Bruce Tulgan admits that he used to think it was a good idea for managers to let people bring their dogs into the office, and to design their own jobs.

"Yeah, I used to think that way," confesses Tulgan, founder of Rainmaker Thinking, a New Haven, CT, company that got its start introducing Generation X to the business world.

After publishing books such as Managing Generation X and Winning the Talent War and studying the workplace for the past decade, Tulgan now is a leading management trainer and thinks that American managers are guilty of under-managing. He thinks they should toughen up.

"Managers are often afraid to tell people what to do and how to do it," Tulgan charges. "But that's just management. That's what managers are supposed to do."

Hard-Nosed Bosses Needed

According to Tulgan, the research he did for his new book, Hot Management, has convinced him that the hard-nosed, results-oriented managers are the ones who succeed.

"It always come back to that," he says. "Yet, repeatedly I see managers who aren't managing."

Tulgan believes that managers need to have consistent communication with their employees on performance requirements, measurable goals and deadlines, monitoring of performance, feedback and distribution of rewards. Yet in a survey of more than 500 managers, he found only 10 percent are able to consistently accomplish that on a weekly basis. And 35 percent of managers aren't successful in this pursuit even once a year.

"You might not think this, but when you do these things, you get better results for the company, your managers are happier and your workers are happier."

Tulgan has no interest in turning managers into whip-snapping bosses or micromanagers. What he hopes is that managers will learn to deal with each of their employees to attain the best results, a formula he thinks will create more dynamic and profitable companies.

System Often the Scapegoat

Managers often talk themselves into being less effective. They think they need to be nice to their employees to succeed, yet it's a kind of sincerity that undermines management.

"It's easy as a manager to hide behind the system," he says. "I see managers all the time who want to blame the system for why their employees don't do better. They are getting squeezed from both sides. Their managers are putting pressure on them, and their workers are causing other pressures.

"But to blame everyone under the sun and a million factors that they say are beyond their control doesn't accomplish anything. You need to focus on your own little sphere every day and try to create a better work environment that accomplishes more."

Tulgan strongly urges managers to develop a rapport with each individual who reports to them. Find out what motivates them, what frustrates them, what they are capable of doing, and create a job that will allow them to succeed.

The result will be that individuals will work harder, managers will get better results for their companies, and people who don't want to face up to these challenges will find jobs elsewhere.

His approach is similar to that of Tom Davenport, a Towers Perrin executive whose book Human Capital espouses the same personal approach to management.

"The things that affect workers are much more personal than most managers believe," Davenport declares. "Companies have to understand that their local manager's job is to mediate between the job and the individual. If they don't, their companies will be left behind."

Tulgan pushes managers to invigorate their approaches to their job. "These things are high maintenance," he concedes. "It's difficult to figure out how an individual's skills can best work for you, how to find the right motivations and how to deal with the emotional issues that face each of your employees.

"But we live in a world where small changes can mean a big difference. It's worth trying."