UNI Rant

[Niall]

I don't agree at all with what you've just said. I actually think it's pretty important for a manager to understand the role his staff carry out, otherwise how can you effectively manage them??

That's not exactly what i said, i said he/she doesn't need to know HOW TO do the job, the understanding of a job is crucial - the provision of safe work, equipment, stock, and again time management is all crucial, and to understand all of this, you must understand the work - not HOW TO do the work, this was more what i was going for.

IIRC Niall is an electrician?? apologies if wrong, but nonetheless and example, he knows HOW TO do the work, there would be a line manager somewhere along the line distributing the work, maintaining even work loads, ensuring everyone is equipped for the work and not overlapping the jobs. This manager won't necessarily know HOW TO take on the specific jobs and be a specilaist tradesman.

Please correct me if im completely wrong, but this has been the case for my previous work.

But again, i agree certain jobs require management who have worked up from the bottom.

Ooh I missed this post.
Ginge I'm a fire alarm engineer however my role does involve a fair bit of electrical work as well as many other aspects.
Yes there is a manager who distributes work and maintains even work load.
This manager has to know HOW TO do the job so he can distribute the work fairly and efficiently. If he didn't know how to do the job, he would be unaware of time scales and equipment needed as well as staff levels for a particular job and this would lead to over run jobs, extra cost, a unhappy work force and customer and he would get a bollocking from his manager.
This is the reason why most good managers more than likely started somewhere near the bottom of the pole. Because they have to understand the job to do their job.