By Lovern Hayes, Staff Reporter
HE HAS the spine of a jellyfish. He refuses to lobby for the resources the department needs, or stand up for his employees on critical issues. As a result, the entire department is working below standard, but he doesn't care as long as it gets done within the budget.
At the first sign of a conflict, he runs. He tolerates harmful behaviour from co-workers and even encourages petty rivalries. He is a classic example of the weak manager, and a very bad boss.
Whether they are jerks, bullies, or micro-managers, bad bosses have always been with us. Today, however, we are seeing more bad bosses than ever before. Lay-offs and downsizing have created overextended managers who are both short-tempered and too busy or ill-trained to provide staff with the support they need. How then, do you deal with them?
Flair asked occupational psychologist, Ainsley Deer to analyse the following
scenarios.
SHE IS DRIVING ME CRAZY
The situation
I am an administrative assistant and I work in the public health sector. I have been working there for the past nine months but it has been nine months of sheer hell. My boss is a tyrant. During the interview, I was given an overview of all the tasks I would have been expected to perform, but since getting the job, it seems the whole interview was a farce.
Besides taking minutes at meetings, planning Power Point presentations, typing up correspondence, filing away documents and establishing and maintaining a comprehensive and workable filing system, ordering and tracking material for our various programmes, I am often responsible for planning and organising regional workshops. As such, I am always busy, but it seems it is never enough for her. I work very long hours sometimes even on
weekends.
She travels often, but I still get no break because she will call constantly requesting that I set up conference calls for her with various persons around the region; checking that I forwarded the correspondence, ordered the stock, ordered travellers cheques for her next trip...there seems to be no end to her requests. She even calls me at home sometimes to ask about office stuff or to remind me about things she needs me to do. I sometimes feel like her personal caddy girl.
Since I've been here I keep hearing about the numerous persons who filled and left this position over the years. It seems the person who stayed the longest spent only 14 months with her. I'm very frustrated. I have no life outside of this job. What should I do? Should I just leave? Or should I stick with it and hope it gets better?
According to Mr. Deer, this person has three options. "Firstly, she can prioritise her workload so that she does the things she enjoys doing first, then tackle the other tasks. This will essentially make the job seem manageable. Secondly, she can learn to manage her boss, but this can be very difficult because it speaks directly to both parties' personalities. She has to weigh in her mind the type of person she is dealing with and the type of person she is herself. Having looked at that, she would then need to decide where each of their strengths lie and assess how they can complement each other. Finally, she can just leave. Find another job."
HE HAS NO PEOPLE SKILLS AT ALL
The situation
I work in a restaurant. My boss who shall remain nameless is in his late teens and is a relative of the owner, which explains how he went from dishwasher to manager in three months passing up a much more qualified applicant who had been with the restaurant for about five years.
He has absolutely no people skills. He is discourteous to the customers and often insults the staff. He has many rules that only apply to the people he is not sleeping with and there are a few of those. He is power crazy and thinks that he can do anything he pleases and spends more time on the phone with his girlfriend than he does with the job. Although I have been here for four years, I am ready to quit. I am very frustrated.
Enough is enough. At least three persons have quit so far and more are ready to leave. Should I just quit?
Taken from The Business Research Lab at www.busreslab.com/bosses/badboss.htm.
This situation, and others like it, is a classic example of a person having been promoted beyond his level of competence. As a matter of fact, he may be unconsciously incompetent. "With a difficult manager like this, the organisation may not last much longer and the best thing this person can do, is leave," reasons Mr. Deer.
Bad bosses can be found everywhere and
dealing with them can be difficult.
"In Jamaica, jobs are hard to find and some people don't even know how to go about looking for a new job, so even if they have a bad boss, they prefer the security of their job. They are prepared to suffer under their boss, than speak up for themselves," says Mr. Deer.
In Brutal Bosses and Their Prey, a book about abusive bosses, Kenneth Labich likens the workplace to "a nightmarish school yard a place where bosses shake down subordinates for the lunch money and then stomp on their egos for sport", and in truth, it can feel just like that.
A bad boss or a poor relationship with one can make you and your job miserable. No one has as much power to unnerve you and wreak havoc on your self-esteem as a bad boss, and it is commonly said that people don't quit jobs, they quit bosses.
Mr. Deer believes that for the most part, the majority of bad bosses want to be good ones.
"These people are not necessarily bad people. They may, however, be unaware or lack the skills, knowledge and training necessary to be an effective manager. In short, these persons have been 'Peter-principled'," he says.
"Some bosses are well aware that they are in over their heads, and for this reason these persons manage by decree. They put their desk and office on a pedestal and declare that all decisions come from them. These persons also target for victimisation the university graduates or other persons they think are better qualified for the position and as such are direct threats," says Mr. Deer.
Persons who are unaware that they are bad bosses also tend to manage by decree, but are not as bad as the aforementioned bosses. What distinguishes one from the other though is that no one learns anything from the ignorant bad bosses because they themselves have no idea what they are doing.
SPOTTING BAD BOSSES
What makes a boss a monster? It may be his home life, personal finances, pressures at the office or maybe he is just a jerk, whatever it is, the "why" is not the issue. And it's not your problem either. The only thing you can do is be in control of how you react to the abuse. The key to handling a difficult boss is to manage him by understanding his underlying motivations.
Flair will try however, to help you identify the bad bosses among us. It would be helpful to identify a bad boss during the interview, but Mr. Deer points out that this can be difficult. "In most companies, interviews are conducted by a personnel manager or HR manager so that the interviewee has no idea what he is going to be in for. Also, if ever the boss is in the interview, he is usually on his best behaviour so the applicant is still in the dark about his true colours," says Mr. Deer.
However, more often than not, it is not very difficult to spot a bad boss because they will usually ascribe to the same type of behaviour. Here are some indications of bad bosses:
An inherent philosophy of leadership, "it is my way or the highway". These persons place their desks on a pedestal and take every available opportunity to let people know that they are in charge.
Higher turnover than other departments in the organisation.
More complaints from employees, co-workers and customers. Employees also lodge complaints about sexual harassment.
Poor (or non-existent) record of staff development, i.e., grooming others for more senior assignments in the organisation.
Lack of concern with employees' work/life needs because their needs are of a higher priority.
Lack of a concerted and sincere effort to involve employees in decisions. In short, they don't empower.
A high level of resistance for accepting personal responsibility for any "poor" performance that occurs in their area.
They have no consideration for your time. They may set times for you to see them and may not be there at the appointed time.
