4 ms·

It is simpler to manage a company without arrangements like this. It makes ICs and Level 1 managers more interchangeable. If you moved the 1M employee over to a

It is simpler to manage a company without arrangements like this. It makes ICs and Level 1 managers more interchangeable. If you moved the 1M employee over to another group it would blow up that manager's budget. The more interchangeable employees are the better for some people in upper management who don't actually care about maximizing cost efficiency and productivity. They are maximizing other metrics.

lbotos 7y ago
You've hit the nail on the head for bigCo. It's alllll about what's being measured.
herewego 7y ago
That 1M employee is generally not “moved” to another group, in my experience. They are often already at a seniority level that is above the group. Also, like most VP’s, their compensation is not typically accounted for in a group/division/etc budget in the same way as their reports.
marcosdumay 7y ago
> They are maximizing other metrics. Can not be customer satisfaction (by quality) or employee happiness or retention. I wonder what those other metrics are.
- matfil 7y ago
  I wonder what those other metrics are. A big one is that managers are de facto judged by the size of their team (and, for more senior ones, the size of the tree underneath them, too). It seems to be really, really hard to have middle management in an organisation without "maximise headcount" becoming an unofficial goal. Edit: Employee happiness is an interesting one here. It's quite believable to me that being seen to cut down a few tall poppies might have a positive impact on (mean) employee happiness in some cases.
  - marcosdumay 7y ago
    I was not expecting such a Machiavelic answer, but yes, your explanation looks quite possible. Indeed, it is possible that the expertise ceiling that goes on a lot of companies is due to misaligned incentives (plus some dishonesty) for management. That seems worth taking a better look. > It's quite believable to me that being seen to cut down a few tall poppies might have a positive impact on (mean) employee happiness in some cases. This again... I dread to imagine going through the day around people that think like this. But people that think like this exist, and I imagine they concentrate somewhere. If some place makes them happy (and everybody else unhappy as a consequence), you'll probably find them there. This is really believable.

lbotos 7y ago

You've hit the nail on the head for bigCo. It's alllll about what's being measured.

herewego 7y ago

That 1M employee is generally not “moved” to another group, in my experience. They are often already at a seniority level that is above the group. Also, like most VP’s, their compensation is not typically accounted for in a group/division/etc budget in the same way as their reports.

marcosdumay 7y ago

> They are maximizing other metrics. Can not be customer satisfaction (by quality) or employee happiness or retention. I wonder what those other metrics are.

matfil 7y ago
I wonder what those other metrics are. A big one is that managers are de facto judged by the size of their team (and, for more senior ones, the size of the tree underneath them, too). It seems to be really, really hard to have middle management in an organisation without "maximise headcount" becoming an unofficial goal. Edit: Employee happiness is an interesting one here. It's quite believable to me that being seen to cut down a few tall poppies might have a positive impact on (mean) employee happiness in some cases.
- marcosdumay 7y ago
  I was not expecting such a Machiavelic answer, but yes, your explanation looks quite possible. Indeed, it is possible that the expertise ceiling that goes on a lot of companies is due to misaligned incentives (plus some dishonesty) for management. That seems worth taking a better look. > It's quite believable to me that being seen to cut down a few tall poppies might have a positive impact on (mean) employee happiness in some cases. This again... I dread to imagine going through the day around people that think like this. But people that think like this exist, and I imagine they concentrate somewhere. If some place makes them happy (and everybody else unhappy as a consequence), you'll probably find them there. This is really believable.