Balance and Control

Balance and Control: On the Responsibilities of the Manager was taken, in large measure, from the Parent Book, Balance and Control: A Guide to Managing Human Beings by Understanding Human Nature and Human Interactions. Many managers assume the responsibilities of management and leadership without a full and complete understanding of what the job entails, and as a result, they come to the position wholly lacking in the tools that are essential for success. In this book, the author provides many of those tools using a simulation and an actual case study to demonstrate practical solutions to a myriad of familiar problems the manager is likely to encounter and which it is his responsibility to overcome and deliver on his obligations to the organization and to his people. The author identifies the problems as being both tangible (objective and physical) and intangible (subjective and nuanced). He also offers specific strategies that are designed to overcome most of these problems by supporting, training, and encouraging subordinates to buy in to the work or project at hand. But on those occasions when positive handling and encouragement are not enough, the manager must be prepared to bring negative consequences to bare in order to rectify the situation; up to and including the termination of a problematic employee. From the author's prospective, one of the key requirements for success as a manager in any job is setting and communicating realistic expectations and by holding your subordinates to the same standards of accountability for their work as Management has established for him. The author defines the distinctions between the manager and the leader and he tells the reader that he will have to be both if he is to be successful in the position. And because sexual discrimination is still institutionalized in our work environment and work place politics, the author closes the book with a note to the female reader.