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How to Survive a Bad Boss
Lam1969 writes "Computerworld has a three-page spread on how to deal with bad bosses. A common type is "the overgrown technologist who gets rewarded for brilliant technical work by being promoted to a position for which he's not qualified." Another type reported by a reader is the boss who's in over their head. The article says some bosses can be "fixed," but at other times it's better to hunker down or cover your ass so the bad boss can find other targets."
The article seems to imply that most bosses don't change, yet it's suggesting workers to change job.
I believe a common scenario is some people have bad boss, and they just live with it and see who retires first.
Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
A main problem I have seen with hiring from within is that many people who are VERY good at their jobs and have a lot of skills have no management skills.
Like it or not you can be the best (fill in the blank: engineer, developer etc) and still be an awful manager...
On a related note, in one of my first jobs, I was yelled at for not stapling reports with the staple at a 45 degree angle to the side of the sheets.
And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
It's all very well saying "focus on the work", but the whole problem with bad bosses is they won't let you do that, whether it's by micromanaging you, constantly interrupting you, forcing you to change technical decisions, or just plain giving you the wrong work to do. I'd rather have a boss call me names every lunch break than a boss who seems friendly but fucks things up when I'm trying to work.
...in the USPS and kill 'em!
My father used to be a Dale Carnegie Course instructor and always talks about workers getting promoted to their level of incompetence. The basic theory in a huge unchecked corporate environment is that when a worker starts doing their job too well they get promoted as a reward for their hard work. When they learn their new job and start doing that job too well they get promoted again. Eventually they get promoted to just above their incompetence level and spend the rest of their lives floundering as a middle manager getting made fun of by their subordinates.
PepperHacks - Hacking the Pepper Pad
I think the best way to survive a bad boss is to get a new job. Life seems too short to spend it under the thumb of an incompetent ruler - that is, assuming you care about getting stuff done and being productive.
Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
Just don't go to work. That's what I did when I had a bad boss. He was so bad I went about a year turning up only once in a while when I felt like it. Eventually I left and did something else - I don't think he ever found out. He was well on the road to a caffine + stress induced heart attack so it was probably best that I just kept out the way.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
my latest boss is a yeller, yells about everything, yelled at me at the Christmas party!!! we work in a very big company and I'm amazed he gets away with it, I want to go to HR but would feel like a snitch.......
The gun is good - Zardoz
Sometimes the best thing is to give up and move to a new job. It can really work, if you've got what it takes. The very talented newswoman Rudi Bakhtiar recently switched from CNN to Fox News Channel. I have always depised Fox, but I guess now I have no choice but to watch it!
Just last week I was diagnosed with two partially-healed ulcers. A stomach problem over the holidays (read: bleeding) prompted me to go to the doctor. I'd been putting it off for 2 years after parting ways with a particularly nasty job that had an overabundance of office politics. My working life since then has been peaches and cream compared to what it was back then. I now have the best job I've ever had. Yet I still have two ulcers that have not yet healed themselves.
Bad bosses cause bad working environments. You do not want to be around either. Move up or move out. It's that simple. The job market is better than you think.
Some quicklime and a construction dumpster... or perhaps a elevator thats in need of fixing... or a air tight tape safe...
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
But are you planning to use poison, a cold weapon, a firearm, or an explosive device?
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
Quit.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
...in my experience, I've only ever had trouble with bosses in large companies. Be it absentee bosses who would rather leave you to your own devices without any sort of direction, or micromanagers who prefer to "drop-by" 20 times a day.
Generally at small companies you can be on much better terms with everyone, be friendly with everyone you work with and you can resolve issues instead of ignoring them or hiding from them like this article suggests. I've worked for a number of small companies, and have been fortunate that each of them has been a wonderful experience, and the people I worked with have all been team-focused and aware that if a team isn't working well together, that's going to be a great hinderance to the success of the business.
On the other hand, there's always a feeling of inertia around large companies. That your co-workers are just the people you run into at work and shouldn't be anything else. A bad boss can get away with how they are because they only worry about how their superiors see them, and then could always fire you on a whim if they wanted should they feel threatened.
This is not a sig.
-- Lawrence Peters
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
The problem with "bosses" is they come from the same base as everyone else. My experience has been and continues to be, for any discipline, less than 5% or so of players in that discipline truly know how and what they're doing.
That leaves the temperament and maturity of a "boss" as the essence with which you must deal. I had always been pretty lucky with managers and had good working relations with all but the last -- who turned out to be a little Nazi... He cared more about his image, and less about the work his team produced. He cultivated an "always busy" look for his group, but they produced far less with far less quality than other groups around us.
I constantly took him and the team to task for their hubris, and faux work facade, and became unpopular with Mr. Boss.
I rolled the dice at a bad time, it was at the same time IT decided to lay off 20% of the work force, and I had curried no favors to better my chances with this goonie. I don't know had I been a kiss-ass with him I would have fared better, but I was part of the 20% (after a illustrious 21 years with this company) let go.
Bottom line: in today's world, there isn't much you can do if you want to stand on priniciple -- unless you're lucky enough to have landed a great boss who knows what he or she is doing -- there aren't many of them. It's a shame and a crime when the truth, as stated in the article, is:
It's probably one reason so many things are fucked today -- it's probably one of the reasons things like DRM even manages to get any traction -- it's probably why half the decisions being made are done so because of money under the table.Here is my story: Ask Slashdot article
YOU'RE WINNER !
Another lame blog
How the hell do we turn these crappy little one line articles off or enlarge them? It's bloody annoying.
I like muppets.
That's right, I said it.
Technically, I'm gifted. I can analyse a situation and come up with a solution almost immediately, often without a full grasp of how I arrived at the answer. That is where the problem lies. I don't have the patience to explain things to people, and I get frustrated when they don't "get it" as quickly as I do.
I don't want to be the boss, but my bosses keep trying to put people under me. Just let me work, pay me, and I'll make sure your network is safe and secure, and runs 24/7. Just don't give me direct reports. It just makes them miserable, and me a nervous wreck. Don't blame me when they quit six months from now because I'm a bad boss, because I told you up front that I was.
Quit trying to promote me. I know you want to retain me, but why not just remove the arbitrary salary caps per job classification and give me the salary I deserve without having to tie it to "management". Keeping the auditors happy is justification enough for the 10% raise you gave me this year. Sarbanes Oxley and GBLA is a bitch, and I manage the IT side of it for you. You've never once had a bad audit. Isn't that alone worth paying me what it takes to keep me without saddling me with arbitrating personality conflicts, managing vacation schedules, keeping track of overtime, and all the other petty bullshit that goes along with having "underlings"?
Don't you get it?
Thats how a top-down organization works by
s iness1.php
promoting people to there highest level of incompetents !
As long as they do a good job they get promoted
and then they get stock in a position where they don't do well.
The way to solve this is to use a bottom-up organization and make every employee
stock holders.
In at bottom-up organization the project group chose there own project manager.
The project manager chose a department manager and etc. to the top.
But every member can challenges his manager for his position,
and then the group vote between the 2 candidates.
It is all described in detail on
http://www.thenewagesite.com/jjdewey/molecular/bu
The problems with managers is they have too much free time and when they realize how worthless they are they start laying rules like keep your desk clean (when you work with maps), you cannot have too many computers in your office (when you are doing multiplatform development and support) or why do you leave at 5 (when you are paid to work 8 hours by day and your duties for the day are done).
I remember losing a bid just for not reducing the price by 5 cents/feet, winning that bid could have kept us busy for 2 years but at the end many people got laid off, that is M A N A G E M E N T, not being an idiot and keep your business afloat.
if you've got a boss like this, then this document is exactly what you don't need to be reading..
coz' undoubtedlyl he'll be readin' it too. d'oh!
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Don't register. Don't vote. Don't pay taxes. Problem solved.
why aren't corporations democratic?
Big business is simply big tyranny. Most bosses rule thanks largely to cronyism, nepotism or patronism.
Go ahead, deny it, as you must, but in truth I feel we've sold freedom out.
No matter how big, or bad the boss is, there's invariably some weakness you can exploit, and some way you can defeat them and move on. Maybe you should talk with other people in the area, to see if they can give you any helpful advice. Maybe your strategy for dealing with the boss is suboptimal: If a boss tends to concentrate on what's right in front of him, maybe you should go behind his back, and generally avoid him, or at least keep your head down and don't get noticed. Or you could watch for patterns in what he does, and take advantage of that. Don't confront a boss unprepared; make sure you've got the things you'll need when dealing with him, and if possible, some extra lives. And if there's just absolutely no other option, you can check a walkthrough.
Remember that you're smarter than he is, and that only by persevering can you defeat all the bosses and rescue the princess, or whatever. But if you quit playing, then he's won.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Yes, of course, because we're all foot-lose and fancy-free, we all work because if we didn't we'd all just sleep all day, and jobs just come along! But seriously, for the vast majority of people out there, this is not really a realistic option. Usually, personal situations like family with children prevent it, but there could be many other things. Economically, most people today live a few paychecks away from living on the street, and might as well be indentured servants. This is why it simply is not uncommon for people in our society to snap and kill a few people on the way out the door. Bad bosses should not be the problem of the worked bee; it should be management's problem, that's why the "professionals" in Human Resources make the big bucks, right?
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
But, unfortunately, I keep working in environments where I'm not supposed to function as a boss. I naturally end up with people gravitating to me looking for me to lead them. This is what I'd rather be doing, and I keep making productivity go up whenever given the chance to lead.
I'm often reporting to people who don't want me to be a boss. So, my review is based on what I do directly, not what I create indirectly. So, I end up taking on more and more. Why? Because an artificial chain-of-command tends to coalesce around me. People want my direction to work. So I do that for as many hours a week as I do the work I'm evaluated on. It sucks.
There are people who are really good at the nuts and bolts, and they are far better at it than I am. But I'm decent, I get the ideas, and so I'm assigned the work that goes better to someone else.
Meanwhile, because I'm often the only person who'll listen, I get the job of smoothing things out, making people happy, and facilitating communication between people who otherwise don't communicate well.
I end up doing the work of the boss, because the boss is too busy trying to do the work that should be assigned to subordinates. I remember the place I worked at where the boss figured that one out. Good thing I left, or I might have been fired for being a threat.
She was opinionated (wrongly so), two faced (She tried to hide she hated you, but made it obvious she was faking it), and quite frankly didn't really seem to do as much as one might think. I was lucky enough to have a supervisor though that knew what he was doing, so I didn't have to deal with her often. Although it always seems like other people aren't doing anything if you don't see them working, I'm pretty sure she offloaded a lot of work to the supervisor (her subordinate) that she was supposed to do. I think as the head of the department, she had nothing to do with the internals, and only managed interaction outside of the department.
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
While at the same time keeping them in their current status? If they're more efficient, they get paid more. No need to go to a position you weren't trained for.
If you have a bad boss, yes, it's a pain, but you can manage up as well as manage down.
Suggest in a question what you think needs to be done and in a way that helps the "bad" boss see what the right path is without denigrating him/her. "Hey, I was wondering if you thought using a temp to do this work over here might free up atar performer alpha to do the harder work instead of this grunt work? I'm probably missing something but I don't see the downside. What do you think?"
Nah, better to be a "bad employee" and act like a spoiled teenager. "Well if YOU don't know..."
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
When people quit a company, I think that in about 80% of the cases people leave their boss. In how far the boss is a product of the company remains open to question.
And post anonymously, so's not to tip off the boss!
1. Get ski mask
2. Wait for him in parking deck.
3. Tackle him then kick in the ribs repeatedly
4. Profit!!!
On the other hand, I don't know any of the best bosses that aren't at least technical savy enough to understand what their employees are actually doing, to the point that they could do it themselves. Some of the best "bosses" I've had have been professors in graduate school, since they have much more of an inkling on what's going on moreso than I've experienced just about anywhere in industry.
...in other words, "Your princess is in another castle!"?
The article says some bosses can be "fixed," but at other times it's better to hunker down or cover your ass so the bad boss can find other targets."
:)
I agree with only a minor language correction. Pets are fixed, people are castrated. So it's better to castrate your boss or you'll have to cover your ass
But seriously, for the vast majority of people out there, this is not really a realistic option.
Quote from www.QuitYourJobDay.com:
The prevailing view is that you need a job to survive and that you need the job more than the employer needs you. What most people don't know, and those who profit from your skill and effort certainly don't want you to hear, is that your employer needs you to survive as well.
Do you really think there are less jobs than there are people? Do you really think you can't quit? Right now HR has the upperhand because the workers refuse to recognize the true value they bring to the company. That's going to change.
If stupidity should be painful... Then management stupidity should be fatal.
"Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
Sure, we could "afford" the huge house, BMW, boat, hot tub, vacation property... but I'd much rather have my freedom (besides, we're saving up to get those things). Should the time ever arise, I could tell my work to shove it and not even have to think twice about it. My wife could do the same thing on the same day and not even have to think twice about it. Absolute worst case, welfare would more then cover all of our day-to-day costs (thanks to no house payment, no debts).
And we are nothing special. We are not from old money (though we both have 4 year degrees and good paying jobs), we've earned all of this ourselves. We simply realize that "It's only $5 for a Starbucks" can quickly add up to THOUSANDS of dollars a year (hell, just ask Starbucks! There's a reason they can afford to put one on every corner...). We feel that sort of discretionary income is best applied to home loans or car loans or savings accounts. Course, you could say "But you need to LIVE!" and we do! We've been on 4 overseas, and 3 domestic vacations in the last year. How!? No house payment, my friend. No car payment, just the credit card (which is mostly extraneous bullshit that could be dropped in hard times) and home owners-related bills.
For the love of [insert deity of preference here]... you spend at least 1/3 of every week day in your job. If you hate it, then the second you wake up, you are loathing having to go into that place again. When you get home, you are loathing that you have to go into that place again tomorrow. Come Friday afternoon, you are loathing that you have to go into that place again come Monday.
Gee-whiz... do you think that affects the rest of your life in any measurable way? Does the fact that your driving your new BMW to that place make it more palatable? Does your huge house with the huge screen TV make it easier to commence with the daily loathing in the mornings/afternoons/weekends? We'll get all of those things in due time, and when we have them, they will not be trapping us into a life filled with many material things and nothing much else. We will own them, they will not own us!
"1984" was ment to be a warning, not a guidebook. You hear that Kim Jong-il!? BushCo?!
I just shoot the bastard and let the body lie rotting in the hallway. By the second or third "incident", they usually get the message.
You mean there is a difference? I keep the kids indoors when the mailman's about, that ridge down the center of his forehead scares me.
If you cannot resist the siren call of easy credit, chop up and burn your credit cards.
/. about how you can't afford to quit.
It's better, though, to use credit responsibly, so you can buy the house of your dreams some day. Real estate (the only true wealth, which is why it's "real", get it?) is going to require credit history for most of us. So, follow this easy rule:
If any of your credit cards is carrying a balance (that is, if any card is not PAID IN FULL at the end of the month) do not use credit for any reason. If you are starving you should beg on the street before you carry a balance on a credit card.
If you can't follow that rule, destroy the cards before it's too late. Otherwise you may end up hostage to a bad boss in a dead-end job, whining on
Also, when you visit the realtor prior to buying property, let them calculate the maximum you can afford to spend. Then be sure to spend no more than two-thirds of that amount - better still spend half. You'll never regret it.
There's a difference between dealing with a boss's single of isolated bad behavior and dealign with an entire bad-boss personality--the kind who wants to dominate you or get away with something inappropriate. Once you know the personality, you can deal effectively with any behavior. For free advice about dealing with bad bosses, go to http://www.bigbadboss.com./ Check out the "Your Story" page and the "Tips" page. Also talk about critiques of bad boss advice in the news at http://www.bigbadbossbook.blogspot.com./
This article must have been written by someone who has not worked in a corporate environment. I have held positions in 5 major corporations and a few smaller companies. A very common bad boss personality type is one with a focus on style (showmanship) rather than substance (actual facts, real production, etcetera). Usually they never had written a program and do not understand the tasks or technology involved. One such manager defended an employee who took over 3 months to understand and document one (1) program. These types delegate any real work they have to do such as writing monthly summaries of major projects.
I am a good technician with a good personality, but try as I may I seem to rub these types the wrong way. At my last major company I came to realize the guy was a sociopath. (He either doesn't have the courage or never had the need to kill someone.) He formula for success was to suck up to his second line superior with enormous flattery. He never really produced anything like a finished product. Other people have had to complete his work for him. I heard this was the same at his prior job. How can I manage a manager who thinks they are a superior because they are the boss. My experience has been they are two faced. e.g. He will acknowledge to me the amount of effort and overtime I am demonstrating but go to HIS boss and say I am not being productive. When confronted directly he can not say what it is that he does not like about me. Therefore I conclude it must be something trivial. BTW he actually, but unknowingly, quoted the pointy haired boss in Dilbert.
My solution is to transfer or get another job. Does anyone have a better one?
1 of the newsletters I read today had this book review (The opening sentence rang true to me.): "Like it or not, office politics is a reality in every organization, in every department and on every team. While it's easy to say that you're above politics because you're a techie, or that you're simply not interested in politics, these attitudes are a recipe for career disaster. Rick Brandon and Marty Seldman's "Survival of the Savvy" (Free Press, 2004) will help you recognize, and then deal ethically with a variety of political situations that you may face over the years. ..."
I don't like the politics but I do like learning & surviving so I've ordered a copy. The Amazon link shows other books of the same topic.