Do you ever wonder why your boss still has a job – or how he/she got there in the first place? In our last blog post addressing poor management, we listed a few more descriptions of bad managers. I actually find it quite eerie that I am going through this list right now. It seems over the last week as I have been writing these blogs that I have encountered nearly every type of bad manager in some form. Lucky for you we’ll have your how to deal with poor management answers soon. Be sure to keep up!
Here are the final two types of bad bosses :
6) The Incommunicado Manager:
Needless to say, the managers who fail to communicate can fall under several of these categories. Perhaps they aren’t communicating information from corporate to their employees or suggestions from their employees to corporate, but either way they appear to be lost with no goals, no clear expectations, no feedback, and no set time frames.
At least, not until something is overdue or not done to par. These managers also tend to stay behind their office door (often locked), poking their head out only occasionally for a glance to make sure they still have a staff. Employees are lost trying to meet expectations that are not defined, or that keep changing, and the managers don’t recognize that they themselves are the problem. It is often the case that employees are punished for not doing things they didn’t even know they were supposed to be doing?
Sound familiar? This can be one of the most destructive forms of bad bosses.
7) The Bad Employee Manager:
Finally, the worst of the worst. Sometimes, I’m sad to say, simply bad employees get promoted to managers. These managers can manifest in any number of horrors: The managers who claim everyone else’s work as their own (probably how they got the position in the first place); the managers who also serve as the office gossip; the managers who are prone to emotional outbursts. The list can go on and on.
Throughout history, there are individuals who get promoted to management who have very little reason to be employed, let alone as a manager. Often, these reasons are beyond our control and beyond our reason (Ever worked with the President’s nephew? You know what I’m talking about.) These types of managers can really hinder office morale.
Poor Management Makes No Sense
I couldn’t agree more. Why do bad managers get to become managers, and why do they get to stick around? There are a number of reasons for this as well. One, companies are often reluctant to fire employees who need to be fired. Why? Check out this post on how to fire a bad employee.
Another reason is overall poor management of an organization. The “Peter Principle” asserts that in a business hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence. In other words, managers are promoted until they reach a job that they can no longer do successfully, but then they are kept in that job because the poor upper management doesn’t want to upset the cart by doing anything about it. Maybe it’s might be time for some organizational development training.
Finally, bad managers may stay in place because, although they manage people poorly, they may manage their department well. Production may be up, sales may be up, profit margins may be great, scrap may be low, customers may be happy, etc. The boss may be a high performer on every other scorecard (or they might just be very fortunate).
Bottom line is, in an organization that does not place high enough emphasis on employee satisfaction, managers with poor leadership skills will be overlooked if their department is functioning at a high level in spite of their poor interpersonal skills.
Now that you know the top 7 types of bad bosses you need to know what to do about them. Next time we will discuss how to deal with poor management. Don’t miss it!
