Challenge for HR - National HRD Network

I
felt bringing to the notice of the readers
about the interaction with my friends
working across India & Abroad working for
MNCs and software firms. Other than our
routine yak much of our sensitive yet
grueling chat clusters around work place
and the people with whom working.
Astonishingly I found most of them are
weary, frustrated, unhappy, and demotivated
when discussion hinges on their professional
caretaker. Let me share their feelings here:
interaction with our boss leaves us cold. He's
a bully, intrusive, controlling, picky and petty.
He takes credit for our work, never provides
positive feedback and misses each meeting
he schedules with us. One of my expatriate
friend say's, He's a bad boss, bad to the bone.
2 Sides of the Same Coin:
Discussing with my software HR colleagues;
conceited yet deterministically they
reiterates, the main reason organizations
have some toxic managers are because
they tolerate the behaviors from them.
Should HR worry about bad bosses? A
million dollar question and most of them
says: Absolutely. Bad bosses destroy
employee morale and hurt your workplace.
While browsing a front page column article
reflected in Careers-The Hindu June 06
Edition, surprisingly I found a similar write
up where the author is trying to aware the
readers to exercise a few traits you will be
able to think of ways to deal with
them(bosses). Let's know a few tips who
are they and how they be handled.
Hues & Colors of white collar Clan Boss:
It has been heard about those bosses who
bullies, the one who is a dictator or the one
who lives in an ivory tower in grand isolation
cut from his/her subordinates. There are
bosses who are perfectionists and expect
others to be the same. Then there are those
who are inexperienced, ineffective and bad
communicators. Some tend to be abusive
or manipulative while others micromanage.
Hope with this I am trying to unearth a brief
sketch of this spectacular clan in front of
you using all types of vocabulary. But after
all the essence of my discussion is having
an insecure boss can do more damage to
one's career than anything else. With such
a boss the feeling of insecurity will affect
the organization's growth and, more
It takes all kinds to make the world and it takes
all kinds of bosses to make up the workplace.
Defying the Workplace
Difficulties:
Dealing with Boss
importantly, jeopardize the careers of those
working under him.
Solution lies in Solving the Situation:
From Secrets to Winning at Office Politics
by Marie G. McIntyre, Ph.D says whatever
it may be but the more effectively you can
manage your boss, the more pleasant your
days are likely to be. 1st and foremost let's
see if any of these underlying statements
might apply to our relations with our
professional caretaker:
l I tend to get into power struggles and
control battles with my boss.
l I resent the fact that my boss has the
power to direct my activities.
l I sometimes intentionally fail to do
something that my boss asks or
expects.
l I tend to feel somewhat anxious when I
am with my boss.
l I am very hesitant about expressing
disagreement to my boss.
l I often keep my ideas and opinions to
myself instead of sharing them with my
boss.
Mclntyre says, If you see yourself in any of
these descriptions, you may need to do a
better job of managing your boss. Let's
consider these suggestions for improving
that relationship:
1. Accept the fact that your boss has been
given the power to direct your activities. This
is true even if you are much smarter than
he is, even if you should have been given
her job, even if he is the most obnoxious
loudmouth on the planet. You are stuck with
this boss for the immediate future, so
becoming rebellious will only make a bad
situation worse. Accepting reality and
working to increase your influence will
produce better results.
2. Don't expect perfection. Managers are
people, not androids, so they have an
endless variety of quirks and eccentricities
and odd little habits. Recognize your boss'
hot buttons and for heaven's sake don't push
them! There's a name for people who annoy
their managers on purpose - masochists. If
you have a wonderful boss who is a pleasure
to work with, celebrate! Be grateful every
day for as long as it lasts. If not, lower your
expectations.
Mr.L.K.Jena
3. Study your boss' management style and
figure out what makes her happy. Look for
clues that tell you how he/she likes work
done or how he/she prefers to get
information. If you're not sure what your
boss expects from you, in terms of results,
work habits, communication style, or
anything else, then don't try to guess - ask!.
Any reasonable manager will gladly answer
these questions and, in fact, will be pleased
and surprised by your interest.
4. Try to make your boss look good.
Produce quality results, meet deadlines,
stay within your budget, respond to people
quickly. Find problems that need solving
and address them. Contribute new ideas
and suggestions. Share useful information
with your boss. And your own political power
will grow when your manager tells
everybody how wonderful you are!
5. Never, never, never complain to others
about your boss - especially to people
outside your department or to your
employees (if you are a manager).
Strategizing with trusted peers about how
to handle your manager's more challenging
peculiarities is one thing - kind of like a group
therapy session - but trumpeting your
unhappiness far and wide will only get you
in trouble.
6. Give your boss a sincere compliment
from time to time. Managers hear lots of
complaints, but few employees ever bother
to give their boss a kind word. Unless your
manager resembles Adolph Hitler, you can
surely find some quality worth praising.
Mention it at some appropriate point. But
let's be clear - paying a sincere compliment
is not the same as groveling or sucking up.
Concluding Remarks:
No one is perfect, and everyone is entitled
to a bad day now and then. But if one has a
difficult boss, he/she may feel like having to
walk on eggshells every day to prevent
problems. The tension of waiting for
something to go wrong can sap the belief in
one's own abilities -- and combined with the
symptoms of mental illness, it can make
every workday feel like a waking nightmare.
I anticipate reader's facing similar dilemma
can give a second thought through those
doable advices and getting themselves in
WIN-WIN.
u H
Mr. L.K. Jena is currently working as Personnel Officer with HAL Management Academy, the corporate learning center of Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore. He can be reached at:lkjena@inbox.com
| HRD News Letter | December 2007, Vol.23, Issue:9 39 |