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I know this has many answers in different times and places. I have differing thoughts as I have worked both white collar and blue collar, large and small companies, etc.
On large constructions projects, most foremen don't swing tools much. They direct others, meet with other contractors about schedules, changes, etc. I never had a problem with this, as I figure the foreman is hired to run the job and we are hired to work it. A foreman usually doesn't have time to get his hands into things day to day. But I had one coworker who constantly whined about our foreman "just leaning on the print table all day long while we work". Strange thing, this guy was 1 of the laziest, sorriest people we had. I eventually asked not to work with him again, he got so much on my nerves. He only liked 1 foreman, a guy who did strap on tools and get hands on. That was OK too, just the way he chose to manage. But even he had days where he had to hand off work while he met with others. I kept trying to point this out to the slacker.
I had a small electrical contracting business for 5 years where I did everything from top to bottom. Only had limited help as finances allowed. I had hoped to get to the point where I would scout business, deal with customers and have 2-4 people swinging tools on jobs, me helping out if needed. Sadly never managed that.
I also worked clerical work in offices. I generally had no issues with managers doing their thing while we "ran the office". I did see times though, when I thought the managers should help us out. People out sick, weekly or monthly deadlines with phones ringing off the hook, we really needed them to step in and help cover the phones. I asked my supervisor about this and she suggested I keep that thought quiet if I wanted to keep my job. Strangely enough, these were the very mangers who heavily pushed cross training, that everyone should be able to cover any function. But they were totally unwilling to do it themselves. Plus, none of them were any help if we asked help in getting something through the system. They knew nothing about it.
I have seen many small businesses where owners and managers don't usually do the "grunt work" but sure do jump in when needed and cover when people are out or the place is crowded. They can do any job there when needed.
Thoughts? I know every work place and every type of business is different.
The best managers I ever had were those who actually did the work at one point before moving up and actually got their hands dirty. Unless you can actually walk the walk and talk the talk, I don’t see how you can tell someone else how to do it. The worst managers are
The ones that have never done the work, sit at their desks in meetings and don’t have a damn clue about most of the operation they are supposed to run.
Good managers are few and far between though. Out of 100, you may have 1-2 worth a hoot. And generally those are the real old managers retiring that were at the companies for 30-40 years. The rest are just worthless ladder climbing sociopaths.
In this case I agree with Dorian. The best managers I've had did the job themselves before moving up. Maybe not my specific job but had done that work. They understood what it took to do the job and didn't have any magical ideas about how to do it. The worst were the ones who had never done anything, just straight to management. They really had no understanding of what they were asking.
The hardest job I've had as a manager as what was essentially a "working manager" where you basically have two jobs -- manager and contributor. Essentially two full time jobs and never enough time to do either one right.
There's a divide between each major level of employee in that employees who are lower generally do not know 'exactly' what the employee above does but has an idea and so on.
That said ... if many employees under you and to the side of you think you stink and don't do any work, then generally it's true.
I've even seen it where a person above you thinks you don't do any work, though that person isn't necessarily responsible for evaluating you in any way.
My current boss works as hard or harder than me and I could not do his job at this point. And I would have it no other way.
I also believe that in this country, the way the system is set up, advancement to a certain point is believed to be ... much more $ for less general work.
It's the carrot.
You're working your way up to that point.
I actually think it's one of the major problems in this country, if not the world
You should know the job a level below you. Preferably two levels below you, in my opinion. I am a manager and I can and have filled in for supervisors and line workers. A supervisor also needs to know when to stay out of the way. There is a very successful mom and pop pizza chain in my area, and their production area stays pretty busy and fast paced on weekends. The owner had to be 85+ years old but he wanted to come in and make pizzas on a weekend. He was slow and in the way. You could tell by the look on the production workers' faces that they were pissed off and that production was not running smoothly.
This is a common thing that I've seen in the fields that I've worked ...
A person will spend lets say 7-10 years doing a job, and learning it, let's say Structural Engineering. I used it as an example because it's a very tangible task oriented career.
Well, after 7-10 years that person decides they don't want anything to do with the technical portions of Structural Engineering. They're sick of it, if they ever even liked it in the first place. So they focus on the administrative, and organizational aspects and just push everything else off.
I have seen many small businesses where owners and managers don't usually do the "grunt work" but sure do jump in when needed and cover when people are out or the place is crowded. They can do any job there when needed.
Or not...
I've worked at a few small businesses where the owner didn't know a thing about actually doing the work, they just wanted to be a business owner and presumably hire people who know what to do. I was once hired by a franchise owner who, I later realized, really didn't know anything about the industry. We the employees kept a secret list going of all the times the owner came back to "help" and screwed up/destroyed everything he touched. It was a long list.
Aside from the obvious financial aspect, I've never been able to understand why someone would start/buy into a business they know nothing about and that possibly doesn't even interest them.
I've worked at a few small businesses where the owner didn't know a thing about actually doing the work, they just wanted to be a business owner and presumably hire people who know what to do. I was once hired by a franchise owner who, I later realized, really didn't know anything about the industry. We the employees kept a secret list going of all the times the owner came back to "help" and screwed up/destroyed everything he touched. It was a long list.
Aside from the obvious financial aspect, I've never been able to understand why someone would start/buy into a business they know nothing about and that possibly doesn't even interest them.
Pure ownership is slightly different. Owners can be passive.
In a purely technical sense, if you own a lot of stock in a company, you are a passive owner. I won't get into that tangent though.
Of course, if you are an owner who actually does do work and help carry the load, it helps a LOT.
OTOH, I've met non-owner execs who think they can know nothing about a project and still run in successfully. Not only do they think it, I've seen them brag about it.
The rationale is that they can 'manage and motivate people'. But what it really means is ... they can delegate ALL revenue generating and BD tasks while their role is keeping on top of everybody making sure they meet numbers.
I've worked at a few small businesses where the owner didn't know a thing about actually doing the work, they just wanted to be a business owner and presumably hire people who know what to do. I was once hired by a franchise owner who, I later realized, really didn't know anything about the industry. We the employees kept a secret list going of all the times the owner came back to "help" and screwed up/destroyed everything he touched. It was a long list.
Aside from the obvious financial aspect, I've never been able to understand why someone would start/buy into a business they know nothing about and that possibly doesn't even interest them.
I've seen a bit of that too. Worked 6 months at a restaurant. Owner/manager was an alcoholic narcissist. He actually did know a lot and was a great chef during his rare moments of sobriety. But alcohol and his own personality got in the way more often than not.
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