1. Lou has been a reference librarian since she graduated from library school almost 40 years ago. She is planning to retire next month. One of her friends asked her, “Lou, did you ever think of doing anything besides being a reference librarian?”

Lou replied that she had always enjoyed her position, but that she had once considered becoming a manager when the head of the reference department position was available and the director asked her to consider applying for it. “What happened?” asked her friend. “Well,” said Lou, “I decided not to apply after all. I thought about it, but decided it was more than I wanted to take on.

You know that the head of the department has to do the performance appraisals of everyone who works in the department. The head also has to handle any disciplinary situations. The more I thought about it, the more I knew that I just didn’t want the responsibility. What if someone were doing a bad job? I would be the one who would have to write the negative appraisal. What if an employee were consistently late and I had to issue the reprimand? I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle.”

Certain challenges and hassles are associated with being a manager.

Are there specific things that managers do that you would dislike doing?

Can you think of other aspects of a manager’s job that you would enjoy? Would the advantages of being a manager outweigh the disadvantages for you?