Employees should have autonomy or be micro-managed?- Article 5 (MBA-Course Module: MN7234ES- People and Organizations: Principles and Practices in Global Contexts

 

Employees should have autonomy or be micro-managed?

 

Source: (Ross, No Year)

Before we delve into the subject, let us first understand the two terms:

Autonomy is when the employees have the freedom to work on their own without any or very little interference from management. Employees decide how and when their work should be done (Wooll, 2021). Organizations that practice autonomy will have benefits that I will be discussing in the following paragraphs.

Micro-Management- This is really quite the opposite of autonomy. The micro-management is when the boss supervises the entire tasks within the team. They do not give any decision-making power to their employees and obsessed with information gathering (Petrova, 2023).

Now let me say which approach is ideal. Whether it is autonomy or micro-managing?

From the definitions told above, it is quite obvious that micro-management will have a negative connotation. However, it has its own purpose. We should never jump to quick conclusions. As humans we have the power of reasoning. We should rationally think and reason out. Otherwise, as individuals we are either bias or thinking very narrowly without a rational and reasoning approach.

That being said, we should understand that micro-managers are generally appropriate in some situations. So let me elaborate it below.

·         Suppose the team is struggling to perform their task and does not meet the required standards. Then it may be useful to closely monitor for short durations. In such an instance, it will help the team to focus and get back on track. However, the manager should discontinue once the team has regained their focus and required standard of performance (Sharma, 2022).

·         Secondly, in crisis situations. The circumstances are uncertain and dynamic. Therefore, the micromanager needs precise communication and instructions on what the team needs to do. This is exactly a situation when people need to use micromanagement in the workplace. Again when the crisis situation is over or averted, the micromanagement needs to be stopped (Sharma, 2022).

·         Next, when there is an immediate request from any stakeholder that needs to be delivered urgently. It can be a major customer, supplier or even any government authority. The micromanager will keep tracking the progress with the team by closely monitoring and completing because it is required urgently. By this the micromanager can keep the stakeholder happy. Once completed or if is not urgent, then the micromanager should not even interfere (Sharma, 2022).

·         Another very important situation is when working with an inexperienced and young workforce because it is essential to provide regular feedback to develop their skills appropriately. Micromanagers need to provide the adequate training and experience to bring forth confidence and settle them as a team. Finally, the micromanager has to slowly delegate and build autonomy and take away the micromanagement (Sharma, 2022).

·         Lastly, to bring a delayed project on track. When a project is delayed, it may be due to insufficient resources, interpersonal conflicts, missed deadlines or incorrect assumptions. Therefore, with careful planning, execution and close monitoring will help the team back on track. Even to avoid further delays. Nevertheless, if there is no delay or shortfall in projects, then the manager does not need to interfere (Sharma, 2022).

Now that I have justified the purpose of why micro-management is done. We can see clearly that micromanagement is entirely not bad. It is that we have to study the situation holistically and apply the relevant technique.

However, the same negative association is not for autonomy. Because employees have the freedom to work at their own pace and they can decide how to perform the required tasks. That being said, the employees should ensure that they take responsibility and accountability for their work when their organizations and leaders have trusted and provided them with the tasks and goals to be achieved at their discretion by way of delegation. It is important employees do not take advantage when management trusts and delegates their work. They should take ownership for it and work in the best interests of the company. Consequently, there will be benefits such as increased job satisfaction, there is high employment engagement and motivation, improved employee retention, increased creativity and innovation, a culture of trust is formed, increased productivity, employees will feel valued and this will drive them to self-master skills development and leadership qualities (Wooll, 2021).

So what did I learn?

Quite interestingly, had read a lot to be able to justify my topic. Because it is usually easy to support an argument when it has a positive attribution. Here it is autonomy. Everyone like to have autonomy and work freely. We all tend to directly or indirectly vouch for it. However, what we all fail to understand is that everything has its purpose. There are situations where you cannot apply autonomy. We need to apply the technique of micromanagement. Employees should be able to comprehend this. Well, a very thoughtful and rational individual working in an organization will be able to understand. This is a very important lesson and keynote I have taken by reading and writing this blog.

In winding up, I defined both terms namely, autonomy and micromanagement. Subsequently, elaborated my position that we need to understand things in a rational approach. So, I explained there could be situations where autonomy would not work and management and leaders have to micromanage. So I explained that. In my final two notes, I explained a little useful purpose of autonomy and my few learning takeaways.

References:

Ross, S. (No Year) ‘Delegation vs Micromanagement: Finding the Right Balance’, Sana Ross, No Date. Available at: https://www.sanaross.com/blog/delegation-vs-micromanagement-finding-the-right-balance (Accessed: 26 November 2023).

Wooll, M. (2021) ‘Autonomy at work is important: Here are 9 ways to encourage it’, Betterup, 3 December. Available at: https://www.betterup.com/blog/autonomy-in-the-workplace#:~:text=Autonomy%20in%20the%20workplace%20means,their%20work%20should%20be%20done. (Accessed: 26 November 2023).

Petrova, B. (2023) ‘What is Micromanagement and How to Deal with it?’, Slingshot, 24 October. Available at: https://www.slingshotapp.io/blog/what-is-micromanagement (Accessed: 26 November 2023).

Sharma, D. (2022) ‘Is Micromanagement at Work Good? 5 Scenarios Where it Works’, Risely, 6 June. Available at: https://www.risely.me/when-can-micromanagement-be-a-good-option-for-managers/#:~:text=If%20a%20team%20member%20struggles,and%20get%20back%20on%20track. (Accessed: 26 November 2023).