Managers and the art of (mis-?)management

[redebreck]

I've been meaning to post something like this for ages.
I've recently reached retirement age - I'd like to work but most companies/managers these days don't seem interested in people who are mature, and have a wealth of experience.
Speaking to others, it seems to be commonplace that "management" dismiss experienced knowledgeable people in favour of people who don't know what they are doing, but know someone. Nepotism I think they call it.
During my heyday, working full-time in a salaried position, I worked with managers who were tough but fair. Managers who encouraged people to improve themselves, and who built a good, efficient team. I can recall performance reviews where any weak points were highlighted, and steps put in place to make improvements in those areas.
Within the past ten years or so, all I hear about is managers who constantly criticise their staff, de-motivate people, and destroy them.
I've done supervisory/management courses so I have a decent idea of the qualities required for good management, although I've never worked in a position managing people.
Has management training gone out the window? I've heard of people coming out of university straight into a management role even though they haven't had training or experience - they're related to someone higher up in the organisation.
They don't know what they are doing, they don't know or appreciate what their staff's responsibilities and roles are, and they end up treating people like shit.
Older, experienced and knowledgeable staff are forced out in favour of young blood, who obviously don't have as much knowledge or experience.
I'll leave it there for the time being. Does anyone else on here have similar experiences, or perhaps the opposite - top class, brilliant managers they know of?

[skyebo]

If you can manage financially, I wouldn't worry about wanting to carry on working. Employment at the top is a young man's game and like you say, people with your experience count for very little, and attitudes towards people like you are terrible in a lot of places. You've paid your dues over the years, just enjoy your retirement, you are better off out of it. A nice little part time job, preferably cash in hand if you get bored at home may help too. These days, the bosses get all the rewards and plaudits, but they should remember, they can't do it without having reliable staff to help them.

[stevie harkness]

I get the impression managers ain't what they used to be. I've worked in retail and banking.

In olden times a chain of branches, whether shop or bank (bank manager used to be an important highly respected job in society!) had a manager who was responsible for their branch, total boss of it and they lived and died by its results/profits but now managers seem to be just puppet caretakers implementing head office directives, hamstrung without rein to make their own decisions or take the initiative on the ground.

I blame that David Brent

[Nineteenx]

Businesses in the UK are absolutely rife with 'has been' middle managers, who are in their position through achievements that count for very little in the modern market, and who rely on old school methods of harassment, threats and bullying and thieving their charges ideas and initiatives to remain in their position and who continually reward girls they find attractive or guys who kiss arse who are both usually completely fucking shit at their jobs and spend most of their time clock watching and gassing.

There has for a very long time been the need for the introduction of stringent intellectual copyright laws in the UK to protect employees. It hasn't happened because 'business' thinks the existing system of being able to fleece employees ideas and initiatives for nothing then bin them off is more profitable for them, but that's a false economy, because I've seen numerous middle managers rip off an employees idea or initiative, try and pass it off as their own, bastardise it and it not reach anywhere near it's potential, so business actual loses out.

A middle manager did it to me, then orchestrated and 3 year campaign of sustained abuse to try and drive me out, it went to tribunal, they settled with me for 70k out of court. Then I fucked them Admittedly I did fuck them by handing a rival company that were likely equally as bad a complete strategy and plan, the real plan for market domination that I'd only given the thieving manager the basics of, but the 3 years of abuse and 2 years of continuing abuse through the tribunal process made me too ill to work, so I didn't care.

What I did was contact the director of the rival company explaining my experience and asking if they had any vacancies, she replied with an email obviously fishing to try and get a freebie, like they all do, so I broke the whole thing down for her, knowing full well that once I'd sent that the proposed meeting and interview would never materialise. I'm very ethical, so I didn't disclose any details whatsoever about my former employers in what I sent her, just a very detailed plan of what worked, the strengths and weaknesses or all the other competitors in the genre and the reason that clients regularly moved from each provider to another and services and structure that the potential businesses were very receptive too. They implemented it all, and absolutely buried my former employer. It was most enjoyable, it was actually pretty funny too, because the director had written back to me to inform me that they already did the vast majority of everything in my plan, thing was, I knew they didn't, I knew their operation inside out, I knew what they offered, what they didn't, how they ran their sales journey, I knew all the competitors inside out, because I was excellent at extracting information from people with competitors, it's the only way to effectively develop your product, services and pricing to kick their asses. I kept tabs on their website for around 12 months afterwards and saw each time it was updated they were adding a part of the plan I'd given them

My former employees got away extremely lightly at 70k and no doubt thought they were laughing, but, they weren't laughing very fucking long, fucking me cost them millions per year

It's another strong reason for stringent intellectual copyright protection for employees, there are a fuck load of middle managers out there who will and regularly do 'kill the Golden goose'

[Nineteenx]

I guess it was very different for me, because I'd tour managed for several years in the music industry and what I had to do even when that was with smaller up and coming acts on tour support was way way more evolved, involved and a damned site more highly skilled than anything any middle manager I've encountered had to do, Even on tour support up and coming acts you're effectively managing the whole live performance side and a hell of a lot of the day to day promotional side of the act and depending on the level of the act running a business with a turn over of 1m to in excess of 15m a year.

Larger acts who do 30-35 weeks touring a year, an average of 5 gigs a week, fees of £60k upwards a night, merch of 60k upwards a night, do the maths, 120k x 150, so £18m upwards turnover a year, and not only do you have to make sure it all happens on the day and plan every single detail, and do all the pre budgeting and projections and negotiate deals with suppliers for merch and equipment and liaise with numerous corporate offices internationally, arrange transport and accommodation and keep everyone sweet and keep the act up and performing, you have to account for every single penny, and I devised my own systems for that too, the accountants used to hate me, everything was extremely organised and accounted for, to the penny, all the VAT worked out, the full works.

You'd get these lame, snide, has been, middle manager pricks and you'd just be sitting there thinking how incredibly useless they were in their incredibly small world limited capacity role in a business that didn't even turn over a quarter overall of what you'd been dealing with in some instances. That's the shitter, directors of normal businesses really do not have a clue of what it is tour manager's at all levels in the music industry do, they just think it's gigs, birds, drink, drugs and a jolly, you work 14-18 hours a day most days.

My former employees that fucked me over, well, they were one of many to be honest, they had only had an overall turnover of around 40m a year that covered both sides of the business and they were considered a big company, puts it in perspective

[redebreck]

Businesses in the UK are absolutely rife with 'has been' middle managers, who are in their position through achievements that count for very little in the modern market, and who rely on old school methods of harassment, threats and bullying and thieving their charges ideas and initiatives to remain in their position and who continually reward girls they find attractive or guys who kiss arse who are both usually completely fucking shit at their jobs and spend most of their time clock watching and gassing.

Not just "has beens" but graduate types (some just out of uni) and others, with no experience, no knowledge of management skills, some related to higher management. In a way I'm glad I'm out of the employment merry-go-round. Problem is I know people still working, including family, and I see them going through hell because of these Aholes who seem to be everywhere.
There used to be management courses that taught prospective managers the right way to manage people.
Do these courses still exist, or have they been abandoned since attitudes have changed?