Having been the subject of micro-management in the past, the last thing I would want to be classified as in a management role would be a ‘Micro-Manager’.



According to Wikipedia, “…micromanagement is a management style where a manager closely observes or controls the work of her or his subordinates or employees”. 

The result of micromanagement is often tension between manager and sub-ordinate, lack of trust, and in severe cases, resentment towards said manager, preventing sub-ordinates to produce their best or most creative work.

When looking towards the causes of micromanagement, I must again turn to Wikipedia, “The most frequent motivations for micromanagement… are internal and related to the personality of the manager. Since manager-employee relationships include a difference in power and often in age, workplace psychologists have used models based on transference theory to draw analogies between micromanagement relationships and dysfunctional parent-child relationships, e.g., that both often feature the frequent imposition of double binds and/or a tendency by the authority figure to exhibit hyper-criticality”.

The article goes on to say… “In many cases of micromanagement, managers select and implement processes and procedures not for business reasons but rather to enable themselves to feel useful and valuable and/or create the appearance of being so”

Harsh words, but in my personal experience this is a pretty fair assessment. 

So, are you a micromanager? Are you honest enough with yourself to self-diagnose? If so, you may be interested in the below article, which I found very interesting and felt had some good commentary and advice.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/leadership/get-involved-without-being-a-micromanager-3-tips/579?tag=content;drawer-container