What exactly is the objective of line management?

studentphil

I don't really understand the point of line management as really all it does is give you one person to talk about work issues and excludes you from ever dealing with any other managers. Line management is meant to remove the need for team meetings as everyone in a team has a different line manager to talk to. I know there must be some good reason for them but when you are only ever allowed to talk to one person it does feel a bit isolating.

dmg24

I think the key is in the phrase, you are managed in a line of hierarchy, which means you know where to go if you have a problem. Equally it means that one person has control over what you do.

If you could just go to anyone, there would be no organisation, in that nobody would know what anybody was doing.

Line management is definitely not meant to remove the need for team meetings! Usually in a team everyone would report to the same line manager, unless you are actually referring to a whole department?

I think you are a bit confused on this one? x

scottishlass

Agree with dmg24 that you may be slightly confused over line management.

Where I work at the moment I have a line manager the same one as the other 7 people in the office.

That manager in turn has their own line manager who is responsible for four other 'managers' and in turn they have a line manager who is head of the particular department.

But we still have team meetings as an office and as a whole department although if I have a problem with my work I would go to my line manager and likewise they tell me what work to do etc.

Not sure I would say thats isolating as before going to my line manager I would usually discuss it with the people in my office who are on the same level as me in the hierarchy.

Sola

You'll never see the point of line management until you can understand delegation. You couldn't possibly have 200 people reporting to one manager, therefore the group is broken down into hierarchies based on experience, skill and responsibility. It's not just about you; it's about the managerial development of the line manager in their role as well.

Line management certainly doesn't remove the need for team meetings. My team reports to me (and I deal with problems in the first instance), I report to my boss, but we still all have weekly team meetings together. In addition I meet with my boss's boss as well when need be.

The only person who never has a manager is the CEO, and frequently he/she answers to shareholders instead. Perhaps you would do better by exploring your personal issues with and resistance to authority and how it fits into your self-esteem?

studentphil

I have no problem with managers but when I got told off all the time and other people turn up drunk and no action is taken. It makes you sort of wonder what is going on.

dmg24

studentphil wrote: »

I have no problem with managers but when I got told off all the time and other people turn up drunk and no action is taken. It makes you sort of wonder what is going on.

Do you think that you are being victimised or bullied SP? If so, that is a separate issue than the question raised.

Do the other people have a different line manager? Are they friends with the manager in question?

If you want to give us more details, maybe we can help? x

studentphil

dmg24 wrote: »

Do you think that you are being victimised or bullied SP? If so, that is a separate issue than the question raised.

Do the other people have a different line manager? Are they friends with the manager in question?

If you want to give us more details, maybe we can help? x

I am the only one in my team to have a different line manager. There has been a couple of happenings with silly or rude customers and just because they are that way and because people in my team don't take this rubbish from people. Somehow it gets around to me being at fault because my team is not diplomatic enough because I say that people in my team were right and why should you have to take junk from people. I know policy is bend over to customers no matter what.

scottishlass

studentphil wrote: »

I am the only one in my team to have a different line manager. There has been a couple of happenings with silly or rude customers and just because they are that way and because people in my team don't take this rubbish from people. Somehow it gets around to me being at fault because my team is not diplomatic enough because I say that people in my team were right and why should you have to take junk from people. I know policy is bend over to customers no matter what.

Are you on the same level as the other people or are they more/less senior.

I can agree that it can be difficult to see others get treated different this happens in my team with the same line manager but if you have a grievance with your line manager then you need to find your company policy on how to go about this grievance

studentphil

scottishlass wrote: »

Are you on the same level as the other people or are they more/less senior.

I can agree that it can be difficult to see others get treated different this happens in my team with the same line manager but if you have a grievance with your line manager then you need to find your company policy on how to go about this grievance

All same level, but sadly there is little managers can do to resolve the issues as they won't see us as a team that fails in so many ways.

studentphil

I know the easy way to get on is to completely say nothing to management and to hope I can have a change of role soon.

scottishlass

studentphil wrote: »

I know the easy way to get on is to completely say nothing to management and to hope I can have a change of role soon.

There is that option I suppose but there is nothing to say a different role wont have its problems with line managers.

I have learnt that its best to tray and say as little as possible that may comeback to me as in here walls have ears, and within two months of being in my job I saw an incident where a comment made to a separate manager in a different job got back to their line managers manager and there was all hell to pay when it kicked off.