Confronting the Inevitable

As a result of the compatibility issues I described in the previous chapter, all managers have strengths and weaknesses in their ability to perform the four key roles. In any person with a managerial task, a (PAEI) role can be completely missing, squeezed out, threatened with extinction, or never fully developed.

If the (PAEI) roles are necessary and together they are sufficient for good management, then any time any of the four roles is not being performed, what will happen? Mismanagement – a predictable, repetitive pattern of mismanagement.

In order to simplify comparisons between managerial and mismanagerial behavior, I have chosen to profile five exaggerated archetypes of mismanagement. Why? The difference between normal and abnormal people is only one degree. So by studying abnormal people whose behavior is so acute that it’s readily visible, you learn to understand what is normal.

Thus, instead of seeing what happens when one role is missing, I will ask what happens when one role is performed, and three are missing.

These archetypes —are the Lone Ranger, (P---); the Bureaucrat. (-A--); the Arsonist, (--E-); the SuperFollower, (---I); and the Dead wood, (----)— represent mismanagers who exhibit none or only one of the four essential elements of management – (P)roducing, (A)dministrating, (E)ntrepreneuring, and (I)ntegrating – while failing to meet the threshold needs of the other elements.

Recognizing these patterns can be a significant tool in treating the “disease” of mismanagement. It can also help you to analyze the normal and abnormal problems that organizations have over time, guide you in resolving conflict in your organization, and evaluate whether your team is working well together.

If you're interested in learning more about your skills and managerial personality here you can take the Adizes Leadership Indicators Suite (ALIS) test.

The following pages give a short description of each style. For a much more detailed description and analysis, read the second book in this series, Management/Mismanagement Styles op.cit. For prescriptions for how to deal with each style and how to compensate for your own managerial weaknesses, read book 3 in this series.