Micromanagement and the CONTROL Monster!

It is precisely what it sounds like; someone trying to personally control and monitor everything in a team, situation, or place. The person who carries out the micro-managing is called a micromanager.

These individuals needlessly and unnecessarily complicate and lengthen tasks while at the same time often frustrating team members because of their over-management and over-scrutinization. This often happens when the person feels as if their job is on the line or a perfectionist.

According to the Journal of Experimental Psychology, employees who feel that they are being micromanaged perform at a much lower level. In another study, published in the “Progress Principle,” by Harvard Business School professor Teresa Amabile and psychologist Steven Kramer, micromanagement “stifles creativity and productivity in the long run.”

While micromanagement may not seem like a big deal as individual instances, it can become extremely toxic and it’s important that managers at all levels understand just how bad it really is. 

Here is a closer look at the top three negative impacts on employees:

1. Low productivity: Constant surveillance along with excessive tweaking and changes, slows down the workflow and in turn  decreases productivity. This also leads to employees second-guessing their ability to complete tasks independently. 
2. Heightened stress: When employees begin to feel a loss of autonomy, they become frustrated and stressed out at work – which often leads to burnout. Employees lose the desire to go the extra mile for a task, they reduce their creativity, they limit themselves to what is demanded from their manager and their engagement levels fall.
   
3. Poor health and mental well-being: Increased stress can often have many other negative side effects on a person’s physical and mental health. Employees can experience depression or anxiety, sleep interruptions, high blood pressure and even an unhealthy weight gain or loss. ​

Written by Amelia Ramjarrie