Each of the gods ?works on quite different assumptions about the basis of power and influence, what motivates people, how they think and learn, and how things can be changed.? (Handy 5) Handy feels that the culture of the organization reveals the best management style that should be used.
The symbol for Zeus is a spider?s web. This spider web represents the organization in which Zeus belongs, and therefore, the networking styled manager operating in the center of the network organization. Zeus is the king of gods, the patron god. He was a feared, respected, and occasionally loved god. The culture, and therefore style, associated with Zeus is the club culture and is frequently found in the small entrepreneurial organization. It is formed of close friends and family members. Other areas that this culture/style is present are in brokerage firms, investment banks, and many political groupings.
One aspect of the management style associated with this culture is speed of decision. This speed is achieved through an unusual form of communication ? empathy. This use of empathy eliminates the need for memos, committees, and formal authorities. The Zeus manager does not write ? ?he speaks, eyeball to eyeball? (Handy 15) Because of this reason, a Zeus manager could very well be illiterate. Affinity and trust are two salient features of Zeus manager and the way he operates. A Zeus manager must be tough, for if trust or empathy is seen to diminish within the company, the slacker must go, and the manager must follow it through. The manager values each individual within the company, gives each free rein, and rewards them on their efforts. They are completely unconcerned with job descriptions, roles and specific responsibilities. In order for an organization to run smoothly, they must surround themselves with individuals who are self-directed and self-motivated. They therefore, are very hands off managers, the less they have to do? the better.
If the Zeus manager is incompetent, aging, or disinterested, then quality will be a serious issue and if not taken into consideration, will adversely affect the organization. It is therefore vital to ensure that if a Zeus type manager is taken on, he must be completely competent, young, and interested in his field of work.
Apollo, on the other hand, was the god of order and rules. The symbol for Apollo is a Greek temple. These ?temples draw their strength and beauty from their pillars. The pillars represent the functions and divisions in [the] organization?, a bureaucracy, if you will. The Apollo manager operates at the top of the role culture, which is concerned with the role of the job to be done, not the personalities of the employees. The Apollo manager is assumed to be rational ?and that everything can and should be analyzed in a logical fashion.? (Handy 17) The style, therefore, is extremely systematic with specific job descriptions given. The manager has specific rules and procedures and operates from within these boundaries. The Apollo manager operates with stability and predictability always in mind. The Apollo manager is very impersonal and employees are considered a part of the whole operation, not individual, thinking, feeling, people. Efficiency is viewed as meeting standard targets, if they?re beat, then it is assumed that the targets need revising. In the mind of the Apollo manager, you do your job as required, no more, no less. Apollo managers hate change because it means that things can no longer be predictable and therefore operations can?t run at full efficiency. When drastic changes occur, the Apollo manager will set ?up a lot of cross-functional liaison groups in an attempt to hold the structure together.? (Handy 19) If this fails then the management will fall. Managers, therefore, who fall under this style are very closed minded and unimaginative. Life insurance companies, civil services, state industries, and local government are examples of these types of organizations
The Athena manager takes a very different approach to management. They are concerned with ?the continuous and successful solution of problems.? (Handy 21) First they define the problem, then allocate the appropriate resources to the solution. They give the ?go-ahead? and then waits for the solution. Athena managers judge performance based on results, or solved problems. The symbol for this task culture is the net. ?Power lies at the interstices of the net, not at the top, as in the Apollo culture, or at the center, as in Zeus organizations.? The Athena style concerns itself with having a network of loosely linked units (groups), each ?being largely self-contained but having a specific responsibility? (Handy 21) within the organization. Athena was the warrior goddess, arch problem solver of craftsmen and pioneering captains. Expertise is the only base of power or influence. Managers look for talent, creativity, a fresh approach, and intuition when hiring. The Athena manager incorporates a sense of enthusiasm and joint commitment when motivating his employees. The managerial style is one of ?mutual respect and a desire to help rather than exploit when others get into difficulties? (Handy 22), and they believe in teams and teamwork. Consultancy companies, research and development departments, and advertising agencies are examples, which incorporate this type of culture/style.
And last but not least, we have Dionysus, the god of wine and song. The culture associated with this god is the existential culture. This culture states that we ?are in charge of our own destinies.? (Handy 25) In the other cultures, ?the individual is there to help the organization achieve its purpose? (Handy 25). But in existential culture ?the organization exists to help the individual achieve his purpose.? (Handy 25) Doctors, architects, lawyers, professors, and artists are examples of people who thrive and operate in this type of culture, and in essence are the managers. In this culture, all individuals in the organization can be seen as a manager: a manager of themselves, left to manage their self and their operations. The Dionysus recognizes no one ?boss?.
After identifying these four gods, their managerial styles, and their corresponding cultures and organization types, we can now go back to Handy?s theory, that there is no one managerial style that is the perfect fit. One must be able to identify their managerial tendencies and place themselves in that organization type or at least in the department that incorporates that style behaviour.
The first six managerial styles mentioned are founded in an academic and/or scientific method. The foundation of these styles are not fixed but have developed through changes in time, technology, values, and culture. Handy?s view, the Gods of Management, is a more ideological view, where the managerial styles are concrete in existence and are unaffected by time and technology. This allows for flexibility and movement within the four Gods styles described by Handy.
The new-found view of leadership, the engine of management, is that ?[t]he whole point of leadership is having power with people ? not lording it over them. Everyone has leadership capabilities, and a true leader is one who encourages others to discover and utilize their talents. If you define yourself by your whole person and not just your job description, you are more apt to make a difference.? (Fast Company 47)
Stephen Zades, chairman and CEO of LHC, initiated the Creative Odyssey in 1996, to answer such questions as, ?Where do idea companies get their ideas?? and ?How do they tap into something that?s on it?s way in, rather than already passed?? What is the odyssey, you ask? Well, it?s a survey of pop culture at its newest and rawest. When Creative Odyssey was first in operation, it was composed only of LHC staff, but a problem occurred. Zades realized that even though his team saw, felt, and discovered incredible things, they were farther away from their clients than before. They were trying to unleash and reveal new ideas that were way beyond the concepts and mind frames of their clients. Since then, LHC tries to do everything with their clients. And that includes the Creative Odyssey. ?The Creative Odyssey is the brainchild of Long Haymes Carr (LHC), an advertising agency based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Each odyssey takes agency staffers, along with executives from client companies, to New York for a four-day whirlwind of cutting-edge art exhibits, ground-breaking theater, hip clubs ? and very weird shoes.? (Fast Company 54) The odyssey not only enables the client to grow with the agency, it allows them to develop themselves both personally and professionally, allowing for creativity and inspiration to dance around within them. After experiencing the odyssey, Margaret Urquhart, president of Lowes Foods, learnt that, ?tapping into the passions of each person in your organization helps you differentiate yourself from the competition.? And Stephen Zades agrees: ?You need to do things that you would never do otherwise. Unless, you keep challenging yourself, you?re not going to grow.? Even though this seems a bit extreme, the underlying principles are what really matter ? the world is an ever-changing phenomenon, and as an organization, if you want it to function smoothly within and rise above the competition, you need to change too. By using an approach that not only involves your staff but your clients too – and taking them away from the work environment, letting them release, explore, and discover – you, as a manager, your staff, your clients, and therefore, the organization as a whole, can learn from and with each other, and grow.
In order to change the direction of his company and manage it effectively and efficiently, Tom Gegax, ?head-coach? of Team Tires Plus Inc., realized that he first needed to change himself, to be able to manage by example, altering his physical, mental, and spiritual paths. He feels that there should ?be no division between who you are at work and who you really are.? (Fast Company 60) He believed that it goes much deeper than calling it just a job. So? with this new view that a company should embrace customers and employees, or ?teammates? as Gegax calls them, as ?whole people?, he started up a company wellness center that provides monthly classes in healthy cooking and nutrition. In addition, the company now offers Shiatsu massages at headquarters and retail stores and courses on work-life balance. One of Gegax?s reasons for this fine tuned approach is that feeling and living healthy and working in a good environment all alters how one sells. And if he can use simple techniques to increase these variables and to heighten productivity ? then it?s all good! ?You manage fixed assets. You coach people.? (Fast Company 60)
Some feel that although this move towards the ?today?s? management techniques is great and definitely needed, it is felt that it only works in certain types of industries. On the contrary, the General Electric plant in Durham, which manufactures jet engines, is a truly special example of today?s management being implemented and working. This plant was opened in 1993 and still operates to this date as a totally self-managing facility.
There are more than 170 employees and just one boss ? the plant manager. Everyone reports to her. Therefore, on a day-to-day basis, the people who work there have no boss. They essentially run themselves. Teams of nine people are formed and given just one directive ? the day that their next engine must be loaded onto a truck. All other decisions like who does what work; how to balance training, vacations, overtime against work flow; how to make the manufacturing process more efficient; and how to handle teammates who are slacking off; all stays within the team. The workers manage everything from process-improvement and work schedules to overtime budgets.
Traditionally assembly line techniques of Ford are not used in this plant. Rather, multi-skilling. ?That?s how the place is kept together.? (Fast Company 188) Each team ?owns? an engine from the beginning to the end of assembly. Members of the team do the jobs that interest them and no one ever does the same job shift after shift, day after day. They alternate ? learning and teaching each other as they go. There are no time clocks to check in and out, giving the workers freedom to leave to go to their children?s school functions.
The plant manager is situated in an open cubicle that?s located right on the factory floor. She sits there and does her own work, making herself available to them but never walks around checking up on them. This empowers the employees and they don?t feel that they are being scrutinized, being forced to work efficiently and effectively. This complete hand-off technique allows for the worker to gain a pride in what they?re doing for they feel that they?re doing it for themselves, not a boss who is scouring above them. This is the highest motivation you can achieve. The employee mind frame is one that they are there to help improve the organization as a whole and they believe in what they do. Employees want to create perfect engines. They strive to produce perfect engines expecting no reward other than their own satisfaction. There are no performance incentives. The result ? ? of the jet engines have just a single defect, something cosmetic, the other ? are perfect. How is all this possible you ask? It can?t just be because the boss leaves them alone, you say. Well, it also has a lot to do with trust. Trust is the most important word in this plant. The boss trusts the employees and they in return trust her and each other. One worker expressed his feelings, ?I was never valued that much as an employee in my life.? ?I had never been at the point where I couldn?t wait to get to work. But here, I couldn?t wait to get to work everyday. That?s no BS!?
The culture at GE/Durham is one where they consider themselves, not as a team environment, but as a tribal community. Daily meetings are held to get updates of the day?s progress and problems, to hip-check morale, conflict, hiring, overtime, technical snags, and to plan for the future. At one point in time, everyone serves on one of several work councils that cut across team lines. These councils handle such matters as Human Resource issues, supplier problems, engineering challenges, computer systems, discipline, and rewards.
Consensus is another founding principle of GE/Durham. Every decision made by the team is done so by consensus. When people are hired they go through extensive training on how to reach a consensus and how to work with people.
So how is this all possible? How was something so perfect and unique able to function smoothly? The answer to these, lie in the four basic principles that GE/Durham was built on. They include a layerless organization, people being paid according to their skills, all employees must be a FAA power plant mechanic and therefore highly skilled, and incorporating a team environment that requires a highly involved workforce. Furthermore, to ensure this the interview selection process is very rigid and precise. All interviewees are measured on 11 areas ? only one of these involves technical competence and experience. They must grade above the bar on all 11 areas, if not in one, then they don?t get the job. Through this grueling elimination process, GE/Durham is able to surround themselves with only the best.
Present employees are also included in the hiring process. Both the technicians and the plant manager must agree on the hiring of a person. Even at the level of hiring the manager, are the GE technicians are involved. The ?big boys? want the advice of the technicians, and let them interview manager applicants, but the final say of course, is up to the ?big boys?. And this is an interesting twist. It makes the manger dependent on the employees rather than the employees dependent on the manager letting a whole different relationship able to occur.
The new strategy for deciding what managerial style was best to use, Canada Post?s new outlook is that ?If our employees are happy and satisfied, then our business will grow and we will achieve our goals,? according to Doug McLelland of Canada Post Employee Communications. Through a customer-first approach, Canada Post has implemented a number of programs developed to boost staff morale and make the working environment more comfortable. Canada Post is now a good example of a bureaucratic corporation gone ?modern management style? mode. Some of the locations have self-directed work teams that have replaced the typical supervisor-worker arrangement. This gives staff more authority, holding them accountable for their own work. Award programs are employed to recognize the contributions of employees and continuous training keeps the staff up-to-date and informed. In this more web-like structure, there are more opportunities for staff to become directly involved in the running of the corporation. This hands-off approach, enables managers to recognize the knowledge and expertise of front-line employees and production workers. In this new mode, there is more opportunity for everyone to communicate and contribute ideas.
Other industries are keeping up with this trend towards new age management. A branch manager at the Bank of Montreal?s, Theresa Wyss, has updated her ways of managing. She once could sum up her style of management in one word ? autocratic. But these days she believes in the value of the team. One of Wyss? techniques is that she leads by example, acting as more a facilitator than a manager and coaches her employees to build on their strengths. This new style made some employees feel awkward participating in decision making at first, but after Wyss made her commitment, everyone else just joined in.