Micromanaging is a management style characterized by excessive control and close oversight of subordinates' work, often involving detailed instructions, constant checking, and a reluctance to delegate responsibility. It stems from a lack of trust in employees' abilities and can stifle creativity, reduce morale, and hinder productivity. Micromanagers typically focus on minor details, impose strict rules, and discourage independent decision-making, ultimately creating a dependency culture within the workplace. This behavior often manifests in constant email monitoring, frequent meetings to review progress, and criticism of even minor errors, even when overall tasks are completed satisfactorily.
Micromanaging meaning with examples
- Sarah, a project manager, constantly checked her team's emails and corrected minor formatting issues, even when the deliverables were on time and of high quality. This micromanaging behavior demoralized her team, leading to resentment and decreased motivation. They felt unable to utilize their own skills or make any suggestions for improvement.
- The new CEO's insistence on approving every single expense report, no matter how small, was a clear example of micromanaging. This created a bottleneck in the approval process, slowed down operations, and frustrated employees who were used to more autonomy.
- During a product development sprint, the lead engineer's practice of dictating every line of code and scrutinizing every commit was widely considered micromanaging. This left no room for collaborative problem-solving or creative input from the team.
- After a period of poor performance, the district manager began attending all school staff meetings and started to assign tasks and give specific directions to teachers and administrators. This showed an unnecessary level of micromanaging that was not previously present.