Bad Management - Perfect Example

Crooks In The Branch Office Supervised By Fools In The Head Office

Hold on and read this report, you are going to be stunned to learn that this is a true case of bad management and not just an hypothetical example. This is actually going on even now and the head office seems to be quite comfortable by staying ignorant of the truth. One of the top U.S based luxury products seller opens a fully owned branch in Thailand. The office in Thailand is an Asian and is supposed to report to the U.S head office. The weird thing is that, this Asian branch manager reports only what he wants the head office to see and know, the rest of the things are hidden deep inside the branch office. And to keep this convenient set up alive, he uses his power to suppress and fire anyone who dare speak about his activities in the branch. 


Conflict Of Interest Clauses: The head office has one simple and common conflict of interest document that everyone in the branch office is supposed to adhere to. The document is the only tool used by the Head Office management to control the branch office staff including the branch manager. The main clause which seeks to protect the interest of the U.S business is that, branch employees including the branch manager will not conduct any business that competes with that of the U.S business. Here is what the branch manager does, his wife runs a small home operated business of selling products like cosmetics etc. The branch manager hires some of his favorite staff working at the office to promote her products. The staff work hard to do that in the branch office as it is the bosses wish. These staff are the pets of the manager and obviously get special incentives and salary raises through the branch office. Basically, the staff are rewarded at the branch office expense for help given to the wife of the branch manager. The fools managing the branch from the head office never hear of this and so, keep believing that everything is progressing just fine. Solution: The head office needs to take a smart step here and have two separate conflict of interest documents based on, the level at which the branch office staff is employed. 


Firing For Dubious Reasons: So you have two groups of employees in the branch office, one that is protected by the branch manager no matter what they do and how pathetic their performance. They are the lucky few who always get exposure in the eyes of the head office managers. Basically the heaven blessed gang who happen to be in the U.S office good books, as they were promoted by this bad branch manager. Any staff who does not agree with this crooked branch manager or who does not treat his favorite staff sweet, is pressurized to leave and not given exposure in the U.S office. He obviously would like such staff to leave on their own but would not hesitate to put major obstacles in their work and performance, the aim is to keep building pressure. 


Lopsided Incentive Schemes: You cannot blame the branch manager for implementing his crooked ways here, remember that it is not easy to mend a crooked character. The U.S head office allows the branch management to fix various incentive schemes for employees. The incapability of the branch manager means that,  he is unable to fix incentives for departments that do vital back end support. For examples, accounting, finance, stock taking, I.T etc perform functions that are useful to all staff but, the work cannot be easily quantified. The branch manager finds an easy solution, he just leaves those staff out of the incentive schemes. No need to put too much effort in that direction as, he himself is safely included in one of the lucrative incentive schemes set up for the branch. What this does is to demotivate the support departments, efficiency gradually falls and they soon face the wrath of this crooked manager. The whole lopsided scene would be avoided if the head office showed a few some brain and a few grains of guts. The easiest way to handle this would be to instruct the branch manager that, EVERYONE would need to fall into one incentive scheme or the other. Performance standards for evaluation would need to be set even if, they might involve some tedious thinking and planning. It would be fair to draw up exit plans for staff who consistently fall below those standards. The most important instruction provided from the head office would be to ensure that, the branch manger himself is included in any incentive scheme ONLY after, all the staff have been plugged into one scheme or the other.


Exit Interviews: The head office would know much about the dishonesty and favoritism going on in the branch office if they cared and dared to conduct exist interviews. This could be limited to staff from the middle and upper management levels.