The Official Blog of Benifys HR Solutions

In the business world, the term “micromanagement” has assumed massive proportions, with almost everyone of us having witnessed this phenomenon at work. Whether you have experienced it first-hand, or observed it from close quarters, or heard it discussed around the office vending tea machine, you can never claim to be oblivious to the existence of this menace.

And then again, there is a possibility that you’re a typical Type A micromanager yourself! Although most people like being managed, one can hardly say the same about micromanagement. So what is it that compels people to act like frenzied control freaks? How do you deal with ‘them’? Are you one of ‘them’? Let’s tackle the last one first. You have to know whether you’re a micromanager before you can do something about it. Here’s how you do a dipstick check.

How to tell if you are a micromanager

1. You feel compelled to keep telling people the ‘right’ way to do it, since they can obviously never do the work as well as you can.
2. You get personally offended and aggravated if you find a worker inefficient in their work.
3. Even if the work is done to satisfaction, you still want to fiddle with it before you let it pass your hands.
4. You need constant updates about the progress of work that is assigned to sub-ordinates, and here, constant can mean as little as 6 minutes.
5. You resist delegating work and immerse yourself in tasks that other people are supposed to carry out.
6. You keep nit-picking about small details and discourage people from making independent decisions.

Micromanaging is mostly associated with either Type A personalities or Theory X Leaders, but the need to micromanage could arise from good intentions as well. For example, if you ask a micromanager why they do it, they’ll tell you that they have a heightened sense of responsibility and ownership. This is true, people who micromanage are seen to have a greater sense of ownership, and fear of things going wrong, or working to the detriment of their organisation. What this means at the ground level, however is two important things – one, the fact that they will not allow their subordinates to grow because they want to do everything themselves, and have all decisions, big or small, pass through them, and two, the fact that they make life literally unbearable for the folks below who actually know their job and are good at it.

Also, most of the times, they will not let ownership build amongst their team because the team feels that whatever they do, will finally pass through their boss anyway, this leads to complacency. The fact that micromanagers often end up being bottlenecks is another negative fallout. However efficient one may be, it is physically impossible to handle every little nitty-gritty of business by oneself – there will be times where the overall efficiency is compromised because something (which might otherwise be perfectly done in the first place) is waiting for the attention of the micromanager.

So, if you are a micromanager, the chances are that sooner or later you will realize that the employees are spending an increasing amount of time thinking how to deal with their supervisor rather than actually working. If you wait long enough, most of the good self respecting people would have left and you would be left with a team of mediocre employees who just know one thing, follow orders, no questions asked. Good luck with that!

So what’s wrong with micromanagement?
Sure you’ve read articles that say “micromanage and get things done”, and in all likelihood, at some point of time you have caught yourself thinking – “what’s wrong with these guys, it’s so simple, what’s taking them so long”, or “let me do this myself, it’ll be faster that way”. Well, there are two problems with this – first, by constantly barging into people, you take away their power to make any decisions on their own, this is how you are effectively disempowering them. A disempowered employee is an ineffective one – one who requires a lot of time and energy from his supervisor.

The other thing that micromanagement has going against it is that it is subject to the law of diminishing returns. In simple terms, what this means is that the first time you micromanage is the time you get the most return from it. This is because people will usually comply with you the first time even if they find something odd about your behavior, but over a period of time they develop a learned response to it, which usually is to not pay much attention or worse, respond aggressively.

Need we remind people that micromanaging is just not a healthy attitude; it shows the supervisor’s general mistrust with his peers and sub-ordinates.

How to stop your micromanaging tendencies

1. Acknowledge – Acknowledge that there is a problem. If you find that your team no longer offers suggestions or tells you outright that you have a controlling nature, that’s as big a sign you are going to get. Not acknowledging a problem is like a man who goes drunk into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and declares “but I don’t have a drinking problem”. Fat chance of HIM getting off alcohol!
2. Manage Expectations – Decide and mutually agree on expectations from both parties, i.e., what you expect from your sub-ordinates and also what they expect from you as their manager. It may be a revelation to you that they may want you to “give them a little freedom of work” or “control your constant need to be updated”. Talk about the task at hand as much as you want to in the first go, let them know your requirements before they actually start working and then control the urge to continuously check on them. If people know that you’re counting on them, they’ll surprise you with good results.
3. Encourage Participation – “How do you plan to approach this?” “How are you planning to get buy- in on this?” “What are you going to do to get Marketing involved?” “Do you have any ideas for solving this problem?”, are just some things you can ask to increase the level of interaction and cohesiveness in a team. Let the employees know that their thoughts and opinions are valued, don’t ever snub someone just because you don’t agree with what they have to say.
4. Don’t over criticize – You have to make sure that you are not the only one criticizing your team all the time – people will form a negative opinion about you. At least half of the criticism should come from the team itself – create a culture of self evaluation, where people talk about their improvement areas, real or perceived. Other than self critique being more accurate, it takes the heat off you so you don’t always have to be the bad guy. Remember the 70/30 rule, 70% praise and 30% criticism, and 0% criticism in front of other team members.

Are you being micromanaged? Oh dear!
Okay, let’s move on to a situation where you are the one being micromanaged. We know how painful it can be to have someone breathing down your neck all the time. I remember a time when one of my pathologically micromanaging manager asked about the status of something before he sent out a mail telling me what has to be done in the first place! Needless to say, he wasn’t my manager for long. It is not only nagging, it comes in the way of your professional growth and development. The fact that you don’t feel like coming to work every single day because you know that it’s going to be the same story all over again is stating the obvious, but there are deeper ramifications of this phenomenon. You’re constantly under stress, you are unconsciously wishing that your manager is on leave that (every) day, you want to break free, you want to move jobs, you may end up making wrong career choices under duress – worse, you want to physically assault the manager to make him see sense. He won’t, of course, but there are certain things that you CAN try. Here’s what to do to tackle the problem.

1. Simplest things – Arrive 10 minutes early before your boss and leave 10 minutes late, take a shorter lunch break if possible. Produce quality work. Check with him and update him about work before he has a chance to check on you, preferably once in the morning, afternoon and once before you leave. You might ask why do you have to do all this when the problem is with the supervisor’s attitude, but hey… who’s feeling the heat? Escalating the problem might also seem a simple step if you really think the pressure is to much to take, but think of all the possible repercussions first, do you have sufficient facts to back your case?
2. Dissociate – This is probably the most effective thing if you can do it, understand that micromanagers are generally type A people with high expectation, more often than not they don’t do it because they like to trouble you, but rather because they are compelled to. They have problems with delegating out tasks without retaining control, because they feel like their job will be axed for any failure. They may fear losing their job or worse taking the Company down if they are an owner. All you have to really do is to avoid taking it personally. Don’t act indifferent, just unperturbed, curt and professional. Think that you’re trying to help someone who needs help.
3. Stay aware and informed – Ask them all the details required to perform a particular job or task upfront before starting on it. Predict things that make them micromanage you and counter them before they get a chance. In order to do this you need to maintain a weekly journal highlighting the reason they tend to bother you with the most, and based on that information, build their confidence by giving them a dose of the updates they are usually looking for themselves. This way they will see in you an employee who know exactly what he is doing and he will begin to then, leave you to your work.
4. Help your boss – It’s a habit, don’t retaliate too hard and too fast. Help your boss change one micromanagement habit at a time. If you wish to communicate your unease, do not do so without highlighting your own strengths and accomplishments, it is very easy for a micromanager to jump from one task to another without realizing how much efforts you have put in, therefore make sure you both agree that you have done well. Anticipate potential problems and find solutions before they become a problem for him. Ask your boss what is missing or what would they like to see happen on the work front.
5. Break the task down into smaller tasks – a combined activity that the micromanager and the micromanaged can do is to device a communication plan for themselves wherein the task is divided into smaller sub tasks and the timelines for each sub-task are decided and shared on their calendars so the micromanager would think twice before barging in onto the employee and also, the employee can set his own pace at the beginning of the task.

Like with everything else in life, there are some incurable micromanagers stalking the corporate corridors, and nothing will make them come out of this compulsion. Let us know your stories, and the times you have had to struggle with a micromanager, how did or would you manage the micromanager? And above all, for people at both ends of the micromanagement stick – GOOD LUCK!

The job loss scenario that triggered off in the wake of a very in-your-face recession and dwindling bottom-lines is no news to anyone. There are a lot of people out there (trust us on that) who wish to find a job for themselves, or maybe, are just looking for change but really have no clue where to start. Here are some simple tips to get you up to speed with your job hunt endevor, including links to required tools and resources.

Design a good resume

This is a no brainer actually – all the recruiters are online these days, so if you ever hope to be picked up, not only do you need to have an updated resume, but it should also stand out in the midst of all the sea of resumes (like “I can haz potential”) recruiters have to deal with everyday. Microsoft provides a very nice collection of professional resume templates, cover letters et al for users of Microsoft Office Suite.

If you simply can’t make a resume yourself, request a friend or hire a design professional to make one for you – you will not regret the money spent on it. Once this is done, post this resume to all possible job search engines, like Monster, Naukri, Times Jobs, Yahoo Job Search.

Company Websites

Visit companies that require the kind of skills that you carry; you would usually find a ‘join us’ section which has a searchable database of the current openings or just a list. Reply to these openings showing your interest and competency for the job. If you feel a little daring you can even ask the operator to connect to someone in the Human Resources, even if they don’t have a suitable opening at that point of time, you will gain visibility and the next time they need a person for a matching profile, there’s a higher chance that you might get a call.

Hint: Send a follow-up mail right after you have spoken to the recruiter, this shows professionalism and increases your recall value.

Search. Search, Search!

You need the job, right? Then you have got to be proactive about it, while the traditional way of posting your resume is one of the most effective ways to get hired, it is still a passive activity, wherein, you have to sit back and wait till the time you get a call. Besides doing the usual search on job search engines mentioned above, go a step further and join HR groups on the internet, engage in conversations, try to find region specific jobs boards like Craiglist and e-classifieds. Basically do whatever it takes, Google is always a good point to start your job hunt, use keywords like jobs, find a job, job search, employment, etc.

Join professional networks

Make a good LinkedIn profile, import your contacts and add your connections to build your own network. Recently a study revealed that a person with 30 or more connections on LinkedIN is 34 times more likely to be offered a job than a person who has 5 or less connections. A lot has been said and written about the use of twitter as a recruiting tool, but frankly, it has still to gain the critical mass here in India to be of any practical use. Some other professional networks that a lot of Indians use are Silicon India and Peer Power. These networks may be in their infancy in the Indian scenario based on the usage, but things are changing fast and you wouldn’t want to miss the train.

Further Reading and Tools:

How to use the internet in your job search

Using the internet to find a job

Step by step automated resume creation and uploading on Monster

The most successful organizational change programs are the ones that are supported by sound information and solid facts. Though ESS or employee satisfaction surveys have been around for a long time now, it was only recently that the “engagement” buzzword caught on, and how! Let’s take a look at the fundamental differences between engagement and satisfaction surveys and their process of administration. As you will find out, they are most definitely not the same things.

Follow up Machinery:

Brief the senior management based about the strong points and the areas of development of the organization by conducting a normative analysis of the survey results

Share the survey results with the management team and the employee via e-mail and employee meetings

Finalize on the improvement areas and create an itemized action plan based on it

Select the team responsible for implementing the action plan including team leaders and managers, providing specific training where required

Regularly track the progress of the action plan and share the information with the senior management

Pitfalls in execution:

Design and implementation pitfalls:

What do you want from the survey?

The first step of any survey is to objectively arrive at the purpose of the survey. Whether it is to prove a hypothesis, predict future behavior or assess a current scenario, it must be stated clearly and concisely beforehand.

During questionnaire design:

• Questions not aligned with the study objective in mind
• Including lengthy, biased, difficult or ambiguous questions
• Questionnaire not sufficiently reviewed before being circulated
• Pre-testing not performed, this may result in a lot of “don’t know/not sure” responses to potentially confusing or lengthy questions

During Sample selection:

• Unnecessarily increasing sample size to compensate for “less responses”; for example it is better to have 260 people responding out of 300 than 5500 out of 10000.
• Using non-probability sampling where actually probability sampling is required
• Employees not kept in the loop while selecting a sample, resulting in a feeling of resentment amongst those not included in the sample

During data Processing:

• Skipping step to save time can negatively impact the usefulness of the survey
• Counterintuitive results or impossible/inconsistent answers are not cross-checked
• Weak non-responder policy/execution can result in a flawed survey outcome

Other Pitfalls:

• Inefficient follow-up action – A loosely implemented action plan can spell complete wastage of resources as the survey will have little or no impact on the employee satisfaction, engagement or performance; the survey is thus reduced to obscure piece of information.
• Disinterested workers – The fate of a survey is majorly pre-decided by the level of interest employee’s display towards it, a survey of disinterested people cannot result in anything interesting. Therefore it is essential to take the employees into confidence by communication exercises before the commencement of the survey so as to explain the nature and scope of the survey.
• Confidentiality not ensured – Responses tend to be biased if confidentially is not expressly ensured by the survey administrators and the management, because all participants tend to select the ‘most appropriate answer’ instead of the ‘factual answer’. While communicating this it should be made clear that the purpose of the survey is not to judge the employees but to judge the factors affecting the organization.
• Unrealistic employee expectation of the survey – Employers as a rule should avoid asking question on the areas where they do not want and/or do not see any scope for change; this is not only purposeless but also tends to unnecessarily raise employee expectations eventually leading to resentment.

*THE payback is that for every 10 percent improvement in engagement, the company reaps an increase in the employee’s effort level by 6 percent, according to the Hay Group, a Philadelphia-based survey firm.

Welcome to the first edition of our monthly newsletter HR@Work. This is no ordinary newsletter – we will endeavour to provide to you content that you will find useful, interesting, and worth commenting on. Our aim is to bring to fore issues that are topical and, in some way or the other, impact our professional lives.
You are receiving this newsletter because you know someone in the Benifys team, or because we have come in contact with you over the last couple of months.


So, let’s begin with the most topical of issues for us folks in India – the IPL action is back again, and what drama preceded arguably the world’s most awaited cricketing event! There will be opinions this way and that, but what comes to mind is the extent that outsourcing has become a part of life. Imagine, India – our India, where cricket vies for the top spot in people’s mind with religion, outsourcing the biggest extravaganza that we could throw up in the money-spinning game of cricket.


How long can people turn their eyes away from the benefits of outsourcing, how long will it take for them to realise that the world today is (once again) that of ‘comparative advantage’, how long does it take for us to overcome the roadblocks that prevent us from harnessing the full potential of the Human Resources function, how long…


The questions are many, the answers lie somewhere within us…
We hope that you enjoy this journey with us, and forward this newsletter to as many people in your circle as you can. We’re building an HR community, the beneficiaries of which will not be restricted to people pursuing HR as a profession, but everyone for whom an integral function in her organisation matters.
Wish everyone a good going…

Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN… What do these remind you of? People, connections, communities, networks… Social networking is the latest way to connect, reach out and build networks. Social networking connects all kinds of people at all levels to each other. In recent times they have also emerged as a means of connecting organizations to individuals and vice versa. Thus, they reveal a huge potential for organizations, especially for recruiters, to build up their networks. Recruiting is, after all, a lot about networking.

So how does networking work for recruiters or organizations? Let’s draw up a parallel with the traditional form of networking here. Recruiter connects with a prospective candidate, interacts frequently at a personal level and, going forward, develops a long term relationship with him. In the real world, these interactions are typically face-to-face or telephonic and, in both cases, one to one. These meetings take place at conferences, trade fairs, alumni meets etc. In the case of e-networking, these interactions are usually one to many and take place through bulletin boards, posts, e-mails, forums, communities etc. In both cases, what networking allows you to do is:

1. Find high-quality prospects who fall in the ‘passive jobseeker’ category and who may or may not have heard of your organization.
2. Pre-qualify or evaluate them on the basis of what you feel they can bring to the table. And how well they fit in with your organization.
3. Establish a personal connection with them away from the forum or the meeting and endeavour to convince them why it is in their best interest to join your organization.

Thus, e-networking becomes a powerful tool for the recruiter as well as a supplement to the traditional form of network building. The biggest advantage in this, of course, remains that e-networking has a far wider reach and access to a far greater talent pool. Also, it can save time and money because it can serve the purpose of a promotional for the company as well as a job board at the same time and most of these sites offer free registration. Building your company’s page or profile on these websites can put it in the line of view of professionals and peers and even prospective clients. Most of these websites also offer options like becoming a fan or follower of a profile. People attracted to your organization can show their interest and you can take it further from there.

So what’s the best way to make the most of this medium? Create a good profile description of the company to be put on the website and keep on updating it with everything that is current in the company. Checking out profiles of other similar companies can also bring in ideas about how to make your company’s page better. As a recruiter, be a regular at the discussion forums and the bulletin boards. Keep interactions open and regular so that contact is not lost. Providing links to blogs or other discussion forums that might interest your prospects is also a good way of keeping them coming back. Another thing which can yield results is making use of your own company’s website to network with your prospects. Establish a discussion forum or a bulletin board at your own corporate website so that you can attract posts from not only people inside the company but also those outside it. This can also be done with the help of managers who can nominate their best performers to be the moderators of these boards. Devote thirty minutes everyday to reading these posts and interacting with people who stand out. This little investment will greatly enhance the quality of the candidates you recruit.

Social networking websites or e-networking is yet to catch on in India as a recruitment tool, but the potential it holds is vast. LinkedIn has made some headway in the arena as many company profiles can be found here, but the potential held by other websites like Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube is yet to be harnessed. Jobseekers are also looking for newer ways to connect with recruiters and the increasing use of internet is only opening up the field. Though the idea of using social networking for recruitment has been around for quite some time, it is now that it seems to be catching the fancy of jobseekers and recruiters alike. Traditional recruiting techniques are in no manner on their way out, but social networking seems primed to be the tool of choice for recruiters wanting to attract ever growing pools of talent.