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A good manager should be helpful, be able to listen, be effective at their job and be open to ideas. He should also be approachable and easy to get on with. Some managers however do not fit this description. Some may be power crazed, uninterested in people or want everything done in a certain way. The reason is micro management. Micro management is a term for a manager who wants to know everything about what you’re doing and the reasons why you’re doing it in a particular way. This is counter productive, leads to poor morale and resentment among staff members and causes high staff turnover.

The reasons for micro management are varied but it’s usually a combination of wanting to have control over people, power trip ecstasy and insecurity that someone lower can do a better job than you can. A person like this should not have authority over a group of people and should never be in a position where he or she could have authority. To do so is dangerous for employers who will have to deal with high staff turnover, excessive training and lay off payouts and high level complaints against the managers in question. For workers it makes for an unpleasant working environment and being afraid to speak up for fear of reprisals or punishments.

There are ways to spot the type of person in question. Does he or she make belittling comments? (This a gross misconduct offence and the person should be sacked immediately) Does he or she demand a higher workrate from you even though you are doing the best you can do? Do they make unreasonable demands? If the answer is yes you have a micro manager on your hands. The best way to deal with them is to stick to your own way of working and try to ignore them. Eventually they will be sacked as a result of their incompetence and unsuitability as a manager. Just ride the storm out. If there are issues you just can’t be bothered to put up with, then get out of that job ASAP. It really is not worth a pay packet and stress. Be sure to keep a list of all the actions the person took that made you feel uncomfortable or gave you reason to believe that he or she was hopeless, and be sure to get yourself heard by other, more sympathetic members of staff.

There are various trade unions you can join to get support and information from. It’s worth joining them as they have the right to step in whenever they like. The law is very clear on such matters and the legal system takes a dim view of these sorts of people. You are not alone.

Thanks for reading.

Or: Don’t talk if you can SHOUT! By Baz Taylor

It’s obviously frustrating when something goes wrong or someone is rude or not understanding to a point of view or unhelpful and the obvious thing is to complain. But there are appropriate ways to complain. Keeping calm is an important thing, to blow up or kick off is to lower yourself. This is probably difficult for all concerned depending on the nature of the problem, but to start shouting the odds and/or swearing is counterproductive for everyone concerned.

 Let’s look at why people complain. The most obvious one is when something goes wrong with a service or an item and the person feels justified to make his negative feelings known. Other reasons are poor treatment, being passed around or previous bad experience. In most cases there is someone to deal with the problem, which is where customer services or support comes in. However the person complaining may rub off badly onto the person dealing with the issue, causing further problems such as not wanting to be helpful or blanking the person’s problem out.

 Some people are understanding to a problem but others are demanding, obstinate, unyielding or ‘arsey.’ To properly deal with these sorts of people, it’s necessary to understand their point of view and feel sympathetic towards them. People who are not naturally sympathetic or empathic may cause a problem in that they are unable to understand another person’s point of view or are unfeeling about the situation. While this comes across as unhelpful it is not necessarily so. The reasons for it are that the person is naturally unapologetic and hard headed with their own opinion but it is not meant to be offensive to another, it’s simply a quirk of personality and there is no changing that. On the flipside it can be frustrating for someone to come up against someone so ruthlessly self confident and at times feels like banging against a brick wall, but it’s best to be patient and understanding on both sides for the best result to come out.

 However there are some people who complain who cannot be reasoned with, weather it be bad attitude or bad mouthed. These people are virtually intractable and as such can be very upsetting to deal with. When someone like this comes up against a person who is naturally unapologetic, real fireworks are the result. These people may be aggressive, foul mouthed, demanding and highly strung. The best way to deal with them is to remain calm, listen and if so take action against them if they become irate or abusive.

 To conclude, people will always complain about something, it’s just dealing with them in the right way that counts. Complainants will normally have a valid reason to complain, but those that just want to have a good whinge are not worth the effort to try and pacify.