats and intimidation as motivators think productivity improves results, particularly if their only gauge is periodic reports. What’s really happening is that employees decide to avoid punishment by just telling them what they want to hear.
As a result, the “Off-with-their-heads” managment has no clue what’s really going on in their organizations.
Posted by: LS Graham | August 18th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Of course managing by fear works. It is the way most organizations get things done. It worked thru the entire last century and continues to be the standard of practice in this century.
Posted by: Alan Adyniec | August 22nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
A few years ago I won the prestigious Conrad Hilton Award for Hotel Excellence. Make no mistake about it, I won it with the help of my associates..I did not win it all by myself. The issue boils down to a simple decision for most of us…Do you want to operate as an optimist or pessimist?
We have all seen the pessimist before…Acting as a pessimist, I would understand the power of “fear”. I would use pressure and intimidation to gain short term results. Unfortunately, on those rare occasions that I could leave the business for a few hours or a day, my subordinates would view my absence as a “vacation” from me, a sad commentary for sure. The culture that would develop under my “leadership” would encourage my subordinates to move ahead at the expense of their peers and place a premium on taking little if any risk. My staff would spend an inordinate amount of energy avoiding mistakes, and dodging blame. My business would suffer from excessive turnover, absenteeism, and “shrinkage.” The “winners” in my business would be those that earn support for staying off of my “radar”. Each and every day..you inch a little bit closer to the isolated and lonely “death” of your career.
As for the “Optimist”… I would work hard to hire those with the best combination of experience, drive, and a positive - “Can-Do” attitude. I would place a premium on training, and I would “empower” my staff to make most every decision. I could be away from my business for a week or more and business would continue at a high level and would often progress. My staff would view my absence as an “Opportunity” to show what kind of effort they are capable of, and offer a chance for them to personally grow. My staff would know the value each of them delivers to our operation. I would affirm that it is not an offense to make mistakes, only to fail to learn from them… and to improve. I would celebrate and reward innovation and critical thinking skills. I would build a culture where our team would celebrate… self education, hard work, and accomplishment… that demonstrates what a person “Could be” with effort, education, intelligence, and a positive attitude. The “winners” in my business would be those that ready the greatest number of their subordinates for promotion.
So….my thesis is that as Managers, we all have a choice to make….are employees basically good people who really want to do a great job? or… Are our employees an undisciplined group who will achieve the most under the “whip”?
I chose the former……. it has served my staff well, my guests well, and my ownership very well for many, many years. I currently have seven General Managers in my city who have served as an Assistant to me at some juncture in their career. Believing and investing in this approach, I was fortunate to have the support to have won one of our industry’s highest awards….the coveted Conrad Hilton Award for Excellence. It is simply a joy to get out of bed each day and to go to work….if you are a believer of this approach, life is a blast! It is always fun when your world is “Half Full”…and if you are like me, life will be your Oyster!
Posted by: Jon Crisp | August 23rd, 2008 at 6:37 am
“I could motivate my employees with fear. I could motivate my employees with incentives. What I have chosen to do, though, is to motivate by offering the opportunity for growth and change. When you offer the opportunity for growth and the chance for someone to change his life, you have an employee who is working with you, someone who sees your goal and his goal as the same one. Such an employee brings enthusiasm to the workplace that is hard to equal.”
- Paul Saginaw
Posted by: Alex Margonis | August 24th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Suit up, Show up and lead by example
Posted by: Christina Manis | August 25th, 2008 at 9:12 am