How to Be a Super Manager

We've all had them: bosses who inspire more fury and frustration
than productivity or inspiration. They bark orders, mumble vague
instructions, and seem oblivious to their employees's successes, but
strangely attuned to every fumble. Who hasn't spent lunch hours
dissecting a supervisor's flaws and foibles, fantasizing about an early
retirement or personality overhaul for their boss?

But such musings miss the real kink in office operations. According
to Renato Tagiuri, Ph.D., professor emeritus of social sciences at
Harvard Business School, decades of research into what makes a great
manager leads to one conclusion: "It's not about personality. It's about
behavior."

While self-help books expound on the power of personality, and
management gurus tell us it's all about style, Tagiuri suggests that many
different kinds of people make good managers. Besides, who we are is far
more difficult to change than what we are.

Whether you're reserved or chatty, decisive or waffling, there are
effective ways to get the best out of your workers. With the help of his
students--who all had considerable work experience and had endured many
bosses--Tagiuri has distilled a lifetime of inquiry into 10 essential
actions that make a great boss:

o Clarify objectives of job assignments

o Describe assignments clearly

o Listen to your employees's views

o Make sure the resources necessary to carry out assignments are
available

o Be explicit about evaluation standards

o Reward effort and offer incentives

o Give prompt feedback on performance

o Avoid personal friendships with employees

o Admit your errors, don't tell lies

o Make the decisions that are yours to make.

The 10 behaviors constitute a cohesive system "and the removal of
any one of them will cause the structure to crumble," Tagiuri believes.
Employees need to know how they'll be judged, what priorities their boss
will set, and whether their earnest efforts will be noticed.

Alternatively, bosses can manage by threats or acquire enough
charisma to charm employees into high gear. But both strategies
ultimately backfire.