The bane of the shopfloor

Of all the problems associated with line managers, there’s one that stands out : technical myopia. It refers to a disdain for anything that is outside the purview of a line manager’s technical responsibilities.

Talk to them about the nuances of motivating subordinates or the importance of developing leadership capabilities, and pat comes the reply: “None of these ideas are practical, please don’t waste my time.”

If a production manager were to publicly appreciate good work done by subordinates, youngsters would be motivated to work better and this would help minimise shopfloor politics.

GIANT DEMOTIVATORS But, actually, most such “practical” production managers actively crush talent. Subordinates have only two choices — bear with the humiliation or quit. Further, technical managers reject and resist change. They refuse to accept responsibilities associated with any new initiative like Total Quality Management or Six Sigma. They fear that accepting any additional responsibility would eat into their time.

When confronted by some pro-active chief executive, they would rather delegate such responsibilities to a talented subordinate and simply oversee the final output. That they do not do a good job here is another matter of concern.

HR INPUT NEEDED Technical myopia is more pronounced in semi-urban or rural environments, in paper, sugar or cement organisations -- particularly among managers with an engineering diploma and years of “practical” experience. They are uncomfortable with the talented youngsters from the highly reputed and organised engineering colleges. Their technical myopia is a sort of defence mechanism to simply cover up all their weaknesses, including their proficiency with the English language.

Many modern organisations, more so, the multi-unit, multi-product conglomerates, have now tried to overcome the problem with in-depth training programmes such as “HR for non-HR Managers” or “Finance for Non-Finance Executives”. They follow up these with short-term assignments where technical managers learn to use the concepts in practice. In fact, in BHEL, many HR departments are headed only by experienced engineers who learn the nuances of HR processes.

It is not that all technical managers are affected by the myopia. In one superb foundry organisation, a manager who had grown from the ranks by the stint of his sheer hard work was found to be the most interested person in any new initiative. He would go to any length to learn the concept and then build a team that could translate the same in the organisational context. The organisation has done well to recognise the contribution of this individual — he now heads the vital Technical Department, where his responsibilities include New Product Development.

Such managers can and will bring out durable and long-term change, that can at least reduce technical myopia.

In semi-urban or rural environments, organisations would do well to recruit talented HR managers who are aware of developments in advanced behavioural science research. Modern organisations should also be wary of managers who build empires and crush the creative talents of their subordinates.

The one-year executive MBA course conducted by leading management institutes can also be considered by Indian organisations. These courses can effectively change the mindset of even the hard-to-crack managers with technical myopia.

Managing technical myopia is no more a choice. Highly pro-active and meaningful action is required by every organisation, in these times of turbulent change.

(The author is Assistant Professor, SNS College of Technology.)