POST A COMMENTBonusOnus(02/11/2009)
I already knew this. In my work experienced, I'd say about 50% of all managers don't really know what they're doing.
I work in a field (SW development) where it's really easy to find out if someone is competent or not. You can either program or not. OTOH, I've seen managers who BS a lot and act like they know what they're talking about. My manager's manager at my previous job was exactly like this - he just talked a lot and spewed out all these ideas, some of which were just asinine. Of course, he rarely implemented them but he did this to mask his incompetence. This worked for about a year but his incompetence showed and he got terminated in Nov.
Managers shouldn't just be competent. They have to have people skills so they can get the most out of their subordinates. They are like what a head coach is to a professional sports team.
Unfortunately, most managers are lacking in this skill.
SouthernProgrammer(02/11/2009)
I had a boss who 'faked it' at a job I had 15 years ago. He became the overall manager of our IT group at a large well known corporation. His prior experience was being a truck dispatcher for a trucking company that folded.
He was very large, very overbearing and obnoxiously loud. Whenever he felt threatened he would stand up and start adjusting his shirt and tugging on his belt as he he were getting ready to fight.
How did he get this job? you are probably wondering - he was the neighbor of the HR manager and they bowled together!
He used to come to town to 'check on us' from corporate and then force my boss to drive him 100 miles to a strip club so he could see this girl he had a crush on.
Finally, his inexperience did him in and he was fired.
The Saturday after he was fired, the main power circuit at the main computer room at headquarters was suddenly tripped. The only clue found was a key in the middle of the room which happened to belong to the ex-boss.
True story.
CK(02/11/2009)
I know what you're talking about when it comes to managers! The managers I have could fill a 'ship-of-fools'! The scratch and stabbed their way to the top. Do any of them have any education or training in management? - NO!
I hate to toot my own horn but I have HAD the training and education in management (MBA) and I am more educated then ANY of the managers in our division. So what do they do? They ship me off to some remote hole because I am considered a threat to them!
sympathetic reader(02/15/2009)
I have used stupid bosses to my advantage. If they try to micromanage me, I ask them obscure questions about our procedures. If they pester me again I remind them they never got back to me with the answer to the obscure question. They usually ducking me and start picking on someone else. I know these games are childish. I work hard and I don't want to be messed with. Once you show one of these bozos you are clever they leave you alone.
HaveADamnNiceDay(02/15/2009)
Reader, just out of curiosity, what sort of obscure questions are you talking about? Do you have examples? Do you stuff your questions full of useless corporate jargon?
I could use a few examples for my arsenal of things I use to confound idiots. I don't have a lot of material. (I think so far all I can do is when they flip me the bird I ask if that's their IQ).
I'm too busy ducking and dodging or just plain blocking their proverbial punches with my proverbial face. I'm kinda tired of that.
sympathetic reader(02/16/2009)
Our procedures are poorly written. You may go to one manual section that contradicts another. I'd point that out and say which one is correct. No one in our office wants to take a stand on anything. So the manager would have to discuss this with the head of our QA Dept. She is clueless, lazy and mean. Yes, our office uses the person with the worst communication skills for QA.
I don't hunt for these obscure discrepancies. They happen in any procedure or manual. I mentally or physically take note of them as they come up.
What makes their skin crawl is I am making them take a stand and use research skills they don't have. I don't do this with every boss, just the weasly sadistic bosses. So far it's surefire.
HaveADamnNiceDay(02/16/2009)
Gee, I wish I was smart enough to notice that kind of stuff... Well, I take that back. I'm smart enough.
It's just when I try to form it all together into an argument or a defense it all crumbles. I'm terrible at that stuff. I wonder if there's a "expose your boss's idiocy for dummies" book...
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