Google

WWW ISOU




Like ISOU? Make a Donation!


Connect
View David Anderson's profile on LinkedIn
Categories
Recent Entries
 

« What I want for Christmas... | Main | One other thing... »

December 18, 2005
Newsflash... "Bush is NOT an idiot." He is just an incompetent manager...

This about says it all...

The Bush regime's management techniques should be familiar to middle management types. The salesman lands a new account by making promises without checking with the operations staff to see if the mechanisms necessary for delivery are in place. A "procedure" is put into place which reds, "Get this done, get that done, get the other thing done," and day to day you just do what must be done.

It's called "firefighting," where you just leap from disaster to disaster.

This is appealing enough. But it goes against the styles of many managers. Their style is reactivity or as it is more commonly known, firefighting. The idea of firefighting is to let a problem fester until it becomes a crisis, and then swoop in and fix it. Firefighting is popular because it is exciting. Furthermore, it is a win-win situation for the firefighter. If the fix works out, the firefighter is a hero. If it doesn't, the firefighter can't be blamed, because the situation was virtually hopeless to begin with. Notice that it is to the firefighter's advantage to actually let the problem become worse, because then there will be less blame if they fail or more praise if they succeed.

Most of us deplore the firefighting style, yet we tacitly perpetuate it by rewarding firefighters for the miraculous things they do. The methodical work of prevention done by others goes unnoticed. Consequently, the firefighting style can be difficult to eliminate, especially in cultures that thrive on action and excitement. In contrast, in Japan, a crisis is evidence of failure: Japanese culture favors a more proactive approach to problem solving.

Bush was a failed corporate manager. And his war management techniques, being exactly the same, has failed as well.

Posted by David A at December 18, 2005 06:50 PM
Filed Under Politics | 297 Words
Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.grupo-utopia.com/blog/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1131

Comments
Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


Remember me?

Subscribe to this comment thread.


 
Finalist For the Third Straight Year!
2006finalist170bn0.gif

Second Place! - Latin America, Caribbean and South America!



2005 Weblog Awards Finalist!
wa_finalist150.jpg


2004 Weblog Awards Finalist!
200wde_2004WeblogAwds_Fnl1.jpg


Get the Best for your Ad Dollar


Get the Best Bang for your Buck!


advertise_liberally.gif


Navigation
scan00038fz.jpg
Search
Technorati search
Meta
Movable Type 3.2
Logo by Zencomix
Template by Rogue
Stats