Good workplace practices and
their impacts
David Pardey,
Senior Manager Research & Policy
The Institute of Leadership & Management
A brief review of management
4.5m managers in the
UK; estimate 375,000 in
Scotland1
Approx. 2/3 male: 1/3
female, but:
» Majority of new
managers are
women and are
likely to have a
degree
» Majority of
established
managers are men
and are unlikely to
have a degree (2, 3)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Less
1-5
6-10
11-20
21-30
31 – 40
Over 40
than a
years
years
years
years
years
years
year
Male
Female
What’s so good about being a manager2?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Being able to make a difference
Making change happen
Developing others’ skills
The variety of challenges
Able to influence people or decisions
Helping my team achieve their goals
Increased financial benefits
The potential for career development
Increased level of responsibility
Status
44%
35%
32%
36%
29%
32%
31%
21%
18%
11%
Four good workplace practices
1.
2.
3.
4.
Organisation
Systems
Management
Leadership
Good organisation practices
Train managers
Better to train all managers a little, than a few managers a lot
» Good management practice is strongly associated with better
productivity, profitability, Tobin’s Q (asset value ratio), and sales
growth.
» Poor management practice survives through lack of product market
competition; firm age & few new market entrants using better
management techniques; and labour market regulation.4
“UK managers lag their colleagues in the US, France and
Germany in terms of competence and experience”5
“better-managed firms also have a more highly educated
workforce, among managers and non-managers alike”6
General ability and variety of experience used to identify future
leaders, & in-house training favoured for their development(7,8,9)
Good systems practices
Measure what matters
Most improvement methodologies emphasise the value
of measurement and analysis (eg PDCA, Ishikawa’s 7
tools & techniques, Six Sigma/DMAIC, etc), and of
benchmarking against the best
Effective skills utilisation means:
» measuring productivity (efficiency of resource utilisation and
product/service quality)
» comparing with best practice
» using appropriate improvement strategies to raise standards
Far more prevalent in manufacturing than service
industries
Good management practices
From supervision to development
Change focus
of management
role from
Productivity
comparison
supervising performance to improving
Labour
GB
DE (9,10)
performance through development
DE/GB
» Better performance management systems
Ave. bed
nights/ house-keeping
(continuous,
people- not 6.05
system-driven)
10.33
employee
59%
Ave. occupied room/
receptionist
63%
» Use workplace coaching and mentoring
» Culture of everyday learning
5.83
9.26
Good leadership practices
Build trust
Trust in co-workers and management is a predictor of:
» an employee’s preference for teamwork,
» increased engagement, and
» lowered employee turnover(11,12)
Trust is positively related to task performance and negatively
related to stress13
Trust can:
» reduce transactional costs (by obviating the need for excessive
controls and regulation), and
» promote positive relationships14
Trust is the product of three broad personal attributes that all
managers need to foster:
» Ability (understanding their own role and the role of those they lead)
» Integrity (honesty and consistency)
» Benevolence (openness and fairness)15
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Office of National Statistics (various)
What makes managers tick? ILM, 2008 (unpublished)
Thomson, A., Mabey, C. Storey, J. Gray, C. & Iles, P Changing Patterns of Management Development
Blackwell: 2001
Bloom N, et al Management Practices Across Firms and Nations Centre for Economic Performance (LSE) &
McKinsey & Co: June 2005
DTI ECONOMICS PAPER NO.17UK Productivity and Competitiveness Indicators March, 2006
Bloom N, et al Management Practice & Productivity: Why they matter Centre for Economic Performance
(LSE) & McKinsey & Co: July 2007
Future Leaders ILM, due October 2010
Newell H Who will follow the leader? Managers’ perceptions of management development activities: an
international comparison SKOPE Research Paper 51, Autumn 2004
Tamkin P et al The Comparative Capability of UK Managers Institute for Employment Studies for Skills for
Business, April 2006
Prais, Jarvis & Wagner Productivity and vocational skills in services in Britain and Germany: Hotels
National Institute Economic Review, November 1989
Kiffin-Petersen S., Cordery, J., February 2003, Trust, Individualism and Job Characteristics as Predictors of
Employee Preference for Teamwork, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 14 Issue
1, p.93-116.
Ferres N., Connell J., Travaglione A., June 2004, Co-worker Trust as a Social Catalyst for Constructive
Employee Attitudes, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 19 Issue 6, p.608-622.
Costa A.C., Roe R.A., Taillieu T., September 2001, Trust within Teams: The Relation with Performance
Effectiveness, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 10, Issue 3, p.225-244.
Kramer R.M., 1999, Trust and Distrust in Organizations: Emerging Perspectives and Enduring Questions,
Annual Review of Psychology, 50, p.569-98.
Index of Leadership Trust ’09 ILM September 2009