What to do with a command-and-control boss

A genuine leader must have the courage to act against a stupid boss.

Iwork for a medium-size business corporation owned by a Filipino-Chinese family. Just like all other companies similarly situated, I’ve experienced stupid and excessive control that we so-called department managers are reduced to mere clerks without a signing authority. We are not allowed on our own to approve even a disbursement of as low as P1,000 worth of purchase. Everything must be approved by the CEO who is oftentimes out of the office. This causes delay, if not paralysis in the operations. How do I solve such problem? — Truly Exasperated.

Three days ago, I was with my wife at Shopwise Sucat to buy some groceries. My wife will not hesitate to flaunt her age by presenting her senior citizen’s ID to the cashier to process whatever applicable discount that may be given to us.

Just like before in my encounter with other supermarkets and department stores, history must repeat itself to annoy and at the same time, perplex us with the fact that all other cashiers who are entrusted to collect several thousands of pesos from customers are not authorized to deduct even the insignificant amount of P18 from our bill at the time.

Regardless of the amount, the discount must be approved by a supervisor who at times forces us to wait a little longer. In fact, my last encounter with Shopwise forced us to wait and other customers on queue for at least five minutes before the mighty and powerful supervisor comes to us to rescue us from purgatory. Why not? Because he was also busy approving discounts of other customers, may be as low as five pesos.

Imagine hiring supermarket supervisors with the job description of authorizing senior citizen’s discount. If this does not explain to you the foolishness of excessive command-and-control, then I don’t know what to call it. I told my wife to forego the discount, but I was prevailed upon by my loving penny-pincher. But that’s not the point.

The issue of centralization and decentralization has been with us since time immemorial, long before Peter Drucker first laid out in the 1940s that corporations must move away from a destructive command-and-control structure.

This is the essence of empowering people, regardless of their job and title, who must adopt a managerial attitude and take responsibility for the quality of their actions. That can happen only if top management is willing to give at least a decent limited authority to people. But still, many organizations can’t seem to get out of the rut.

Of course, there are solutions in solving your predicament with the CEO’s style. Be brave but rational enough to discuss your problem with your boss. That’s one practical solution. Emphasize why the concentration of authority at the top level of the organization can be disadvantageous to the business. Emphasize why authority should be dispersed by limited delegation to the department managers.

When I say “limited delegation,” I would like to think that at least, you’re allowed to sign for less than P1,000 worth of transactions. Or is it? If times have changed, and if you think the P1,000 ceiling must be increased to say, P2,500, if not P5,000, then prepare to defend your case with the boss.

When presenting your position, make it clear that it should not be a choice between centralization and decentralization. Centralization is acceptable for bigger amounts like more than P50,000. I remember that when I was an assistant vice president for a commercial bank some time ago, all officers with the same title can sign for as much as P50,000.

That’s of course, subject to the availability of the budget. Aside from this, you’ve to contend with the nature of transaction, among other rational requirements. The same thing can apply to decentralization.

The phrase “bigger amounts” maybe relative to certain people and organizations. P1,000 maybe small to you, but not to some people. That’s why your top management must decide on this sooner than later. “The real trick in highly reliable systems is somehow to achieve simultaneous centralization and decentralization,” says Karl Weick. “Rank and expertise do not necessarily coincide.”