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Developing effective managers has traditionally presented a challenge to growing technology and bio-science companies. Often, the technical skills and professional mind-set that make a top-flight engineer or scientist is of limited use in cultivating the supervisory and interactive skills necessary to manage others. As in engineering and science, however, there are core competencies in human resources that managers must master to do their jobs. Similarly, it is critical that these "soft skills" be articulated and measured as part of a manager’s responsibilities. A newly-minted manager is often delegated substantial powers, such as hiring, discipline, and employee review, but is expected to pick up or intuit the "accepted" processes and procedures along the way. This can lead to an awkward and unsuccessful transition that impacts the company and employees in terms of efficiency, productivity, and morale. Furthermore, the constant threat of liability from sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful discharge demands that companies take structured steps to train managers in how to comply with workplace legal requirements. Indeed, recent Supreme Court decisions now require companies to take a proactive approach in dealing with workplace discrimination and harassment issues. By articulating a systematic approach to human resource issues for managers to follow, an employer can obtain the multiple benefits of communicating and reinforcing its corporate culture and goals, and gain an affirmative defense to employment law claims. This is most easily accomplished through the development of a managers guide and related training programs containing specific policies, procedures, and approaches upon which managers can and should rely. In addition, a clear and comprehensive program empowers managers by giving them the comfort of knowing the parameters or "tolerances" in which they can operate. This also reduces the indirect costs of potential employment litigation, i.e., decisions not to fire unsatisfactory employees out of fear they will sue, requiring exhaustive documentation of employee performance problems before allowing a termination, and paying fired employees excessive severance to avoid litigation. Among the employee relations basics for a managers handbook are the manager’s role and responsibility in dispute resolution, equal employment opportunity, prevention of sexual harassment, and responding to employee drug, alcohol, disability, pregnancy, and leave issues. Managers must be instructed on how to interview, hire, discipline, fire, and document their actions. Another critical area of guidance is in performance appraisals. Many supervisors use "grade inflation" in evaluations to avoid offending or confronting employees. This can have devastating effects for the employer when a poorly performing employee is fired and relies on inflated evaluations to sue for discrimination. Specifying the relationship between managers and a company’s human resource professionals is also important, as it provides support for managers and creates a system of checks and balances in personnel decisions. Finally, the guide must be part of an overall personnel management system, where a manager’s own compliance with policies and procedures is both measurable and made part of his or her own performance evaluation. If knowledge is power, teaching managers how to manage will free them to create a more positive and productive working environment. © 1998 Jeffrey Berger REPRINTED FROM:
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