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Submitted by MattJBeckwith on
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I finally got around to reading the Business Week cover story, Fear of Firing, on my flight to the MT conference (irony).

What caught my eye was the the subtitle, [i]"How the threat of litigation is making companies skittish about axing problem workers"[/i]. I chuckled at this and thought to myself: this problem exists, in part, because of bad managers!

The author of the study agreed. He said, " That's because most fail to give the kind of [b]regular and candid evaluations[/b] that will allow a company to prove poor performance if a fired employee hauls them into court".

I vote for no more complaining about HR. Ineffective managers created this problem... and we, as Manager Tools managers, are fixing it.

Feedback, Coaching and One-on-ones.

Wow, that sounded like a rant.

Anyway, here's the article.

[url]http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_17/b4031001.htm[/url]

bflynn's picture

I remember having those exact thoughts when I read that article too. It was almost an advertisement for better management.

I think this may be part of the energy for the MT user conference. We've moved so far into Dilbert world that learning there is a better way is very exciting.

Brian

trandell's picture

After days solid of MT fundamentals, I could not agree more with you. HR and Legal exist to protect the company. One of the things they protect against is managers that do not make a sufficient case for disciplinary action by constantly doing the basics.

It's up to us to affect this type of change. One direct at a time. One team at a time and so on.

JohnGMacAskill's picture
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Matt,

Didn't read the article, but listened at the conference when it was mentioned and I chatted to Mark on Wednesday evening about a similar subject.

The link is a letter I wrote to the FT (fame :D ) which outlines my support for your - and the general MT - view.

http://search.ft.com/ftArticle?queryText=letters+macaskill&y=3&aje=true&...

It is almost a 'soap box' moment; so I can totally sympathise with your 'rant'! It's almost a statement of the Manager Tools way!

John

MattJBeckwith's picture
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John, great letter to FT.

To quote from it, "It is amazing the lengths managers go to avoid this type of confrontation in traditional British businesses."

I think we learned this week that it's not only British businesses but it's all over the world.

LouFlorence's picture
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Dave-

Hello!

I finally got around to catching up on the boards. Interesting article. Really something to see our friend John had a letter published in the Financial Times (yay John!).

I see a tendency at my employer and others to use severence packages during most terminations to immunize against lawsuits (the person leaving gets the severence only if they agree not to take action). I wonder how common this has gotten to be.

Lou