The March 13, 2006 Wall Street Journal column In The Lead by Carol Hymowitz pits the choice in management as one of either micromanagement at one end of the spectrum or abject neglect at the other end.

In the article, Scott Flanders of Freedom Communications is said to believe that “managers who spend most of their time coaching employees on how to do their jobs are wasting their talents.” The article goes on to describe a process where as an employee gets into trouble, intervention occurs in various forms.

Saying the employee should know what they are doing or what they are supposed to be doing is nothing more then admitting you have no idea how to manage. Setting clear expectations and providing regular feedback is the only way to manage, in any situation. If you are not doing this, you are a manager in name only. Worse, you are probably creating a soul-sucking workplace where people are dying to leave.

The most recent edition of the Berkshire Hathaway letter to shareholders from Warren Buffet features a great quote on the role of management in any company, as follows.

“Every day, in countless ways, the competitive position of each of our businesses grows either weaker or stronger. If we are delighting customers, eliminating unnecessary costs and improving our products and services, we gain strength. But if we treat customers with indifference or tolerate bloat, our businesses will wither. On a daily basis, the effects of our actions are imperceptible; cumulatively, though, their consequences are enormous.

When our long-term competitive position improves as a result of these almost unnoticeable actions, we describe the phenomenon as “widening the moat.” And doing that is essential if we are to have the kind of business we want a decade or two from now. We always, of course, hope to earn more money in the short-term. But when short-term and long-term conflict, widening the moat must take precedence. If a management makes bad decisions in order to hit short-term earnings targets, and consequently gets behind the eight-ball in terms of costs, customer satisfaction or brand strength, no amount of subsequent brilliance will overcome the damage that has been inflicted. Take a look at the dilemmas of managers in the auto and airline industries today as they struggle with the huge problems handed them by their predecessors. Charlie is fond of quoting Ben Franklin’s “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” But sometimes no amount of cure will overcome the mistakes of the past.”

The PositiveWare vision is that constant focus, alignment, and feedback create this moat-widening effect.