VisibleManagement

Over in the MusictoWorkBy thread, DwaynePhillips noticed that there was a dearth of songs that help you to think about management. Why is that? KurtSimmons came up with songs appropriate by indirection in the subject matter. I came up with anti-management songs that tended to be used by the unions. Indirect or direct, these were songs about bad management. What is it about good management that keeps it from being a good topic for songs? -- MikeMelendez 2006.05.25

Lack of drama. All the best songs have lots of drama, or at least take it as their starting point (or their anticipated end point).

FionaCharles 26-May-2006

I once played a vice president in a management simulation game. I was given low marks for power by my subordinates, but I got high marks for accomplishment. This was the inverse of how typical managers fared. Maybe management is most visible when it is bad. When it works, it tends to be inconspicuous. This implies a search parameter.

Fiona said "all the best songs" which immediately raises systems issues. Best as in popular? Those would resonate with the masses, who are not management. Best as in well-crafted? Those would be known to aficionados or musicologists, and might be off our radar when searching for songs. Best as in describes management well? Well, I guess we need some lines that describe good management, and then we can find some songs. (I've got 150 GB of music I can look through.)

If management is about leading a group of people perhaps classical music is a better search arena. What classical songs inspire you to "air conduct?" Is that a good metaphor when managing or writing about managing?

Do we break management into categories? For example hiring and firing? ("Are you Experienced?" "Hit The Road Jack") Accounting? ("Nothing From Nothing")

Those who know me, know I think out loud in my posts. They get a little long at times, but the process shows. I think the best management songs will come from key words: Vision, Leadership, Wonder, Inspiration. ("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star") Of course this leads to: Why are songs written? (To try and answer the original question.)

Some of Frank's best song's are about broken hearts and the strains of love. That inspires songwriting. Eric Hoffer wrote, "A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding." When management is working, there is no need to write songs. Life is good, and if you do write songs it is about the good things, and not about management. ("The Good Life" "It's Nice To Go Traveling")

--Kurt Simmons 2006.5.26

turns up an interesting link, and a reference to a presentation by one Roland J. Kushner: "The White Collar Holler and the Workingman's Ph.D.: Contemporary Songs on Management and Organization. Presented to the Mid-Atlantic Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference, Philadelphia, PA, 1995. In this presentation, I discussed how contemporary songs can be used effectively to teach about various important management education topics." (From http://www.rjkushner.com/publications.htm )

-- LaurentBossavit 2006.05.26

And with lyrics like:

Then it's code in the data, give the keyboard a punch
Then cross-correlate and break for some lunch

You techies will want to see more of White Collar Holler

-- KurtSimmons 2006.5.26

Updated: Friday, May 26, 2006