Managers at distressed companies too often borrow a page from the playbook of “The Office’s” Michael Scott and are looking for distractions rather than facing reality, said experts who spoke Wednesday at the Daily Bankruptcy Review Restructuring and Turnaround Summit in New York.

In the TV sitcom, Scott plays games with employees at fictional paper company Dunder Mifflin in the conference room rather than confronting bankruptcy rumors. Likewise, managers at real troubled companies are using employee morale and customer reaction to bankruptcy as excuses not to do the heavy lifting required in reorganizations. 

“Everyone knows the bad news, and when it comes out, 90% of the employees are wondering what took so long,” said Mohsin Y. Meghji, principal and managing director at restructuring adviser Loughlin Meghji + Co.

Meghi and others at the conference encouraged distressed companies to start addressing financial and operational problems early, rather than hoping for sales to pick up or for the economy to improve.

Angus C. Littlejohn Jr., chairman and chief executive of private equity firm Littlejohn & Co., said the optimism and positive outlook executives typically rely on for their companies can “work against them.”

“It’s easy to say that the customer will be back next month, but the reality is they don’t know when, or if, the customer will be back and often wait too long to develop alternative plans,” he said.

Existing managers’ resistance to change is often why new executives are required to execute a turnaround. And managers need not be as bumbling as Michael Scott to lose their jobs.

“The most senior executive who says they are not responsible, is responsible,” said Harvey L.  Tepner, principal at investment firm WL Ross & Co. “That person needs to be set aside.”