Mis-management Styles

I recently read "Management and Mis-Management Styles" by Ichak Adizes. This is the second book in a trilogy of books that deal with roles and styles in the workplace. This one focuses on elaboration of the dysfunctional effects of mis-management. The five mis-management styles are:

• Lone Ranger


• Bureaucrat


• Arsonist


• SuperFollower


• Deadwood

Lone Ranger is a negative expression of a Producer personality. A Producer is someone who gets things done and does not like to waste time discussing alternatives and long range plans. When this personality is in a management position and has no other complementary skills of administration, entrepreneurial or integration the Lone Ranger pattern is manifested. The Lone Ranger will not take time for necessary meetings or giving appropriate instructions to subordinates. She does not have time for strategic discussions. He just wants to get things done since there is SO much to do. This can have the effect of inconsistent and inadequate communication and delegation throughout the organization.

The Bureaucrat loves systems and processes. Since, unlike the Administrator, the Bureaucrat has no complementary skills of Producing, Entrepreneurship or Integration, the result is an emphasis on form over function. As long as everything is accounted for and there is a rule for every situation the Bureaucrat believes things are running smoothly. Never mind that the organization's creativity has died a slow death and the rules and regulations are keeping people from making creative decisions required by new information or situations.

The Arsonist is an Entrepreneur gone wild. There are so many ideas and opportunities. We have to chase all of them. We need to be working on more things... FASTER!! Can we get "someone" to start on this great new idea I had this past weekend? Never mind that we are knee deep trying to get the current release finished. Wait, maybe we can add this into the current release. It should only take "a couple of weeks" to get it done. I already thought it through over the weekend. Depending on how distorted the Arsonist's time multiplier is, it could really take 2 months or longer to actually get the work done. So, the release, which was barely on schedule is now delayed indefinitely.

The SuperFollower is a negative expression of an Integrator. Typically an Integrator is the one component (in addition to at least one more) that is necessary for a leader to possess. But a SuperFollower has no other competency beyond the desire that "everyone just get along". He has no agenda of his own, no initiatives to drive and does not want to make decisions. He is always searching for consensus and wanting "everyone" to agree before a decision can be made.

Deadwood has zero competency in Production, Administration, Entrepreneurship or Integration. He is there until the lights are turned off. With no ability to push for completion, setup organizational systems, initiate creative ideas or integrate the enterprise, he is the obvious target for layoffs. However, in some organizations, Deadwood can survive for years.