The kids are bickering and sniping: missteps in collaborative management

One of the methods used to develop “integrated management” is a collaborative management style by an organization leader. Known under a number of monikers including collaborative management, empowerment, and pushing decisions down, these attempts sometimes yield negative results emanating from a misunderstanding of what collaborative management means. The aim of this article is to present anecdotal evidence of missteps in collaborative management through the use of two mini‐case studies of firms with which the author has consulted. One firm is a large public corporation and one is a small private firm, and the missteps are similar across the firms.