It was the legendary Peter Drucker who in 1954 expounded an idea called Management By Objectives (MBO.) It was based on the assumption that managers will be more effective and more committed to objectives if they are involved in establishing and setting them. This idea has come to stay and presupposes that managers enjoy working in organizations that encourage self-control and self-development.
The basis of the system is that every manager is given a clear idea of the results expected within an organization, that is, profitability, productivity, financial resources, e.t.c. Detailed job descriptions and targets are agreed with the superior and an appraisal is made comparing results with targets. MBO is hinged on three psychological points, namely, goal setting, participation and feedback. Management By Objectives as a quintessential managerial paradigm revolves around a five-pronged process. First, goal setting by top management. Second, participation by subordinates in setting objectives with their managers as those objectives are related to the organizational goals.
Third, autonomy in determining how to achieve the objectives. Fourth, frequent review of performance as it relates to the objectives. Fifth, commitment to the programme at all levels. Much as the fight for survival resulting from some uncontrollable variables or management indiscretion may necessitate the jettisoning of some of the aspects of MBO, it still remains the most potent management idea which encourages mutual trust, engagement, and sharing of credit and pitfalls across all strata of the personnel ranks. This is not to ignore the few shortcomings of this idea, which will be highlighted in a subsequent intervention.
Corporate structures crumble most times because of leadership deficit which results from lack of the relevant acumen or primitive accumulation of wealth by both owners and employees. Predators by their nature prey on others. This behaviour is both learned, inherent and intrinsic. To the employee-predator, it is sweet to spend other people’s money (OPM.) So, they have become professional employees, entering one job today, losing it tomorrow and jumping into another the day after. It does not matter to them whether their positions which come with responsibilities are without authority and control. They can even accept reporting to a junior ‘supervisor’, as far as there is an avenue for self-enrichment. For the employer-predator, the instinct is deep.
The knack for ‘taking’ is deep-rooted. This explains why some business owners literally run down their enterprises because the system of taking whatever is available does not differentiate between owner’s money and other people’s money. More intriguing is the fact that these predators deploy their loot in endeavours that have no bearing on the progress of the system that has suffered the corporate malfeasance. The employer-predators unabashedly boast of being capitalists.
Capitalism in itself is not a bad idea. Even the major critics of capitalism at least were appreciative of the fact that the early capitalists moved from the use of small hand tools to mechanized methods. Nowadays, however, and especially in the developing world, most employers of labour – whether labour be skilled or unskilled – practise capitalist tendencies in the crudest form. Owners of factories and construction sites use their workers without any modicum of dignity or respect. They use diggers with bare hands where excavators should be used. They rarely wear safety boots and gloves. After work, they are hounded into very long, rickety vehicles with little or no ventilation, and are dropped-off along the road with the vehicles never completely coming to a stop. These shylock employers relying on some repugnant casualization laws refuse to make these workers permanent members of staff. In the financial services sector, especially in the banks, marketers are given insane targets. Some of these fly-by-night capitalists slate meetings for 6.30am on Mondays. All training sessions are booked for public holidays and weekends, to dehumanize the workers and reduce them to mere monkeys working for the baboons. So, the dream of financial inclusion is permanently swallowed by the reality of exclusion. Last line: “it isn’t important to come out on top; what is important is to be the one who comes out alive.” – Bertolt Brecht
