Will Any Management Theory Do?

I like this very clever post offered by Rob over at Businesspundit called Row Row Your Boat... with a Little Management Theory. Here's the set up:

Can management theory help win a boat race? At Cambridge University, one coach thinks it can.

The article doesn't say if any particular management theory is applied, so I'll take a stab at the outcome for different management styles.

And he does, and it is very funny. The final management theory on the list caught my eye:

Businesspundit Management - Your team doesn't make it to the boat because they are distracted by a stack of business periodicals someone laid on the dock.

Reading the post made my mind wander into the question - do any of these management theories really matter?

The answer is yes.

The answer is no.

The answer is it depends.

You know what's coming next - it's not the theory, it's what you do with it. I would much rather see a company pick any of these models and implement them deep then see managers and teams jerked around every time someone goes to a conference an gets romanced by the talks from the latest gurus wielding books (this coming from a book wielding speaker).

I would not mind at all if a client said to me, "Hey listen, Lisa, we need help, but we want you to help us in alignment with X management model because that's the one we think fits our culture and goals." That would be fine with me as long as we are not talking management by intimidation or some such draconian thing.

Most of the modern theories (post industrial X and Y) are saying the same things anyway, right?

• Relationships rule.
• Engagement rules.
• Managers need to adjust their styles to meet the needs.
• People ought to be able to utilize their strengths.
• Remove barriers - weakest link - constraints - yada yada (what I call Mucky Muck in "my" system)
• Hire the best - of course, this depends on our abilities to determine the best fit for jobs, the bigger challenge, I think.
• Today's complex world demands focus (half the theories)
• Today's complex world requires chaos (other half, both are right)

Pick a path, stick with it. The best system is the one that works for your organization and enables people to do their best work. And chances are it's not a system at all, but a culture you create by loving and nurturing your business and employees.