I recently came across a work forum for engineering professionals. One of the members was weighing the decision of whether to accept a management position in his company. His fear is that his performance as a manager would depend on other people rather than just himself as it currently is.
I thought this list of the pros and cons of management, from Mike Halloran of Pembroke Pines, FL, USA, was pretty interesting:
Pros:
- People who choose managers think you can do it … or that you are the least awful choice available now.
- You get to choose the team on which you depend … eventually.
- You get more money.
On the other hand:
- Virtually nothing you do will be fun anymore.
- Your current peers will behave differently toward you.
- You will have to evaluate everything in terms of internal politics, not numbers.
- Until you can build your dream team, you have to work with what you’ve got, and accept responsibility for whatever they do.
- You won’t be the go-to guy anymore, because you’ll be in meetings.
- You are afraid. It might be just uncertainty, or it might be your subconscious mind screaming at you.
- They may not give you enough money to offset the negatives. There may not _be_ enough money…
Can you add anything else to the list?
