CASE STUDY

Case Study

Case Study: BBC Management Styles

Introduction

BBC claims that by focusing on these areas, it has managed to improve the performance of three quarters of its under-performing managers. People also don't leave the BBC; they leave the Line Managers there. A March study by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) revealed that it was wasting nearly £80 million a year through poor management of under-performing staff. They also concluded that “people don't leave the company, they leave Line Managers”.

Task 1

A recent survey by BBC revealed that the main reason for employees leaving was the quality of their line manager. This is consistent with the old saying that people don't leave organizations, but rather that they leave managers. BBC identified 8 rules of good management which are described below:

Good on the job coaching

Empowering team members and not micromanaging

Show an interest in your team member's success and well being

Be productive and results driven

Communicate well and listen to the concerns of your team

Helping team members with their career development

Have a clear vision and strategy for your team

Have key technical skills so you can help advise the team

A recent study by the University of Florida identified 6 warning signs or traits, often exhibited by bad managers; these were:

Failure to keep promises

Failure to give credit when due

Supervisor giving the employee the “silent treatment”

Supervisor making negative comments about them to other employees or managers

Supervisor invades employee's privacy

Supervisor blamed other to cover up personal mistakes or minimize embarrassment

There are many types of leadership style and certain leadership styles may be more suited to certain contexts. For example, BBC identifies four leadership styles in its report, “The Importance of Effective Management”. These are Autocratic, Paternalistic, Democratic and Laissez Faire. Now the controlling Autocratic style of management may be more suited to situations requiring the rapid completion of urgent tasks but may be less suited to highly skilled, trained expert teams. And possibly a Democratic style of leadership might be very suited to a situation where it is important to gain buy-in such as in change situations but the slowness of decision making which comes with this style of management will make it less for completing urgent task quickly than an autocratic style.

Evidence shows that employees who are being poorly managed and are subsequently disengaged are most likely to leave the organization. These kinds of employees should be very appealing to recruiters looking to cherry pick so called 'passive talent' from target employers. When approaching these 'passive' candidates, recruiters should consider those employee's needs and attempt to fulfil those needs. They will be looking for a nurturing organization that clearly demonstrates a commitment to good quality people management. If your company or client company has the opposite approach as the problematic management, be sure to emphasize this - it's the number one reason a professional will change their job.

If the recruiter is to attract this kind of candidate, they must fulfill this most urgent need: a change in management style. Recruiters should try to match this candidate with positions from companies ...