Should You Strive To Be In Management?

Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash In Western work culture, people tend to gravitate toward management positions, supervising employees and directing high-level processes. On paper, it typically looks attractive. But is this always a worthy career goal?

Responsibilities of Managers

Let’s start by talking about the most common responsibilities of managers. Obviously, these responsibilities are going to vary wildly depending on your industry, the size of the business in which you work, and the proclivities of the people working above you. Still, you can usually expect the following:

• Hiring and teambuilding. Most managers are responsible for making at least some hiring decisions and building a team of subordinates. When someone leaves, you need to find someone new. When your workers are overwhelmed with work, you need to bring on additional resources. When workers underperform, you need to let them go.
• Training and education. Some managers are responsible for providing training and education to the people beneath them. This is especially important in contexts where the manager has much more experience and knowledge than their subordinates.
• Supervision. In the course of daily work, managers are responsible for supervising employees, ensuring they stay on task, and that they’re on track to meet all their deadlines and responsibilities. In line with this, managers must provide motivation and, occasionally, disciplinary action.
• Assistance. In some industries and contexts, managers are responsible for stepping in to assist with ground-level responsibilities when employees aren’t able to handle things on their own.
• Reporting. You’ll also be responsible for creating and sending essential reports to people higher in the corporate hierarchy (or to clients). This way, you can prove your value as a manager and proactively acknowledge potential problem areas that you’re going to work on in the near future.
• Decision making and planning. Managers are typically involved in decision making meetings, helping to allocate resources and provide direction for the company overall.
• Resource allocation and project management. Most managers also take on resource allocation and project management responsibilities, setting objectives and maximizing the chances of meeting those objectives.
• Conflict resolution. When employees grow frustrated or have interpersonal conflicts, managers typically must step in to resolve them. You’ll also be responsible for addressing complaints and making employees feel comfortable and confident in their situation.

The Benefits of Management

Manager positions do confer several benefits:

• Higher pay. Managers almost always make more than their employees. Once you step into a management position, you’ll enjoy a much higher salary, extra bonuses, and probably some extra benefits. This is arguably the main reason why people are so drawn to management.
• Higher respect and esteem. Some people enjoy management because it affords them higher respect and more esteem from subordinates and colleagues. They like being in a position of power and they like being seen as an authority figure or mentor.
• Autonomy and control. Others love the idea of stepping into management because managers have much more autonomy and control over their work than ground-level employees. In many situations, you’ll be setting the objectives and priorities.

Drawbacks of Management

There are some drawbacks associated with management, however:

• Extra pressure. Higher pressure, and therefore higher stress, are core problems associated with management. You’re going to take on much more responsibility as a manager, and you’ll be answering for entire teams of people. You’ll be making more money, sure, but that also means you’ll have more to lose and you’ll feel more restricted in your position. You may also be called upon to work longer hours to make sure the company hits its targets.
• Interpersonal conflicts. Even if you try your best to be friendly with your employees, chances are, it’s only a matter of time before you have to deal with interpersonal conflicts. Some of your employees aren’t going to like your management style, and some of them will be resentful of you because of your position.
• Responsibility limitations. If you got involved in this industry because you like doing ground-level work, you need to understand that you’ll be abandoning those enjoyable responsibilities in pursuit of something more. You might be giving up work you honestly love to do.
• The Peter Principle. The Peter Principle states that “the tendency in most organizational hierarchies, such as that of a corporation, is for every employee to rise in the hierarchy through promotion until they reach a level of respective incompetence.” In other words, people typically climb the corporate ladder until they reach a position they don’t know how to do well. Because of this, you might eventually trap yourself in a role that doesn’t suit you.

The Bottom Line

Overall, climbing the corporate ladder into management and higher-level supervisory positions can work out in your favor. But there are enough downsides that it’s not always your best course of action. Consider the pros and cons carefully, along with your personal goals, before following this path.