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One of the more interesting developments I have seen in the workplace in the last ten years is the sense of "my voice/concern matters". That is, each employee thinks that his/her concerns are valid no matter how far removed from reality those concerns are, and that very same employee's frustration when the boss is not giving his/her concerns a fair shake.
I call it an alternate reality syndrome.
Part of that is a false narrative of the "door is always open" boss style. People think they can complain about anything and possibly everything and it is welcome.
Partially I think it's because some people can compartmentalize, and others can't. I am one of those people for whom "a bad day at work" ruins me. Those who cheerfully and happily think "We work to live, not live to work!!", think we ought to be able to shrug off bad bosses and bad experiences, because they themselves do it and because that's their experience. Left to my own devices, I am a glass half empty kind of gal.
I don't forget that said bad boss could "theoretically sneak up on me at any moment of the 7+ hours of my life I am trapped there daily". That's my view of work under a bad boss. I would be delighted to let bad workplace experiences "roll right off my back", or think it's the criticizer's problem and not mine. I welcome any folks with the celerity to "teach me how it's done". Personally, I'm a brooder over nightmare working situations. 20+ years in the workforce, I don't see me changing my brooding habits due to aversion therapy or similar.
It seems whenever someone makes a topic here about how they do genuinely work hard but are getting totally screwed over by their boss/manager/company whatever there's a trend where many say "Oh, well you're just not as good as you think" or "Oh, you just don't understand how things work" or "Tough luck, pull yourself up by your bootstraps". etc. etc.
Even despite all the negative and unscrupulous things MANY bosses, managers and companies do that are well known.
Here on C-D, people tend to NOT give posters the benefit of the doubt. They'll often say stuff like "that's convenient that we can't hear their side of the story.". No **** Sherlock. It should go without saying. An internet message board like C-D is just that... not an episode of The People's Court.
Really, the sympathy is implied at best. While there are bad employees, it's still worse to have bad bosses because they have the option to abuse power and authority. Anybody who does that is considered worse (e.g. cops against civilians, soldiers against civilians, parents against children)
If someone is truly getting the shaft then I suggest they document every instance of it because they need to take that documented proof to whoever in their company is responsible for handling such things. And they need to be factual,not general complaints or he said she said.
Companies have policies and procedures for a reason: one of the most important being that they offer both the employee and management a performance expectation from which any deviance,perceived or real,can be determined.
I've had bad bosses before and I've had great bosses before. I've been the boss as well and one of the first things you learn as the boss is that if you have two people reporting to you,one of them will think you're OK and the other one will think you stink. So you manage per the company's handbook,treat everyone as fairly and consistently as possible,and go home knowing you did your best.
I've noticed that at a few companies. At one, I thought the boss was good, a coworker who later left said that's the worst he'd ever had. However, many small companies do not have policies and procedures.
You often get what you give. However, there are times the relationship just isn't going to work from either side.
I started a job in early 2014 and a manager was hired shortly after I started. The guy didn't have much personality, but he was competent and fairly easy to get along with. We hired a guy a few months later who ended up being one of the laziest people I ever worked with - constant smoke breaks, personal calls, hour and a half lunches, etc. He was given multiple opportunities to shape up and wouldn't, and was canned about a year in. I don't blame the manager at all for canning him.
I started another job early last year. Company had won multiple best places to work awards, supposedly a great gig, etc. From day one, I was seldom allowed to do the job I was hired to, and when I was, never had access to contact certain vendors, wasn't given the internal access I needed, no one was willing to let me take on project work, etc. Manager really provided no guidance before placing me on a PIP. I have no clue what I did to rub the man the wrong way.
Here on C-D, people tend to NOT give posters the benefit of the doubt. They'll often say stuff like "that's convenient that we can't hear their side of the story.". No **** Sherlock. It should go without saying. An internet message board like C-D is just that... not an episode of The People's Court.
Really, the sympathy is implied at best. While there are bad employees, it's still worse to have bad bosses because they have the option to abuse power and authority. Anybody who does that is considered worse (e.g. cops against civilians, soldiers against civilians, parents against children)
Excellent point.
Perhaps people who have experienced truly bad managers are more sympathetic than those fortunate enough to have had good ones. I completely get that some employees are lazy, uncooperative, or problematic, and just want to blame their boss for their own bad performance (unhappy that they can't get away with being a slacker).
But in my experience too many people are elevated to manager without the proper training or understanding of how to manage people. Maybe this isn't common in the business world, but in healthcare, most students take ZERO management courses in college, and I have never seen management training offered as continuing education through the hospital. The Peter Principle is quite apparent in healthcare.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kayanne
Excellent point.
Perhaps people who have experienced truly bad managers are more sympathetic than those fortunate enough to have had good ones. I completely get that some employees are lazy, uncooperative, or problematic, and just want to blame their boss for their own bad performance (unhappy that they can't get away with being a slacker).
But in my experience too many people are elevated to manager without the proper training or understanding of how to manage people. Maybe this isn't common in the business world, but in healthcare, most students take ZERO management courses in college, and I have never seen management training offered as continuing education through the hospital. The Peter Principle is quite apparent in healthcare.
Quality of management is no different than the quality of employees. If we are to plot the performance of both employees and managers on a normal distribution curve, then we'd see that in ANY organization 84% of all people employed are average and below average. Average is considered anything within one standard deviation of the mean.
It seems whenever someone makes a topic here about how they do genuinely work hard but are getting totally screwed over by their boss/manager/company whatever there's a trend where many say "Oh, well you're just not as good as you think" or "Oh, you just don't understand how things work" or "Tough luck, pull yourself up by your bootstraps". etc. etc.
Even despite all the negative and unscrupulous things MANY bosses, managers and companies do that are well known.
Simply put.... because we don't know that it all falls on managment's shoulders. When you listen to some people complain about all the problems it is sometimes easy to pick out where they may be a partial cause of the issue. When you are here, you only get to hear one side of the story.
Look at it like this.... If someone came up to a police officer and told them that they were robbed by someone else, do the police immediately go arrest that person and charge them with robbery? No.. They look for evidence that it really happened as the accuser claimed.
Having been in management before, there are a lot of times where people will say one thing to make themselves look like an innocent victim but don't tell the whole story that they were doing something that got them in trouble.
Other times, people may not realize that they could have done something unintentionally so suggestions are offered as to how they can improve themselves and better their situation. Sure, there are some managers who shouldn't be in management. But there are also times where people just want someone to tell them it isn't their fault and that they don't need to have any accountability for their actions. Sometimes there is just a compatibility issue where the only real answer to be given is to move on. Life isn't easy at or outside of work sometimes. We just have to deal with it and not let those problems define our lives.
At the end of the day we are all human and no one is perfect. And in these situations there are always 3 sides to a story. We only get to hear one. I don't subscribe to the mindset of having a kneejerk reaction to what someone says without digging deeper to try to better understand the real issues.
Perhaps people who have experienced truly bad managers are more sympathetic than those fortunate enough to have had good ones.
Absolutely right. My company spends a lot of money and effort on employee satisfaction surveys and the like and when I hear the results I always am kind of shocked at how petty and minor the concerns are. Compared to my last job at Pepsi with a temp agency this place is paradise. Paid time off and benefits for a Chemist was really all it takes to win me over.
It seems whenever someone makes a topic here about how they do genuinely work hard but are getting totally screwed over by their boss/manager/company whatever there's a trend where many say "Oh, well you're just not as good as you think" or "Oh, you just don't understand how things work" or "Tough luck, pull yourself up by your bootstraps". etc. etc.
Even despite all the negative and unscrupulous things MANY bosses, managers and companies do that are well known.
There is nothing to feel sorry for. We live in a free country. If you don't like your boss, quit and find another job. If you are a difficult person, start your own business so you will not have to deal with a boss. The issue isn't pity, the issue is choosing or constructing a good employment scenario, and everyone has the freedom to do that.
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It should go without saying. An internet message board like C-D is just that... not an episode of The People's Court.
