For Real-World Advice, Look No Farther Than The Real-World

The inadequacy of advice pouring out of so many self-important academics advising on real-world business issues would be amusing if it weren’t for the potential damage caused by the non-questioning and eager acceptance by the intellectually lazy audience upon which its stream is directed.

Consider, for example, a recent article posted on Strategy-Business.com (https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/Micromanagement-is-not-the-answer ) with the all-too-conventionally-minded title Micromanagement is Not the Answer. The author, Eric McNulty, writes very persuasively, anchoring his argument in what is represented as unassailable academic research. And his actual points might very well be valid. But his utilization of academic theory as the foundation for his conclusions and purportedly practical advice invites criticism from real-world application.

The column discusses self-determination theory, an academic line of thinking which posits that to feel motivated, people must fulfill three core needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness (which the article defines as being part of a team). Like most academic theories, this sounds great, in principle.?But the reality is considerably more nuanced.

Like most academic theories, this sounds great, in principle.?But the reality is considerably more nuanced.

To be fair – and ironic - these “core needs” are the very characteristics that good, real-world managers strongly desire in every single employee. But too often, competence is compromised, autonomy is abused, and “relatedness” is utilized for cover, turf wars, or worse, to attribute blame.

But too often, competence is compromised, autonomy is abused, and “relatedness” is utilized for cover, turf wars, or worse, to attribute blame.

The working premise of this article is that micromanagement is terrible and abusive, at least for the employees being managed. The author quotes Harvard Business School professor Tsedal Neeley?as explaining that to avoid micromanagement, “[y]ou have to trust that they [workers] are intelligent enough and well-intentioned enough to get work done no matter what it takes.”?Well, as just about any seasoned business manager will tell you, in the real world, that’s not always possible. And the idea that workers are intelligent enough, as Neeley offers as a requirement to trust, is nowhere near a given. (Neither, by the way, is Neeley’s requirement that workers are well-intentioned enough.)

Too often, academics are no different than click-seeking social media posters in that they tend to work in such all-encompassing generalities and categorizations as to render their insights and advice virtually meaningless.?

Too often, academics are no different than click-seeking social media posters in that they tend to work in such all-encompassing generalities and categorizations as to render their insights and advice virtually meaningless.?In this case, the universe of “employees” that they so neatly package into a single category is extraordinarily diverse. From millionaires (yes, employees have been known to make huge sums) to minimum wage, from salaried to hourly to commission-based, from office to factory to warehouse to highway to airport to retail store to work-from-home – to list just a few – there is no legitimate or intellectually honest way to adopt anything close to a one-size-fits-all perspective on, let along prescription for, this wide-ranging group. And the diversity expands geometrically once you factor in each type of worker within dozens of different industries, making the generalizations around which self-determination theory is based inaccurate and irrelevant to any reality-targeting conclusions.

It would be wonderful to manage a business where every worker is intelligent enough, self-motivated enough, and secure enough in their role and with their relationships to do their job without supervision. No manager worth his or her salt enjoys or desires to be a micromanager. Micromanagement typically results from lack of confidence which, despite what you may gather from your LinkedIn feed by attention-seeking corporate culture armchair warriors, cannot be willed into existence simply because it would be nicer world to live in that way. Confidence emanates from a consistent performance and a track record of results, not from effort, jingoism, and platitudes.

Academia has its value – and even theories such as self-determination have value. But they are theories, not facts. They are at best descriptive within a constructed environment, not universally prescriptive. For real-world advice, look to real-world sources. And that advice is coming to you from the real-world.