Is there a company-wide initiative that is directly driving lower level managers to micro-manage their employees a lot more, or is this simply an indirect result of the toxic environment created by upper management?
In my line of business I am definitely noticing that a lot of arbitrary details in my daily work is being scrutinized by our management… very minor things that didn’t used to matter and really shouldn’t matter suddenly must be done differently and usually without explanation.
Another tech employee here, my manager is more present but it isn't really micro-managing. Mine is just engaging more to try and keep us happy, which is slightly uncomfortable but my manager is good, and cool, enough that it's not bad.
Managers need to understand how adjustments in their behavior and engagement can be interpreted. They might see it as trying to connect and stay in touch, whereas the employee can see it as being micromanaged.
This company excels at unintended consequences.
In tech... I have more freedom than ever to take my own path to optimizing tedious daily work.
No micromanagement.
Definitely more micromanaged. Big boss watching Skype status all day long, forced to turn in video to “prove” you are working, encouragement for more days in office even when you meet the requirements. It’s beyond insulting after working here for 20+ years. What more do I need to do to prove myself to you? Doesn’t the output of work I do count for something? Why the he-l do you care when I get it done or where?
Okay you will be tempted to blame this on agile techniques being employed. Agile methodologies do not necessarily lead to micromanagement. Agile principles emphasize collaboration, continuous improvement, and flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. However, if teams are not given the autonomy they need to make decisions, or if they lack necessary skills and experience, it can lead to micromanagement. It is important to strike a balance between providing guidance and direction and allowing teams the autonomy they need to work effectively. Agile methodologies require proper implementation and management to be successful.
Now in tech are the teams given the autonomy to make decisions? Do people have the necessary skills? Furthermore are the business needs adequately elicited from the stakeholders? Are the future state processes reviewed and documented -- during design and implementation NOT afer (RCSA)? Agile is failing at Wells.
It's the oldest manager trick in the book. Managers who think they are at risk of being displaced (laid off) will micromanage employees to make it appear that they are incredibly busy and worthy of their generous compensation packages.
Another trick is to have a lot of meetings. It doesn't matter if nothing of import is discussed. Only that they were in a lot of meetings. Quantity over quality.
I have the misfortune of having a micro-mgr. He doesn't hold his knee on our necks to hard...just hard enough to prove he has power. I've worked at WF for years...and this is the worst mgr I've ever had
Definitely seeing this shift in tech.
Context matters less now in doing daily work. There is less conversation, less drawing out a design and understanding components. Where India was once a strategic partner, their sustained model of high volume output/no drama is the expectation for US workers now too.
Aiding this model, ServiceNow is being used like Facebook, capturing all the minutia of daily work. Agile, which has been so badly implemented, is taking the software development approach to all tech work. When has a IT support/server admin ever needed to write down a million different tasks on Post-It notes and separate things into sprints?
Less attention is placed on nuance of problems or unique skill for specific tech, more attention at bringing things to scale, more about bringing everyone down to a level of sameness.
Upper mgmt has no desire to foster a healthy tech community, the goal is a factory/assembly line approach of getting things done. There will be cost savings for sure and maybe average tech workers are now the new blue collar factory jobs, but the true talented workers will get bored and that is a problem.
At this point, there is no reason why the bank would want or need to actively seek out and hire the better skilled or critical thinking worker. They simply have no way to sell potential new candidates on why WF is a good place to work in tech.
id say a lot of times management doesn't know what they don't know and once they see something they want it different. I'd also say with all the reorgs and leadership changes, the new leaders want to put there stamp on things and as such want changes.
For me: yes! My manager justifies it, that it's to fine tune productivity numbers to help try to reduce layoffs in our team.
Sounds like your manager's manager. The only thing being micromanaged for me is RTO. Otherwise all is "normal."