Does micromanaging actually work?

Another great day in the office...

Happy Wednesday Such-heads,

First up: please take the NST Listener Survey here so we can make the show better! It’s great to get your feedback so we can figure out what’s working moving forward.

This week’s topic came from a listener who asked if micromanaging is a more productive work-style than a more “free range” approach. We used this topic as an excuse to take a trip down memory lane, back to when Devan was a cruel, frankly nasty manager to little old me and Manny. Also covered: performance improvement plans (“PIPs”), handling an incompetent boss, office odors, and more.

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Our guest this week is Erik Baker, historian at Harvard, editor at The Drift and author of Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted America, who walks us through the history of the corporate work structure and evolution of management styles. Take a listen to the episode and let us know what kind of workflow you prefer. Scroll down for links to research and more.

Related links

• Micromanagement: When to avoid it and how to use it effectively

• The Micromanagement Disease: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Cure

• Micromanagement: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

• Survey Reveals Employee Productivity Averages 2 Hours and 53 Minutes a Day

• How Productive Is the Average Person At Work? Key Statistics for 2025

• More Harm Than Good: The Truth About Performance Reviews

• The Most Hated Way of Firing Someone Is More Popular Than Ever. It’s the Age of the PIP.

Recommended reading: We enjoyed this piece on work-life in pop culture and why the Obama-era comedy is still timely during Trump 2.0. Check out similar pieces from the Ministry of Pop Culture.

I also highly recommend picking up a copy of Studs Terkel’s book Working. Great one for the nightstand.

Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286.

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