$5.$ Challenges Facing New Managers

Professor Linda Hill did research that followed new managers for their first year in their jobs. She found that they changed over time, moving from an $$individual identity$$ to a $$manager identity.$$ The following diagram outlines the characteristics associated with each of these identities.

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This diagram shows how managers change as they grow in their jobs. Linda Hill found that managers went through three predictable stages in their first year on the job. Initially, they were concerned with $$being the boss$$ and having formal authority over people. After six months, they found that their initial expectations were wrong and that the job was much more fast$-$paced and work$-$intensive than they originally thought. They also learned that they needed to be problem solvers for the people who reported to them, not authority figures. After one year, managers who stayed with the job reported that they were no longer $$doers$,$ but, instead, they spend their time communicating, listening, and giving positive reinforcement in order to help people develop. The individual focuses on his or her job, while the manager focuses on the company and it$$s industry as a whole.

New managers can get into trouble in several ways:

$$ They may try to work by themselves instead of delegating work to others.

$$ They may not understand that they have to work with others, not as independent forces.

More and more organizations are providing internal training for new managers to help them overcome these issues. Organizations are also becoming more careful about who they select as managers, putting more emphasis on interpersonal skills and less emphasis on other types of skills.

Which of the following are characteristics of a manager with a year or more of experience? Check all that apply.

Coordinating the work of others

Working independently

Acting as a specialist

Working interdependently

Organizations today want more successful managers. Taking into consideration Linda Hill$$s research on management evolution, what are companies doing to make their new managers become more effective?

Training managers to find the one person most qualified for a task and to give that task to him or her

Selecting people to become managers who really want to be managers

Training managers in artificial intelligence so they can use computers to help them make better decisions

Selecting people to become managers with highly advanced technological degrees