Dealing with difficult Manager

I come across a very interesting thought provoking topic in one of the professional networking sites that I am a member of. It asked “What would you do if you were told by your subordinate that you’re a difficult manager and that if ever he leaves the organization, you would be the reason?” The poster also added that he believes that he’s the best manager ever and that he thinks that maybe his staff would only like him to do the things that they want.

Here’s my answer W.A.B’s question:

“It’s difficult for us to say whether we’re a good manager or not. All Managers has different style of leadership and different ways of motivating people. In a business standpoint, a good manager is somebody who is able to achieve the task or target without compromising the morale of his people. Employees leave the organization for many reasons and having a difficult manager is just one of them. However, if an employee has no other job prospects or if he’s a family man and can’t compromise his stable income, he’s likely to stay. The only draw back is that he will only give you a mediocre job performance. It’s his way of getting back to his mean manager.”

--oo0oo--

In HR we are often asked for advice on how to deal with difficult managers. Our advice is standard. You don’t have to like your manager. If you and your manager get along very well then that’s ideal. However, in a real workplace, you have to brace yourself with a difficult and even mean manager. You have to deal with them whether you like it or not. You may leave your current organization but it’s possible that you’ll encounter another mean and difficult manager in your new organization. You just have to deal with it and you shouldn’t let this affect you.

I’ve seen people being fired not because they’re incompetent but because they could not get along well with their managers. The saddest part is, HR has only a recommendatory role, lay out all the legalities and technicalities but we could not impose our will. In case of termination, we can only hope that it will be vetoed by the Managing Director. Of course, the case of a lowly employee more often than not, would not even reach the MD’s office. Petty cases are not escalated to MD’s Office, we all know that for a fact.