David asks,
"We are experiencing in one of my client organizations a case of managers
not willing to manage. All to often a subordinate will request something
and the respective manager will pass on the responsibility to his
superior, who will pass it on it turn, until the whole job lot of problems
ends up on the top management's plate."
This could be off the mark because I am not familiar with German culture
which may be different from my own in some fundamental ways. Howver, let
me hazard some guesses.
First, senior management should not, under any circumstances, accept or
solve any problems brought to them by lower levels. Right now, my guess
is that they are facilitating and encouraging this behavior by their own
acceptance of responsibility.
Second, senior management should not, under any circumstances, criticize
any manager who solves any problem, not matter how poorly they did it.
Encourage the behavior, and the quality will follow.
Just guesses.
--Rol Fessenden LL Bean, Inc 76234.3636@compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>