How to deal with disorganized and young Department Manager within a company?
My good friend works for a company and has a new manager. His manager is a young (27) and somewhat arrogant manager. He was promoted with a "Big Ego" and continues with that attitude as a manager. He is disorganized, never on time for work, very short, doesn't listen to his employees and can be rude and very short with employees. His senior works in another state. My friend and I were talking about this situation. How can he deal with this situation?
Answers (7)
Hello James. Sounds like its time for your friend to get serious about the fine art of 'managing up' - basically managing your boss. There are many sources that will get him going including http://www.slowleadership.org/blog/2008/06/boss-ology-101-becoming-a-boss-whisperer/. Others can be found by googling, I mean BINGing ( ;-) ), 'managing up'.
Best of luck! -Brian
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Various approaches are suggested:
- Ask him gently if you may offer some
suggestions that might help him to be
more successful in his new job. Then
offer some friendly advice on how he
might better motivate his team.
- If that doesn't work, a small group of
direct reports should confront him, in
private, and calmly point out to him
that the department would be more
effective if there was better organization
and improved styles of communication.
- If that doesn't work, go over his head
to his boss, with a business case as to
why the behavior of this new manager
is detrimental to the company and with
recommendations of how the manager
needs to be counseled. Again, this
should be a group-presented strictly-
confidential report. If possible, it should
be submitted by somebody who has a
reasonable relationship with the remote
boss.
- If that fails, either refuse to work until
he changes his attitude (again on a
collective basis).
- If that fails, quit, en mass, and leave
him stranded.
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Sound like you might have an immature manager that has gotten some sort of "battle field" promotion. Are you sure you are not just reacting to his age and perhaps a generational issue? Are you confident your co-workers support your accusations? If your organization regularly promotes this kind of individual than there's not much you can do. If you believe that your company is generally professionally run and operated, then you should document his behavior and get others in your group to do the same. As a group, go directly to your human resource department with your beef. If this is a professionally run organization, they will know what to do.
good luck! Let me know how it turns out.
Irv
Heidi T.
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Wait it out. Bad managers don't last more than 9 to 18 months here.
Vic U.
Associate Professor at Auburn University and Owner, interactive Point of View
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Its difficult to diagnose from a distance. Having said that, here goes :-)
1. This 'young whippersnapper' is probably overcompensating for his fears. This is a really scary business environment and it is hard for even the most seasoned managers. If you aren't a bit uptight, you aren't paying attention. For a 'wet-behind-the-ears' manager, that likely translates into quiet terror.
2. Scared people are just plain painful to be around. They snap, whine, growl and have hissy fits. Either decide to put up with it - or leave. Since leaving is tough right now for most people, I recommend trying to find ways to put up with it.
3. Because he is probably more scared than he lets on, he may seem more narcissistic than is his true nature. He is scared, so it is now all about him. Tell your friend to listen for his fears and use them for leverage. Acknowledge those fears that your friend and/or the team can help him with - publicly and explicity cover his back. It probably won't make the boss fully calm down (there are always other fears), but it will create a certain level of dependence that can be used as leverage against the worst excesses.
4. If I'm wrong and the boss is not scared - just stupid and arrogant, wait him out. As Heidi says, he will crash and burn sooner rather than later.
Just my $0.0002
Andy C.
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I suggest your friend quietly moves on. This sort of manager always causes a train wreck, and there are always multiple casualties. Sadly, the manager often survives the wreck and, even more sadly, learns nothing.
The mere fact that this manager rose to these heights of incompetence so early in his career ought to send of huge warning bells about the organization's overall competence: somebody upstairs in the executive suite was asleep at the switch when this guy got promoted. Either that or he is receiving senior level protection for some reason -- a reason that will have nothing to do with his competence. Either way, the rot will extend beyond just this manager: there will be rot upstairs, too.
So, best move is to move on, and watch the train-wreck from afar: for it shall surely happen, and it will be spectacular. And as predictable as tomorrow's sunrise.
