https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Subscribe to GovPro
    • Manage GovPro Subscription
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
acc.com

Procurement


Marks on Management

Marks on Management

Management by objectives (MBO) is a systematic and organized approach that allows management to focus on achievable goals and to attain the best possible
  • Written by Frederick Marks
  • 1st August 2007

“Management by objectives (MBO) is a systematic and organized approach that allows management to focus on achievable goals and to attain the best possible results from available resources.” – Peter Drucker

“Management by Fred (MBF): Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.” – Fred Marks, and others

If you spend any amount of time in airport shops or large chain bookstores, you will quickly discover that the largest growth industry in the United States (and on some distant planets) is writing “how-to” management books.

There are scads of people out there – some famous, some not so famous – who are selling their “secrets” to a successful career, more money, more rewards, shorter work hours and a house on a tropical island in books. These “experts” have full-face pictures on the back covers, the books are prominently displayed and you will probably overpay for their insights.

Sometimes the authors use ghostwriters, sometimes not. The authors all boast having some accomplishment or degree of notoriety. In addition to buying the books, you also can hire these authors to speak at your meetings or conferences for outrageous fees (plus expenses for themselves and their staffs). If you’re lucky, you’ll get to shake hands with them as they walk off the podium and collect their fees or stand in line to buy autographed copies of the books after the speeches. (Just make sure they spell your name correctly.)

If you ask one of these authors a specific question about a problem you have at work, he or she will give you a general answer such as, “It’s in Chapter 4 of my book,” and you will go away, bathed in the glow of speaking to a famous person. Only when you read Chapter 4 of the book will you discover that the solution is something you knew all the time, except that it’s phrased differently.

Here are my 10 secrets to being a successful manager, based on an undistinguished and understated career in public purchasing. The list was not ghostwritten, nor do I have a staff. The three-year-old computer on the old kitchen table in the basement is my spacious office. My files are neatly kept in a plastic milk carton from Smedley Dairies and there are hockey pictures on the wall. I am available to speak at your meetings and conferences for a nominal fee and will autograph almost anything for you, except a blank check.

1. You were hired/promoted because someone had confidence in you. Someone thought you could provide leadership and direction better than anyone else and had enough confidence in you to give you your present job. Don’t let him or her down!

2. Have a clear vision of your job. Transmit the vision to your staff and have them buy into it. Be professional! Learn your job and also the job of everyone who works for you.

3. Make it enjoyable for people to come to work. You can’t control the external factors, such as who they deal with or the problems they have to solve, but you can control how the office environment affects their jobs and productivity.

4. Talk to them frequently. Find out what they do, how they do it, what are their successes and what are their frustrations.

5. Start at the middle and work down. If you get the people in the middle on your side, your job is more than half done. The sergeants run the army and the chiefs run the navy. You need middle management on your side to accomplish your goals.

6. Learn people’s names. Nothing brings a smile to people’s faces like remembering their names or details about their lives or their work. Be sincere when you talk to them. If they are frustrated, encourage them to talk to their supervisors about it and follow up to see if their problems can be solved.

7. You can’t solve everyone’s problems or make everyone happy all the time. Do your best to have a better than .500 batting average. Understand that there are people who don’t like you, your style, your socks or anything about you. That is their problem, not yours, as long as you do your best. Make your decisions consistent and sustainable. There is nothing worse than inconsistency in management and personnel decisions. You have to decide for yourself which are frivolous questions (“What is the speed of Dark?”) and which are legitimate (“Do our rules allow us to do this?”). Treat each kind with the attention each deserves.

8. Make your bosses look good and try to anticipate their questions. Keep them informed. There are some things they don’t want to hear. Learn what they are and stay silent. Remember Sgt. Schultz in “Hogan’s Heroes”? “I hear NOSSING.”

9. Be consistent in your dealings with people, your moods, your attitudes and your general demeanor. It’s brutal for someone on your staff to try to figure out who you will be today.

10. Reward people. People like to have a sense of worth. It can be a recognition of their accomplishments, a letter placed in a personnel file, a public acknowledgment, a trinket, a lunch, a better assignment next time, a bigger cubicle, even money – but make it something and make it of value to them, not you.

About the Author

Frederick Marks, CPPO, VCO (Virginia contracting officer), is a retired purchasing officer who held positions as a supervising buyer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as well as director of material management for Northern Virginia Community College. Contact Marks at fmarks@mindspring.com.

Tags: ar mag Procurement

Related


  • Will digital transformation of city procurement hold up beyond the pandemic?
    Now is the time for procurement to re-evaluate the free or co-opted tools that enabled service delivery when the pandemic first began and invest in the digital tools that will help streamline RFP evaluation, foster stakeholder collaboration, and maintain compliance during the pandemic and beyond
  • The issue of POs
    A very common term in our field is PO, and by that we mean a purchase order. If we take a look at the official definition from the NIGP Dictionary of Procurement Terms we see the following: A purchaser’s written document to a vendor formalizing all the terms and conditions of a proposed transaction, such […]
  • Heroic: Massachusetts’ procurement response to the pandemic crisis
    Perhaps the most important lesson that a purchasing professional can learn from the Massachusetts experience is that leadership is about celebrating your teammates’ successes rather than your own
  • Demonstrating the value of procurement: A call to action
    Today’s public sector agencies are facing fiscal constraints unlike anything experienced in decades. As a result, agencies are taking a hard look at how taxpayer-generated funds are allocated across the organization and examining the value derived from every organizational unit. The current economic reality is both an opportunity and a call to action to demonstrate […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Certification, your pathway to success
  • Air purifiers can improve indoor air quality as buildings re-open
  • If there were ever a time for procurement to be more strategic, it’s now
  • Resilience matters: The pandemic and procurement

White papers


How a unified HR system helps one public safety organization manage crews, payroll, and more in a single platform

7th January 2021

Your Roadmap to COVID-19 Funding

18th December 2020

The One Where Everyone Wins: A Mutually Beneficial Contracting Method

10th December 2020
view all

Events


PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

The latest episode The Young Leaders Podcast focuses on Cyril Jefferson. Cyril is the youngest African American to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

27th October 2020
AmerCityCounty

Hillsboro, Oregon is pioneering a new #renewableenergy generation technology through a partnership with… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

27th October 2020
AmerCityCounty

The impact of the #COVID19 pandemic on #telework was swift and profound. Now, the big question is whether – and to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th October 2020
AmerCityCounty

Get ready for the can't-miss webinar on how to kickstart your efficiency improvement plan with Luke Anderson of… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th October 2020
AmerCityCounty

Among all states headed into the 2020 general election, which ones have voting populations that are the most demogr… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

26th October 2020
AmerCityCounty

We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts in our readership survey to help us shape future content so that we c… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

23rd October 2020
AmerCityCounty

See how cities different approaches to distribute masks in their communities >> spr.ly/6010GAPLa

23rd October 2020
AmerCityCounty

While #facialrecognition is a powerful tool that can improve law enforcement efficiency, that doesn’t necessarily t… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

23rd October 2020

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X