Monitoring: Managing is Anticipating
11 September 2009
Read by 3967 persons
Managers and decision-makers are called upon to be proactive and not wait for a breakdown to react.
The era where one could simply endure and react to a major incident or breakdown is over. Managers, decision-makers, and HR managers are called upon to be vigilant. In their book entitled "Anticipation: The Eternal Mirage of Management?", authors Sandra Bellier and Adeline Benoist specify that anticipation is first an intellectual approach and a particular way of processing information.
This leads us to monitoring. Long applied to the fields of IT and clinics, this process is increasingly adopted in management, especially abroad. In Morocco, few HR managers apply it; it is a management method that is beginning to become known and appreciated. However, the "head-down" attitude remains the most common, with a few exceptions.
Thus, to avoid performance degradation and risks of failure, the manager must remain vigilant and equip themselves with tools that ensure good monitoring. Among the key tools on which monitoring relies, dashboards, which ensure continuous monitoring of employees' activities, remain the most effective. These prove to be high-performing tools for piloting, activity monitoring, communication, and decision-making. The manager needs them because they must always be reactive and know how to manage emergencies because the more they anticipate, the more effective they are, even under pressure. Hence the importance of having reliable alert and anticipation tools.
In fact, dashboards, which allow for the production of the company's social report, are imposing themselves as a formidable strategic tool for HR and the entire company, provided that the right indicators are identified and presented in a relevant way to each recipient (internal departments, social partners, etc.). In addition, regular monitoring and data updates are necessary for better management. The manager can thus more easily detect malfunctions and remedy them in time.
Furthermore, developing and monitoring a dashboard helps the entrepreneur take a step back and free themselves from emergencies, plan their development, and regularly measure the progress made and correct deviations. In the end, today's manager, in the current global context, will have to learn to apply monitoring. And for good reason, they must adapt to new situations, new constraints, new organizational and environmental demands... to achieve objectives and achieve good performance.
"It's the art of mastering key indicators" Expert opinion - Mohammed Benouarrek
What is the definition of monitoring?
Due to its English origin, the term monitoring denotes any surveillance activity. Before invading the managerial world as a term and practice, monitoring was frequently used in the fields of IT and clinics. In a managerial context, monitoring denotes the monitoring and surveillance of activities and/or employees. Some also speak of remote management. Monitoring is much more than that. It is the art of mastering key indicators through which the manager can, in a snapshot (summary), ensure the necessary control and monitoring. This, of course, is part of the know-how.
Some managers excel in the direct practice and exercise of their missions but have difficulty excelling in the continuity of projects spread over time and requiring remote monitoring or for missions to be carried out through other employees and requiring remote control and support (not necessarily in the geographical sense of the term).
What are the tools of managerial monitoring?
Monitoring relies on a range of tools. Among the most frequently used tools, we can cite the dashboard. The latter represents a set of key performance indicators or other variables, all allowing the user to remotely monitor the progress of work, missions, projects, etc. Monitoring also relies on managerial behaviors such as the management style adopted. MBWA (Management by Walking Around), namely management through proximity to employees by going to them, sharing their space, etc., is also a form of monitoring. I would even say that open space can be used in a disguised way as a form of on-the-job monitoring.
What are the abuses of monitoring?
Monitoring makes it possible to ensure monitoring and support in order to avoid difficult moments. It also makes it possible to avoid, or at worst, to intervene at times of crisis or need. That being said, like anything else, monitoring can be poorly practiced or understood and can therefore lead to disappointing results. Some managers still confuse monitoring with micromanagement. Pushing monitoring to the extreme presence and interventionism on the part of the manager can lead to micromanagement, which refers to interfering with employees' work at the time clock and not simply providing remote support and control. The other extreme facet of monitoring is animistic management.
Some managers savor their role of remote control and monitoring and distance themselves from work and the field. They remain minimalist in their involvement and degree of intervention. This falls within the scope of animistic management. To conclude, monitoring is highly customized to the nature of the activities, automated control procedures and work procedures in place, as well as the degree of autonomy of the employees. The dosage is done in light of these factors.
Nadia Dref
Published on September 6, 2009
Posted online on September 11, 2009
lematin.ma
The era where one could simply endure and react to a major incident or breakdown is over. Managers, decision-makers, and HR managers are called upon to be vigilant. In their book entitled "Anticipation: The Eternal Mirage of Management?", authors Sandra Bellier and Adeline Benoist specify that anticipation is first an intellectual approach and a particular way of processing information.
This leads us to monitoring. Long applied to the fields of IT and clinics, this process is increasingly adopted in management, especially abroad. In Morocco, few HR managers apply it; it is a management method that is beginning to become known and appreciated. However, the "head-down" attitude remains the most common, with a few exceptions.
Thus, to avoid performance degradation and risks of failure, the manager must remain vigilant and equip themselves with tools that ensure good monitoring. Among the key tools on which monitoring relies, dashboards, which ensure continuous monitoring of employees' activities, remain the most effective. These prove to be high-performing tools for piloting, activity monitoring, communication, and decision-making. The manager needs them because they must always be reactive and know how to manage emergencies because the more they anticipate, the more effective they are, even under pressure. Hence the importance of having reliable alert and anticipation tools.
In fact, dashboards, which allow for the production of the company's social report, are imposing themselves as a formidable strategic tool for HR and the entire company, provided that the right indicators are identified and presented in a relevant way to each recipient (internal departments, social partners, etc.). In addition, regular monitoring and data updates are necessary for better management. The manager can thus more easily detect malfunctions and remedy them in time.
Furthermore, developing and monitoring a dashboard helps the entrepreneur take a step back and free themselves from emergencies, plan their development, and regularly measure the progress made and correct deviations. In the end, today's manager, in the current global context, will have to learn to apply monitoring. And for good reason, they must adapt to new situations, new constraints, new organizational and environmental demands... to achieve objectives and achieve good performance.
"It's the art of mastering key indicators" Expert opinion - Mohammed Benouarrek
What is the definition of monitoring?
Due to its English origin, the term monitoring denotes any surveillance activity. Before invading the managerial world as a term and practice, monitoring was frequently used in the fields of IT and clinics. In a managerial context, monitoring denotes the monitoring and surveillance of activities and/or employees. Some also speak of remote management. Monitoring is much more than that. It is the art of mastering key indicators through which the manager can, in a snapshot (summary), ensure the necessary control and monitoring. This, of course, is part of the know-how.
Some managers excel in the direct practice and exercise of their missions but have difficulty excelling in the continuity of projects spread over time and requiring remote monitoring or for missions to be carried out through other employees and requiring remote control and support (not necessarily in the geographical sense of the term).
What are the tools of managerial monitoring?
Monitoring relies on a range of tools. Among the most frequently used tools, we can cite the dashboard. The latter represents a set of key performance indicators or other variables, all allowing the user to remotely monitor the progress of work, missions, projects, etc. Monitoring also relies on managerial behaviors such as the management style adopted. MBWA (Management by Walking Around), namely management through proximity to employees by going to them, sharing their space, etc., is also a form of monitoring. I would even say that open space can be used in a disguised way as a form of on-the-job monitoring.
What are the abuses of monitoring?
Monitoring makes it possible to ensure monitoring and support in order to avoid difficult moments. It also makes it possible to avoid, or at worst, to intervene at times of crisis or need. That being said, like anything else, monitoring can be poorly practiced or understood and can therefore lead to disappointing results. Some managers still confuse monitoring with micromanagement. Pushing monitoring to the extreme presence and interventionism on the part of the manager can lead to micromanagement, which refers to interfering with employees' work at the time clock and not simply providing remote support and control. The other extreme facet of monitoring is animistic management.
Some managers savor their role of remote control and monitoring and distance themselves from work and the field. They remain minimalist in their involvement and degree of intervention. This falls within the scope of animistic management. To conclude, monitoring is highly customized to the nature of the activities, automated control procedures and work procedures in place, as well as the degree of autonomy of the employees. The dosage is done in light of these factors.
Nadia Dref
Published on September 6, 2009
Posted online on September 11, 2009
lematin.ma
