The Management Theory Toolbox

Episode 7: Redefining Resource Value—Why People Matter Most in High-Involvement Management with Robert Lopez, Jr.

• Season 1 • Episode 7

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Ready to unlock the transformative power of High Involvement Management? Prepare yourself for an intense journey through management practices that prioritize value for people and their growth. Our exploration begins with the captivating concept of organizations as living systems, akin to the intricate neural networks of the human brain. As we delve into the principles of positive organizational behavior and positive psychology, you'll encounter practical, intuitive management tools that infuse life into these systems.

Dive further into the episode as we dissect the stark differences between successful and less successful management styles. How can we strike that delicate balance between business necessities and valuing people? Learn about the importance of training and empowerment for new hires, along with the risks and rewards of granting decision-making power to associates.

Robert Lopez, Jr. [Guest]  retired from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) after 34 years, having joined as their thirteenth employee in 1987. Starting as a test technician, he rose to senior engineering manager, known for developing reliable products and solving complex equipment issues. Robert valued teamwork and personal growth, both in his professional and personal life, emphasizing community service and mentorship. Post-retirement, he plans to coach youth sports, mentor a robotics team, and teach calculus, while also spending more time with his family. His tenure at SEL is remembered for his dedication to technical excellence and a strong commitment to serving others. 

Travis C. Mallett [Host],  is  a Masters of Liberal Arts (ALM) degree candidate at Harvard University Extension School, where he has also earned Professional Graduate Certificates in both Organizational Behavior and Strategic Management. Travis previously received undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering, General Mathematics, and Music from Washington State University. He also served as an Engineering Manager at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, where he led a team responsible for developing and maintaining SEL's highest-selling product line. An innovative force in engineering, Travis holds numerous patents and has authored papers and books across diverse subjects. His passion for continuous learning and organizational excellence propels him to explore and illuminate the intricacies of management theories. Through his podcast, "The Management Theory Toolbox", he offers valuable insights on effective leadership, business innovation, and strategic methodologies.

Want to dive in even deeper? Visit the full show notes for this episode.

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

Too many managers look at the bottom line meeting efficiency, production, the dollar, as being the thing that should come first, absolutely not how to manage.

Travis Mallett:

Welcome back to the Management Theory Toolbox, your top destination for uncovering the why behind the management and business concepts. If you're an executive manager, consultant or business student and you want to dive deep into a scientifically rooted discussion of management theory, then you're in the right place. You didn't know it, but over the course of our last six episodes, we've been meticulously crafting a narrative, each segment leading us closer to a profound revelation A set of pragmatic and intuitive management tools called high involvement management. Now, what comes to mind when you think of a highly involved manager?

Peter Gibbons (Office Space):

Hello Peter, what's happening? We have sort of a problem here. Yeah, you apparently didn't put one of the new cover sheets on your TPS reports. Oh yeah, I'm sorry about that, I forgot. Yeah, you see, we're putting the cover sheets on all TPS reports now before they go out. Did you see the memo about this? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I have the memo right here, I just forgot. But it's not shipping out till tomorrow, so there's no problem. Yeah, if you could just go ahead and make sure you do that from now on, that would be great, and I'll go ahead and make sure you get another copy of that memo.

The Buddha:

Okay, yeah, no, I have the memo, I've got it.

Travis Mallett:

That's right. That was a clip from the 1999 comedy Office Space, where in a tech employee, peter Gibbons is being harassed by his superiors to put a new cover sheet on his report. Hang on to that, because we'll hear again from Peter in a few minutes. But is this the kind of high involvement management that we're going to talk about? Of course not. Let's take a moment to connect the dots.

Travis Mallett:

We began by exploring the concept of emergence in nature, which naturally led us to think of organizations as dynamic living systems. Digging deeper, we discovered that the closest analogy to these organizations is not just any living system, but the intricate neural networks of the human brain. This epiphany has not only reshaped our understanding of organizations, but has also impressed upon us the importance of the domain of organizational behavior. But the journey of discovery does not stop there. The living systems model of organizations compels us to ask not how do we solve this problem or fix that team, but instead what breathes life into these systems? Part of the answer lies in the burgeoning field of positive organizational behavior, a discipline deeply rooted in the principles of positive psychology. Yet a lingering question remains have all these discussions culminated in a tangible, actionable outcome? As you might guess, since I'm asking that question, the answer is probably yes. This is, after all, the Management Theory Toolbox, and today's episode develops and emphasizes the toolbox side of things. But to get there, we need just one more piece of the puzzle, a piece that we'll find by revisiting the idea of organizations as neural networks. Let's imagine together our organization is a neural network. Neurons are connected, synapses firing between them, information being shared, stored, bonds being strengthened or weakened, reshaped and redefined. Just like each neuron in the brain has its unique potential, each individual in our organization is important, but in the brain there's also the fact that it's the strength and number of a neuron's synaptic connections that determine its influence. This mirrors how every individual in an organization has intrinsic strengths and virtues, both core tenets of positive psychology. Yet it's their collaborations and connections within the system that amplify their impact, and that's the missing piece.

Travis Mallett:

The concept of organizations as neural networks and the ideas of positive psychology can be distilled in a major practical takeaway. Management at all levels of an organization should value their people and their management techniques should encourage the growth and strengths of their people, both as individuals and in the context of the organization. But this analogy is powerful enough for us to be even more precise than that, the brain's adaptability, or neural plasticity, mirrors the growth mindset, also a cornerstone of positive psychology. Just as the brain recruits neurons best suited for tasks, organizations seek individuals who not only possess strengths, but also display a growth mindset, enhancing the overall dynamics. And, as managers or business owners, we should also be careful and mindful when recruiting individuals to join our organization. When we learn, our brain strengthens specific neural pathways. This process is akin to the journey towards mastery, a concept in positive psychology, where individuals seek profound competence in their domains.

Travis Mallett:

Training in organizations is about reinforcing behaviors and skills, ensuring individuals are not just competent, but moving towards mastery in alignment with the organization's goals. We can't just hire someone and throw them into the fire and hope for the best. Our view of organizations as neural networks suggests something far more intentional and mindful, and it goes way beyond just providing standard, boring onboarding training. Individuals need to be both thoroughly trained and integrated with the social environment of the organization. The more synaptic connections a new hire can develop, the more effective they will be to become. The brain's decentralized functions also reflect the positive psychology principle of autonomy the desire to have control over our actions and behaviors. By empowering individuals in organizations, you're granting them autonomy, mimicking the brain's distributed processing and ensuring a more adaptive and comprehensive approach to challenges.

Travis Mallett:

Neurons communicate through intricate networks, ensuring that information is relayed and processed where needed. This mirrors the positive psychology emphasis on building positive relationships and open communication In organizations. Transparent communication ensures everyone is informed, fostering trust and positive relational dynamics. This means that individuals are not just connected socially in the organizations, but connected with the proper strains of information to effectively do their job. And, lastly, the brain's reward system, driven by dopamine, reinforces beneficial behaviors. This aligns with positive reinforcement. Incentive-based compensation in organizations rewards behaviors that benefit the entire system, ensuring motivation and alignment with organizational objectives while fostering a sense of accomplishment and positivity. This pushes us to carefully consider not only our compensation philosophy but motivation as a whole.

Travis Mallett:

So let's come back to reality, where neurons are replaced with people sitting in cubicles, synaptic firings taking place around the water cooler or in emails or video calls, and neuroplasticity is awkwardly forced through corporate change management techniques. And what do we do in this real world? In fact, these are real, tangible suggestions for practice and they are encapsulated in a management theory called high involvement management. The central tenet of high involvement management requires that senior, middle and lower level managers all recognize human capital as the organization's most precious resource. Decades of research have uncovered the five key characteristics of high involvement management that were implied by our neural network analogy.

Travis Mallett:

The first is selective hiring Selecting the right people for an organization is critical. Next is extensive training, which has been shown to significantly improve productivity, competitiveness and employee satisfaction. Another dimension of high involvement management is decision making power, providing associates with the authority to make some important decisions while inviting them to influence other decisions. Information sharing is also important. In order for employees to make effective decisions and provide useful input to higher level decisions, they must be properly informed. Collaboration and coordination are associated with higher levels of information sharing. And lastly, research typically supports the effectiveness of incentive-based compensation, where employees are compensated based on their performance, through either bonuses, company profits, gain, sharing or knowledge or skill-based pay.

Peter Gibbons (Office Space):

The thing is Bob it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care. Don't care, it's a problem of motivation. Alright, now, if I work my ass off and in-a-tech ship a few extra units, I don't see another dime. So where's the motivation? And here's something else, bob. I have eight different bosses right now. I beg your pardon. Eight bosses, eight, eight, bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled that the fear of losing my job. But you know, bob, I'll only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired. What if you were offered some kind of a stock option, equity sharing program? Would that do anything for you? I don't know, I guess. Listen, I'm gonna go. I hope your firing's go really well.

Travis Mallett:

When I first encountered the concept of high involvement management, it resonated deeply with the practices I had observed over many years at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. It particularly reminded me of my first and longstanding manager at SEL, Robert Lopez, who, after a career spanning over three decades, recently retired from the industry. Today were privileged to have him share his insights with us. Let's ask Robert about some of the characteristics of high involvement management and see if his experience and observations over the years match up with these ideas. Hi, Mr. Lopez and welcome. Hello, Mr. Mallett. Thanks for having me on the show. Before we get started, go ahead and introduce yourself and tell our listeners a bit about your background.

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

Robert Lopez Jr. I retired from Schweitzer Engineering after about 34 and a half years. I did wear many hats in the process. I started out as a technician but was soon supervising technicians as well as manufacturing. Most recently, I was a C-Engineer Manager too for one of the highest producing product departments. The management at SEL covered many areas, from managing assemblers to compliance people, technicians, engineers, even doing some oddity type of management as well.

Travis Mallett:

Thanks. In today's episode we're talking about a management theory called high involvement management. I imagine in your long career that you've seen a wide variety of management leadership styles and techniques, some probably more successful than others. In broad terms, what are some of the common denominators among the more successful management examples?

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

This is my own opinion, but I believe it's pretty well known, and I would have to say that my experience will confirm what I'm about to tell you. The most successful managers very simply value their people. They pay attention to them. They figure out how to grow them. They figure out also what tasks, what projects would best challenge them. They also cater their methods according to what they have for people in the department. That would be my summary of the best common denominators among successful managers.

Travis Mallett:

That's reassuring because high involvement management at its core is about managers of all levels of an organization valuing their people. Let's flip this question around and ask the opposite what are some of the common denominators between the less successful, or maybe even detrimental, management styles you've seen?

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

Too many managers look at the bottom line, meaning the efficiency, production, the dollar, as being the thing that should come first, but absolutely not how to manage. The second, and probably equivalent, is if a manager lacks compassion for their fellow man, they really are in the wrong profession, because if they weren't for the people that worked for you, you wouldn't be a manager, you wouldn't have a job, and without compassion true compassion, not words, but true compassion you will never be able to get people to be as productive as they could be. You might get rid of a few things that have worn been being, or maybe the old strong arm mafia style my way of the highway that the department will see very limited success.

Travis Mallett:

Now I imagine that there are a lot of managers out there who might feel so under pressure. Maybe they don't feel their company has the financial luxury of setting aside efficiency for the moment and focusing on their people. How do we balance the necessities of the ruthless business world with valuing our people, or is that the valuing our people is what ultimately brings in profits?

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

The second part of your statement actually answers the question. Efficiency comes from allowing them to be empowered, allowing them to feel that they can contribute, allowing them to be grown. Efficiency will come and it has to be a balance. Yet true compassion for that person, true understanding of how to grow them, will grow your efficiency. As well. As you know, and with your experience as well as mine, the level of scrutiny that you have for your own work can sometimes be a little bit excessive, compulsory if you will. So by having a good discipline process that you can follow, at least as a guideline, that will help as well. And that efficiency will come if you have all those factors in place. Employees gain confidence if they're trained well, if you grow them and if you have a good discipline process that you can follow that allows them to be successful.

Travis Mallett:

One aspect of high involvement management and you and I have worked closely together on this one is selective hiring. Can you tell us a bit about the hiring process? Looking for technical skills and cultural fit? This is a loaded question, Travis.

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

So I learned that what you need to do is you need to look for those traits, the characteristics that would allow a person, with and without skills that are needed, to be successful. The hiring system as a whole has to be complete, Otherwise you are spending quite a bit of time and money and they may not be successful. So you want to make sure that your potential hire also has a very good opportunity to be hired. It also allows you to make a good investment. The cultural fit is a must if you want long term. If they don't fit the culture, if they don't have the same ideals as the company, at one point or another, things are going to go wrong. A good company is going to look for long term. If you're filling a spot with warm bodies, that's not fair that the company is not fair that the individual, because the investment is no good and the individual has no future. That should never be the case, ever.

Travis Mallett:

Now, once we have our people hired, we probably need to train them. Tell us a bit about the logistics and importance of training new hires.

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

The way we always did it is that there's an initial training that occurred on the process that we had to follow, and then what you had at your disposal for resources. That was easy, but the next thing that I always liked to do is you had to be introduced not only to the different departments you connected with, but how you would interact under certain cases, and then a mentor. A mentor is filling in the blanks with training that's intended to cover, because training will do a great job as far as getting a person familiar with the processes, the different departments, et cetera. But there's always going to be some gray areas and in those gray areas you need some assistance and that's where a mentor comes into play.

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

So training is important. Critical has to happen, and a lot of times we expect this individual to jump in with both feet and run. That's never a good idea either. It's pretty rare because they're either going to be naive to the process or they're going to be an experienced individual that brings in experience that may not fit well with the process and how they're executed at the current company of hire. There's a lot to lose if you don't perform the training.

Travis Mallett:

Another aspect is decision-making power, or letting associates make some decisions or influencing other decisions. I think some managers may struggle to let go of the decision-making process and rely on their team, but in your opinion, are the risks worth the positive benefits of providing that autonomy Great?

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

question. So once your training has occurred and they're decently versed on what needs to be done, then you have to rely on your training and your management experience to listen to the individual. If they have an idea, question, an exception to the process, I always leaned on letting them make that decision. So I'd say, okay, thanks for sharing that with me. Please make the decision that you feel best, empowering that individual to have that liberty to make that decision and knowing that you stand behind them. That goes a long way and you will grow that individual and, more importantly, when you're not there, can't be for whatever reason.

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

As a manager, my expectation was, is I have the individual that I've grown and they can make those decisions. If they have any questions, I feel confident that they'll call me. But I also feel confident in the decision that they will make. I would help them along that I would never give them the answer if they could come up with them by themselves. Because if they can come up with the answers, I can solve and can see the rationale. Then, more importantly than anything, they're going to learn why it's done that way and it would make sense and you would get their buy-in, which means that they would do that in a disciplined way in the future. So a person will only perform a task in a certain manner if they believe it is the correct way to do it. That is a given. When I gave to my employees and allowed them to be empowered with the decision-making process, success was inevitable.

Travis Mallett:

Yeah, I remember one time when I think I was an associate engineer and I was doing a par qualification, I forgot to look at the functions of one pin on the device I was working on and after we released it into production we were immediately hit with a stop shipment. I remember staying very late at work that night working with manufacturing to resolve the issues. That's a very vivid memory for me. And tell you what I learned my lesson and checked every single pin on every qualification. After that I think that lesson was internalized far more than it would have ever been by reading a process document, Absolutely.

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

Absolutely those stick with you, right. Like you said, you still remember that and allowing that to happen is sometimes a little bit painful, a bit long-term, extremely, extremely beneficial. Again, a lot of that process I learned in the way I did, specifically bringing people up and growing them in that manner I thought was very, very critical to their long-term experience there. I believe it played huge dividends and I know it did. That was my experience and I believe it was yours as well.

Travis Mallett:

Yeah, I definitely agree. So there's another aspect of high involvement management that emphasizes the importance of information sharing. Can you think of any examples where information sharing wasn't done well, and how did that contribute to the management outcomes?

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

Sure, I can think of several, and most of the time they come with requirements on a project. Lots of money involved there, but I'm not going to talk about that. The worst thing that happened there is a lot of good. People were very disgruntled and parted with the company, and that was extremely unfortunate. That's the worst thing you can do is set people up for failure simply by elected communication, and that's exactly what happened Now.

Travis Mallett:

Another aspect of business and management is motivation, and there's this idea of incentive-based compensation that seems to have some supporting evidence. At our company we had an employee stock program, which was a way for the organization to share profits, and I always felt like it provided some overall company-wide motivation and drive. Let's work together, work hard, make the company succeed, because if the company succeeds, we all share in that profit. You think incentive-based compensation is an effective tool for motivating employees.

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

Again loaded question. I think it can be presented correctly. I would present incentive and the importance of the job that you're doing, what it does in the industry and how your performance and quality of what you do makes a difference. That in turn brings profits and then those profits can be shared. But if you do it solely based on, say, an e-stop or something like that, I think it's a good motivator that it's not the all-encompassing answer. It can't be, and I'll tell you what A person has to believe that what they're doing has importance.

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

If they don't buy into that, then you're not going to get a happy employee. They won't perform. They need to know that what they're doing has importance and you need to also encourage and enforce that. And there's a lot of ways that this comes into play. That only is it by allowing their ideas to become reality, allowing their improvements to be recognized. All that has to happen, and it doesn't necessarily mean it's a compensation that's monetary. There has to be a compensation that mentally fits the company and with performance, and that, I believe, is the long-term way of ensuring success.

Travis Mallett:

So, if I'm interpreting this correctly, you're saying that, yes, incentive-based compensation is effective If compensation is defined broadly enough to include a sort of psychological compensation, or maybe a social compensation with my team, or an achievement-based compensation where we get positive feedback for our work. If compensation includes all those things and is linked in some ways to performance, then it is effective.

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

Yes, absolutely. It's a good way of summarizing that. It has to be beyond that person and beyond monetary. It has to benefit the individual, the industry and those around them in the right way and if done correctly, you'll see it. If all those people are thinking in that same way, the company's done their job in making the incentive-based compensation broad and purposeful, then you've got something that you want to hold on to.

Travis Mallett:

This was absolutely fantastic and I knew you were the right person to talk about this topic Before we sign off. I know you're retired, but can you tell our listeners how they might get in touch with you?

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

Absolutely. You can always get in touch with me via my email. That's Robert Lopez, all one word underscore JR at Yahoocom. I'm always willing and happy to help those who are truly looking to manage people and grow them for their benefit not for the person who's doing the managing, but for the person who recognizes people in port and to grow people into good builders of society is gonna benefit all and this country needs that. Again, I would be happy to help and just to let you all know I see that as a responsibility. Thank you again. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Travis Mallett:

Now, it would be a shame to gloss over the idea of valuing people without a corresponding and philosophical tangent. The fruit is just hanging too low on this one. Several classic examples come to mind the trolley problem, where we're forced to confront how we value people, exposing our utilitarian or virtue oriented ethics. Or perhaps the classic Ford Pinto case, where Ford engineers actually put a price tag on a human life of $200,000 in their calculations of whether it'd be more profitable for Ford to fix a faulty design that could kill people or leave it be and pay settlements as they occurred. But we'll save those for future episodes.

Travis Mallett:

Today, let's travel back through time and take a tour of what people throughout history and in various cultures have said on the topic, and we'll focus specifically on the golden rule. No, not the golden ratio, if you're in mathematics, and not the golden act, for those of you who might be into horse racing, and I'm not even talking about the philosophical concept of the golden mean. No, we're going to talk about the golden rule, which, if you haven't heard of it before, you'll probably recognize it as soon as you hear it. But we're gonna need some help on this journey. So we're joined by our time travel guide George. Hi George, are you up to helping us?

George the Time Travel Guide:

My dear friend, where might we venture today? Or, to be more precise, to which moment in time shall we journey?

Travis Mallett:

We want to explore the golden rule. Do you know where we should start?

George the Time Travel Guide:

Ah, a noble quest indeed. Let us embark on a journey nearly 4000 years into the past, to the heart of the Middle Kingdom in ancient Egypt, a time when the Nile whispered tales of gods and pharaohs.

Travis Mallett:

What is this? It looks like a courtyard of some kind. I wonder who that is. Hi hello, just curious what you're working on.

Author of "The Eloquent Peasant", Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom (c. 2040–1650 BCE):

Hmm, the chief steward demands a completion of the story before tomorrow, and I'm trying to finish writing it.

Travis Mallett:

Are those hieroglyphics? What are you writing?

Author of "The Eloquent Peasant", Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom (c. 2040–1650 BCE):

It's a story the elegant Byzant, an honor of the goddess Maout. I'm trying to encapsulate the goddess's principle of reciprocity. Cheating diminishes Maout, but I'm good for measure. Maout neither falls short nor overflows.

Travis Mallett:

Interesting. I'm not sure what that means. Can you read a bit from the part you're working on?

Author of "The Eloquent Peasant", Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom (c. 2040–1650 BCE):

Yes, but then you leave, for I must test into completion. Here is what I have written Now. This is the command do to the doer to cause that he do.

Travis Mallett:

What does that mean? Exactly?

Author of "The Eloquent Peasant", Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom (c. 2040–1650 BCE):

It means thanking him for what he may do, perrying something before it is shot, ordering something from him who already has business. If thou vilest thy face against violence, who then will punish the meanness? All this is in the meaning of do to the doer to cause that he do.

Travis Mallett:

Thank you, I'll leave you to it. Do to the doer to cause the he do. Do to the doer to cause the heat do.

George the Time Travel Guide:

Did you perchance Dlean any wisdom from our surroundings? Oh hi, George.

Travis Mallett:

I'm not sure. Just this phrase do to the doer, to cause the he do. It sounds vaguely familiar, but I don't know what it reminds me of, and that scribe gave me a pretty cryptic explanation. Something about an Egyptian goddess and reciprocity.

George the Time Travel Guide:

Fear not, we shall remain in Egypt, but let time's river flow a tad further, about 1,200 years to be exact. Perhaps there clarity will find you. Observe the gentleman in yonder corner. He's been wrinkly inscribing on papyrus. Little does he know his work will stand the test of time, becoming the oldest preserved writings in the annals of medicine.

Travis Mallett:

I'm not sure what this has to do with the golden rule, and this lecture also doesn't seem to have anything to do with medicine. It sounds more like a bunch of proverbs. Hush now and lend your ear.

George the Time Travel Guide:

This is the part I want you to hear.

Author of "The Eloquent Peasant", Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom (c. 2040–1650 BCE):

For him that which you hate to be done to you. Do not do it to another.

George the Time Travel Guide:

Do not make yourself did you get that, that which you loathe to be done on to you? Refrain from doing it to another.

Author of "The Eloquent Peasant", Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom (c. 2040–1650 BCE):

Yes, you in the back. Do you have something to say to us?

George the Time Travel Guide:

My apologies, doctor, we're just leaving.

Travis Mallett:

Yes, that sounds a lot like the golden rule I've heard before.

George the Time Travel Guide:

Indeed, but our journey is far from over. The ancient Egyptians, wise as they were, were not the sole bearers of this universal truth. Let us now traverse to India, for there, at this very moment, someone else Elucidates the very same principle. Who's that? In due time, he will be known as the Buddha, but for now, he is simply a seeker of truth, much like ourselves. Ah, it seems our linguistic device falters.

The Buddha:

Who seeks his own happiness by harming all men who also desire to have happiness. If you don't want to be harmed, you should also not harm others. If you harm others, you will not find happiness, even in your future existences. Perceiving the evils of hatred and reflecting mindfully on the admonition of the enlightened one, all now shall we return forth once more?

George the Time Travel Guide:

let us leap ahead by half a millennium and find ourselves amidst the rolling hills of northern Israel, upon the Corazim plateau.

Travis Mallett:

Oh, I know this one. That must be Jesus giving his famous sermon on the mount.

George the Time Travel Guide:

Correct, listen closely.

Author of "The Eloquent Peasant", Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom (c. 2040–1650 BCE):

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness To all these things will be to you. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law, and the prophets Judge not that you be not judged.

The Buddha:

You have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and the tooth for a tooth.

Travis Mallett:

That was very interesting to see how many different cultures independently came up with the golden rule. Thanks for the help, george.

George the Time Travel Guide:

It has been the utmost pleasure. Remember, time is but a canvas and history the art. Until our next adventure.

Travis Mallett:

It's fascinating to find that the golden rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you Is confirmed as a superior rule for life in a variety of cultures and traditions. In fact, christianity, buddhism, judaism, confucianism, taoism are just a few of the traditions that have independently discovered and preached this rule. Even Asop and the other ancient Greeks arrived at the same principle, worded in nearly the same way and in more recent times and by recent we're talking about. 240 years ago, emmanuel Kahn proposed his so-called Categorical imperative, which is in some ways, nothing more than a generalization of the golden rule. It seems that there's something innate about this rule that is required for the effective functioning of human society and organizations, and that's what the concept of high involvement management is all about.

Travis Mallett:

Think about it. No doubt you want to be on a team that has been hired selectively, and you probably want the training you need to succeed in your work. After all, that may be the reason you're listening to this podcast. You're also likely motivated when you're empowered to make decisions, and you probably want your hard work to result in meaningful rewards. The takeaway Do for our employees what we wish would be done for us. But there's one more thing we can learn from the Golden Rule. Several commentators have noted a potential fatal flaw of the Golden Rule.

Patrick O'Reilly (TEDxWinnipeg):

So the Golden Rule do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That's one version of it, but something similar exists in almost every culture, language, religion around the world. Maybe that's why so many of us know it and so many of us believe in it. I believed in it too, until a series of enlightening and sometimes devastating realizations occurred in my own career that made me see otherwise. So what was the problem? Problem was that I, like many successful leaders, was driven by perfection. I was driven by a need to be right. I was driven by a need to look good and to make sure that people around me were proud of my success. I assumed that's what everyone around me was driven by as well. Many of us assume that people other people see the world the way we do. So, despite some great mentors along the way, I was determined to live by the Golden Rule. I was determined to help you be perfect. I was determined to help you be right, to achieve good things, to make our boss proud, to meet our deadlines, to deliver the goods. As you can imagine, eventually that didn't end well. It wasn't pretty, and my career took a dramatic turn.

Patrick O'Reilly (TEDxWinnipeg):

So how do you know how to treat people. If not how you want to be treated Well, the first thing you do is we start paying attention to individuals. No more generalizing, no more grouping. We pay attention to each individual person. If you're leading a team of people, you adapt your leadership style to each of them individually. So you lead the team, but again we come back to engaging individually. It means adapting your style to each one, which is difficult, but the return on investment will be huge for you. Saying the Golden Rule is wrong is counterintuitive, but it's my proposal that counterintuitive thinking, counterintuitive thinking can change our world.

Travis Mallett:

It seems that the Golden Rule, while it touches on some core truth of humanity, may need to be more nuanced to take into account the diversity of human desires what I want may not be what someone else desires, and thus high involvement management should never just be relegated to high-level corporate policies and training. Managers at all levels need to be involved, In fact. Let's return to our definition of high involvement management. High involvement management requires that senior, middle and lower-level managers all recognize human capital as the organization's most important resource. Yes, high-level policies and culture need to exist for high involvement management to occur, but individual departments need to be empowered and need the flexibility to tailor those practices to their specific needs, and also, very importantly, frontline managers need the same to further tailor the practices to individuals under their care.

Robert Lopez, Jr.:

The most successful managers very simply value their people. They pay attention to them, they figure out how to grow them. They figure out also what tasks, what projects would best challenge them, and they also cater their methods according to what they have for people in the department.

Travis Mallett:

High involvement management isn't just a strategy, it's a culture. It's about recognizing the potential in every individual and harnessing it for collective success. It's about collaboration, trust and mutual growth. So the next time you step into your workplace, ask yourself how involved are you? So with that, thank you for tuning in to the Management Theory Toolbox, your top destination for the behind-the-scenes of management and business theory. As always, each episode is based on the latest and most robust management theory, and you can download the show notes to find references and learn more. In our next episode, we're going to move beyond the anecdotes and stories and discuss some of the evidence for the effectiveness of high involvement management. In the meantime, keep learning, keep growing and keep building your management theory toolbox.

People on this episode

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Travis Mallett, ALM

Host
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Robert Lopez, Jr.

Guest