Thirty years of research about why executives fail indicates that approximately  half of all executive careers end in failure.  When comparing the behavioral patterns of successful managers with unsuccessful managers, Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy name five behavioral patterns they found absent from successful managers, while at least one of the five were present in every failed manager.

• One of the five behavioral patterns was a failure to meet business objectives, especially during times of situational difficulties.  There are multiple reasons for this failure, ranging from character flaws such as blaming others, failure to keep commitments, and a lack of integrity, to making bad decisions with regard to which activities to give priority and team management (Hughes, et al., 2012, p.621).  This failure could be avoided with the creation of a development plan, especially the GAPS analysis which identifies development needs.

• A second cause of manager derailment is the inability to build and lead teams (Hughes, et al., 2012, p.624).  Some of the common mistakes made in team building are hiring staff with the same strengths as the leader, as opposed to hiring people who have strengths the leader lacks.  Micromanaging your team can also lead to team discouragement and dysfunction.  Sometimes leaders simply don’t know how to build and develop teams (Hughes, et al., 2012, p.624-625).

• The inability to develop good working relationships with co-workers can also cause derailment.  These are often overly competitive, domineering mangers who are insensitive to the needs and feelings of their co-workers, while demanding everything be done their way.  To avoid this pitfall, this type of manager should embrace the Theory Y perspective, learning to view co-workers as trustworthy, competent, and cooperative.

• Sometimes leaders are thrust into new situations and are unable to adapt.  It could be a new boss with new ways of conducting business, or perhaps a different culture in a new office (Hughes, et al., 2012, p.626).  Acceptable behavior in one environment may be unacceptable in another.  Leaders must have the ability to discern the requirements of new environments and be willing to make the necessary adjustments.

• Another reason for management failure is when a manager is thrust into a new role for which he or she is not adequately skilled, especially in light of organizational pressures today to do more with fewer resources and rapidly-changing circumstances and environments.  A manager may be perfectly skilled for one managerial position, and totally unprepared for another.  As indicated by Hughes, et al., “Performance is often a function of technical competence” (Hughes, et al., 2012, p.626).  The only way to avoid this type of derailment is to build technical competencies, either through formal education or training in specific job-related skills.

References

Hughes, R.L., Ginnett, R.C., Curphy, G.J.  (2012).  Leadership: enhancing the lessons of

     experience seventh edition.  McGraw-Hill Irwin.  New York, NY.

//