2nd try...Does NS micromanage its employees?

[Brooklyn Trolley Dodger]

  to the point of having middle managers supervise everything the railroad yard workers do?

[Limitedclear]

Is they sky blue when the sun is shining?

LC

[Brooklyn Trolley Dodger]

No it still gray from all the smog around here...

[n012944]

  to the point of having middle managers supervise everything the railroad yard workers do?

That is kind of middle managements job isn't it?  However there are many yard workers for evey member of middle management, so no, they are not supervising everything that a NS yard worker does.

 

Bert

[greyhounds]

  to the point of having middle managers supervise everything the railroad yard workers do?

That is kind of middle managements job isn't it?  However there are many yard workers for evey member of middle management, so no, they are not supervising everything that a NS yard worker does.

 

Bert

Bert, why bring common sense into this?

Most employees will come in on time, do their job to the best of their ability, and go home.

Some employees will be late, slack off as much as possible, and complain about how hard they have to work.

If the company (in any industry) doesn't put supervision on it, the good guys are gonna' see the slackers getting away with it.  Some of the good ones will start to slide, then others can follow.  There will be employees who will never slack off, taking pride in their work.  These people really don't need much, if any, supervision.

But you can't let things slide or the company will be in a world of hurt.  I know NS "cracks the whip", maybe a little too much.  But, as you said, supervising employees is part of running a business. 

 I've got a boss.  He checks.  I don't mind.  I do my job just fine. 

[nbrodar]

  to the point of having middle managers supervise everything the railroad yard workers do?

So do CSX, UP, and BNSF.   It's the railroad way.

Nick

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Having spent a turn as a first-line supervisor, I know that part of the job is making sure that the people who report to you are doing their job.  What you're seeing is the first-line supervisors doing part of their job.

[Anonymous]

Does the platoon not have the Sarge check everything among the Privates? A good supervisor must check his "Crew" to make sure that the mission objective for the day or shift is progressing nicely. The Sarge better be on the job because the Captain will come round to make sure everyone has the Barracks in order.

On occasion I take charge of 7 people and help them go where they need to be. When I tell one of them "Go here, not there" it's not because I am playing a game or making thier life difficult, the job they are doing will impact the overall performance of the outfit immediately. Once in a while I detect one person whose performance will negatively impact everything all the way to the General Manager. That problem is removed quietly before we have BIG problems like accidents.

I rather have the crew out there in the yard doing work, not gathered in the shack leaning on the coffee pot. That is what break times and quitting time is for.

I actually prefer someone else to be the crew boss and just do the job as best as possible in the conditions provided. Sometimes it's much nicer to be the man in the trench without worrying about the fate of the entire project or having bigger managers in cleaner suits breathing down my collar.

In fact the worker doing his or her job within thier training wont even notice those little white trucks quietly drifting like church mice among them.

Once in a while I run into a supervisor who is very... insistent on making sure that I am actually doing my work. Sometimes such insistence actually negatively interferes with my ability to do said work in a timely manner.

I usually hand the work to the supervisor and tell so and so to do the job himself if he or she wishes it done right. I dont care if it is a suit on the board with a multi million dollar distribution center on the dock or a paving crew boss. Good bosses back off a little bit and give the men room to work.

[Anonymous]

I don't thnk micromanagement is limited to just NS folks.  I do know that they are very safety conscious over there, which leads to them winning Harriman awards.  Part of the corporate culture they inherited from the Southern is efficiency, and getting the most out of their employees and equipment while doing it safely is what makes them a leading railroad here.

I talked with a local trainmaster here who put it best: "Darn right I hide out in the weeds.  I'm safety conscious.  That's MY railroad out there and those are MY dividends adding to my retirement."

As near as I can tell, they set high standards and keep them.  But in listening to the pros from other railroads here and elsewhere, those standards of operation and behavior are not much different.  When you are dealing with megatonnage of mobile freight, a second or third set of eyes is not a bad thing to have around.

 

[wabash1]

More horror stories. Ns dont brow beat ya like ya think . yes the boss comes around sometimes but upper managment says they haft to make so many inspections a month . in my yard we work at or own pace and get 8 hrs work done in 4-5 hrs . nobody telling us what to do the yard runs its self until we got or new first year train masters straight out of ns managment school. they think we are not doing well enough. they will make us do more with less. so we do less and are in trouble more. its called using the rule book against them.  now the superintendant. wants to know what we can do to get things right  Its unfortunant he dont want to hear the correct answer.

[gabe]

The best thing I love about my job--aside from getting paid to make scoundrels miserable--is the lack of middle management.  If I don't produce, I am in trouble/danger of losing my job.  If I do produce, I get a bonus.  It is that simple.  There are no people trying to demonstrate the peter principle by telling me how to do things.

I wonder if more companies adopted this principle, whether society would operate more or less efficiently?

Gabe

[Semper Vaporo]

The BEST managers I ever had, all worked FOR me.

They may have been 'checking-up' ON me, but they did so by asking what they could do FOR me, or, better yet, anticipated it and brought me what I needed to get my job done.  Their attitude helped produce my pride in my work and drew extra out of me to meet the level I was being "upheld to" (not "held to", there is a subtle difference). 

I suppose an outsider could view it as; "He is always over there checking-up on Charlie." whereas I knew; "He is always available when I need something."

At the other end of the spectrum, I had one manager that, if I said I needed something, would assign ME to go get it... DAIN'G if I could get it, I wouldn't have asked for help, I'd'a just gone and got it and left him outta the loop!