Volume 1, Issue 2
A man flying in a hot air balloon suddenly realizes he is lost. He reduces height and sees a young man down below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where
I am." The young man says, "Yes. You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude." "You must work in Information Technology," says the balloonist. "I do," replies the young man. "How did you know?" "Well," says the balloonist, “everything you told me is, technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and I am still lost. Frankly, you have not been much help at all. If anything, you have delayed my trip."
The young man below replies, "And you must work in management." "I do," says the balloonist, "But how did you know?" "It’s easy," replies the man, "You don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is that you are still in exactly the same position you were before we met, but now, somehow, it is my fault." Jokes tend to have a kernel of truth within them.
In this joke, the punchline highlights the point of placing a blame on a person who has nothing to do with the problem. Because we know that the man on the ground is not at fault for the balloonist’s becoming lost, we laugh at the blame which the manager in his cluelessness casts on the man on the ground. In real life, the situation is not funny. Many organizations foster a culture of blame and when things do not work out, the instinctive response is to find someone to blame. As result, people who have lived in the culture of blame long enough, develop some defensive mechanisms. One is to redirect blame to someone else, “I could have done what I was supposed to do if XYZ did the right job”. Another defensive mechanism is to become a victim of circumstances and explain away the problem, “I could not do what I was supposed to do because ... [a variety of reasons].”Neither defensive approach is helpful in finding the right solution to the problem, or making things work, because when defending themselves many people reduce critical thinking and stop being creative and open to ideas. One of the core principles of the socio-economic approach to management is that people usually try to do their best and they do not need to be blamed when things do not work as well as they might. The problem is an organization is a system. If the system is flawed or broken, people get caught in the cracks of the system and it may look like individuals are at fault.
Part of the problem is a flawed mental model of modern management and an incorrect understanding of what good management entails. At the heart of this mental model is separation of management and workers and implicit beliefs that workers are supposed to know who is in charge and if something does not work well, the worker is blamed. Many managers are simply not taught to steer the people who report to them. Steering, in SEAM jargon, means leading and managing people in order to align their efforts in achieving the organization’s strategic goals.
In a study, conducted by the British consulting company Penna, employees reported that even when they liked and respected their managers, they still needed more clarity of direction and vision sharing from the managers. This is in sync with SEAM practice and theory that has found that managers do not spend enough time steering their employees. Lack of steering is the most serious cause of organizational dysfunctions. According to Penna’s managing director of talent practice, many organizations do not invest in managers’ development and thus do not get optimal managerial performance and impact.
In SEAM, one of the goals is to nurture a healthy model of management with a dual focus on people and economics, in other words, foster managers who can steer people well. SEAM creates conditions for all employees to work together as equals, each with different roles and knowledge. The elements that are used to achieve the goal, are teaching managers the socio-
economic theory, helping them implement SEAM management tools, and coaching them through implementing socio-economic changes. Hopefully, each issue of the Theory and Practice of Socio-Economic Management will be adding a bit more insight into what good management looks like and what is needed to create healthy and efficient organizations.
Alla Heorhiadi, PhD, EdD
I am." The young man says, "Yes. You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude." "You must work in Information Technology," says the balloonist. "I do," replies the young man. "How did you know?" "Well," says the balloonist, “everything you told me is, technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and I am still lost. Frankly, you have not been much help at all. If anything, you have delayed my trip."
The young man below replies, "And you must work in management." "I do," says the balloonist, "But how did you know?" "It’s easy," replies the man, "You don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is that you are still in exactly the same position you were before we met, but now, somehow, it is my fault." Jokes tend to have a kernel of truth within them.
In this joke, the punchline highlights the point of placing a blame on a person who has nothing to do with the problem. Because we know that the man on the ground is not at fault for the balloonist’s becoming lost, we laugh at the blame which the manager in his cluelessness casts on the man on the ground. In real life, the situation is not funny. Many organizations foster a culture of blame and when things do not work out, the instinctive response is to find someone to blame. As result, people who have lived in the culture of blame long enough, develop some defensive mechanisms. One is to redirect blame to someone else, “I could have done what I was supposed to do if XYZ did the right job”. Another defensive mechanism is to become a victim of circumstances and explain away the problem, “I could not do what I was supposed to do because ... [a variety of reasons].”Neither defensive approach is helpful in finding the right solution to the problem, or making things work, because when defending themselves many people reduce critical thinking and stop being creative and open to ideas. One of the core principles of the socio-economic approach to management is that people usually try to do their best and they do not need to be blamed when things do not work as well as they might. The problem is an organization is a system. If the system is flawed or broken, people get caught in the cracks of the system and it may look like individuals are at fault.
Part of the problem is a flawed mental model of modern management and an incorrect understanding of what good management entails. At the heart of this mental model is separation of management and workers and implicit beliefs that workers are supposed to know who is in charge and if something does not work well, the worker is blamed. Many managers are simply not taught to steer the people who report to them. Steering, in SEAM jargon, means leading and managing people in order to align their efforts in achieving the organization’s strategic goals.
In a study, conducted by the British consulting company Penna, employees reported that even when they liked and respected their managers, they still needed more clarity of direction and vision sharing from the managers. This is in sync with SEAM practice and theory that has found that managers do not spend enough time steering their employees. Lack of steering is the most serious cause of organizational dysfunctions. According to Penna’s managing director of talent practice, many organizations do not invest in managers’ development and thus do not get optimal managerial performance and impact.
In SEAM, one of the goals is to nurture a healthy model of management with a dual focus on people and economics, in other words, foster managers who can steer people well. SEAM creates conditions for all employees to work together as equals, each with different roles and knowledge. The elements that are used to achieve the goal, are teaching managers the socio-
economic theory, helping them implement SEAM management tools, and coaching them through implementing socio-economic changes. Hopefully, each issue of the Theory and Practice of Socio-Economic Management will be adding a bit more insight into what good management looks like and what is needed to create healthy and efficient organizations.
Alla Heorhiadi, PhD, EdD