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    You are here Home » management

    10 Penalties That I Would Call if I Were a Management Referee

    Last updated on Feb 5, 2013 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    In the final
    minutes of the recent Super Bowl, 49ers coach Harbaugh was upset about a
    holding penalty on Michael Crabtree that he thought should have been called.
    After the game, he said “there was no question in my mind there was a pass
    interference, and then a hold on the last play.”

    What would
    professional football be without good officiating? From Coach Harbaugh’s
    perspective, it would be the difference between winning and losing the most important
    game of the season.

    Unfortunately,
    when it comes to the workplace, there are no management referees. Managers get away
    with all kinds of fouls, with little or no consequences. Often it’s because no
    one with any authority is there to catch them in the act.

    What if we
    created a new job called a “Management Referee”? Just like those NFL-like
    referees that roam the airports in the Southwest Airlines commercials throwing
    penalty flags for bag fees and poor customer service, these referees would
    patrol the workplace looking for flagrant management malpractice violations.

    Here’s 10
    penalties that I’d look for if I were a Management Referee:

    1. Employee
    pass interference:
    Otherwise
    known as micromanagement, this penalty is for getting in the way of an employee
    or team of employees that know how to do the job better than the manager.

    2. Illegal
    use of meetings:
    A meeting
    with no agenda, no apparent purpose, no process facilitation, little or no
    collaboration, and no meaningful decisions or action items.

    3.
    Unnecessary roughness:
    Unfair, undeserved, overly harsh, unprofessional and disrespectful criticism.  Often referred to as bullying.

    4.
    Offsides/neutral zone infraction:
    Inappropriate
    touching, language, 
    innuendos, and other types of sexual harassment. Depending on the foul, "illegal use of hands" could be called as well.

    5.
    Unsportsmanlike conduct:
    An ethical
    violation.

    6. Excessive
    use of buzzwords:
    Should be
    self-explanatory. Words that would most likely draw a flag: anything 2.0,
    pushing the envelope, out-of-the-box, sea change, low-hanging fruit, and
    nailing Jell-O to a tree.

    7. Humor
    with the intent to injure.
    Over-use of
    insults, jabs, gotchas, sarcasm, or cynicism.

    8. Offensive
    hubris:
    Over-the-top
    self-indulgence and arrogance, often as a result of an 
    over-inflated ego

    9. Delay of
    game:
    Slow
    decision making that slows down critical projects and causes employees to miss
    deadlines or have to rush at the last minute.

    10. False
    Start:
    Confusing, contradictory, or a lack of direction that results in projects starting and
    stopping.
    What
    penalties would you call as a management referee?
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