...can’t seem to recognize a good leader from bad ones. A leader is generally defined as someone who inspires, rules or guides the work activites of others. A good boss creates clear focus on desired outcomes, properly equip their operations for high performance and above all build strong working relationships and foster teamwork. He creates a climate where employees receive ongoing feedback and coaching and they strive to maintain a work-life balance. Flexibility, understanding and the ability to listen to the employees makes up some of the important characteristics of a good boss. On the contrary, a leader who criticizes, belittles and disrespects his employees earns the label of a bad boss. A bad boss fails to give recognition for the little things his employee does. Such leaders not only make life miserable for their employees, but hamper organizational performance. No one starts out their career trying to be a horrible boss. Yet, it is amazing to see that a vast majority of the folk seem to accomplish this feat with absolutely no training. It is possible that a good leader turns into bad under difficult situations. This could be personal or professional. Ergo, the perception of whether a boss is considered good or bad, should be based on factors considering the psychological state of the boss and the outlook of the employees being supervised. It is believed that every person has had a bad boss at one time or another...
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...Dealing With a Bad Boss: Strategies for Coping Printer-Friendly Version Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on printMore Sharing Services614 by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D. Years ago, when I was a marketing manager at People Magazine, we had a boss who drove all his employees nuts. "Pete" would start wandering the hallways at 4:30 to make sure no one left work before 5, he would give assignments but then micromanage them to death, he seemed to enjoy being in everyone's business, and he rarely gave good performance reviews -- unless somehow it reflected back on him. We referred to him as Napoleon Pete. All-in-all, Pete drove everyone in the department crazy, and little-by-little just about every member of the department left. Pete is a perfect example of the workplace axiom that job-seekers join great companies but leave because of bad bosses. Maybe you have a boss who is sexist or racist. Or perhaps a boss who takes all the credit for himself. Maybe your boss thinks you have no life outside work and makes you stay late everyday. Or perhaps a boss who gives out too many tasks with impossible to meet deadlines (or constantly changing deadlines). Maybe your boss is a pathological liar. Or perhaps the boss plays favorites. Bad bosses -- whether ogres, control freaks, jerks, micromanagers, or bumbling fools -- can be found in all organizations. Pop culture loves to make fun of bad bosses, from the pointy-haired boss in the Dilbert comic strip, to the completely...
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...Good Boss Versus Bad Boss The difference between a good boss and a bad boss is based on the opinion of the employee, but the most important difference is whether they trust you to do your job. A good boss will leave their employees to do their work, but has an "open door" policy and is available to help the employees if needed. A good boss will also have good communication skills. Whereas, a bad boss will micromanage their employees, and do not trust them to do their work. A bad boss will also have poor communication skills, and shows favoritism among their employees. There are several characteristics that make a good boss, but the most important quality is creating a workplace environment where the employees will enjoy coming to work. Providing positive feedback for a job well done can go a long way in motivating employees to do their job to the best of their ability. A good boss will leave their employees to do their jobs, but is always available to help if needed. They will always have an "open door" policy, and be there to offer support not only in good times, but also in bad times. Creating this type of workplace environment will allow the employees to respect each other, which will help them work as team players. A good boss possesses good communication skills, which will allow them to give their employees good work direction. They keep their employees informed so they are aware of what is going on in the company, and are not caught...
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...Boss Good in a Bad Economy By RoBeRt I. Sutton ■ ■ ■ ■ How to Be a 130 Harvard Business Review | June 2009 | hbr.org Serge Bloch T hese are tough times for every boss I know. Fear and paranoia are running wild, not just in financial markets but in workplaces, too. A few weeks back a weary executive at a professional services firm told me how painful it had been to lay off 10% of his people and how he was struggling to comfort and inspire those who remained. When I asked a mutual friend, the CEO of a manufacturing firm, to “show some love” to this distressed executive, he jumped in to help – but admitted that he was wrestling with his own demons, having just implemented a 20% workforce reduction. It was not a coincidence to find two friends in such similar straits; few organizations seem to have avoided them. Even in businesses renowned for having heart, bosses have been forced to wield the ax. NetApp, declared number one in Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for 2009, announced it was cutting loose 6% of its employees hbr.org | June 2009 | Harvard Business Review 131 How to Be a Good Boss in a Bad Economy less than a month after the ranking apThe Toxic Tandem peared. Google, top-rated by Fortune in Let’s be clear: It’s never easy to be a 2008, has shed hundreds of full-time emgreat boss, even in good economic times. » It’s not easy being the boss during ployees. And layoffs aren’t the only reaIt’s challenging in part...
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...Human Resource Management - Book Review “Managing Your Boss” by John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter Harvard Business Review, 2005 Introduction People sometimes do not realize how much their bosses depend on them and many people also do not realize how much they depend on their boss. For example bosses need honesty from manager’s direct reports. People can managing their bosses for very good reasons: to get resources to do the best job, not only for their-selves but also for their bosses and their companies as well. Effective managers take time and effort to manage not only relationship with subordinates but also those with their bosses. This essential aspect of management is sometimes ignored by otherwise talented and aggressive managers. And there are some managers who actively and effectively supervise subordinates, markets, etc assume an almost passively reactive stance when they meet their bosses. With this mutual dependence, effective managers seek out information about boss’s concerns and are sensitive to his work style. Whether see the boss as the enemy or viewing the boss as an all-wise parent. Summary The book is divided into four big parts. First part is Misreading The Boss-Subordinate Relationship. This part provide about how two people can on occasional be psychological or temperamentally incapable of working together, where a personality conflict sometimes only a very small part of the problems. Sometimes people did not realize that their relation...
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...popular misconceptions to guide you. Feedback isn't always easy to give or receive. But it's vital, and timing is crucial. Here are 12 popular feedback misconceptions corrected. Misconception 1: We don't need to worry about feedback, we conduct performance appraisals. Truth: Annual performance appraisals aren't enough. If you've been working unsatisfactorily for 12 months, you're awfully good at doing something incorrectly. And if you've been doing something well for 12 months and no one has mentioned it, your performance appraisal might feel like too little, too late. Performance appraisals should be summaries of everything employees and supervisors have been discussing all year. If you're a supervisor, find ways to provide feedback each week for each person who reports to you-- 52 mini performance reviews a year. Misconception 2: It's not my job to give feedback. Truth: At any company that values continuous improvement, feedback is everybody's job. If your workplace isn't feedback friendly, start a trend. First, praise. Reinforce positive actions and behaviors. Don't forget your boss: Positive feedback passed up the organization can have amazing results. Participate in suggestion programs honestly and enthusiastically. And request feedback on your own performance. Misconception 3: If you're not asked, keep your mouth shut. Truth: When you don't deliver critical feedback, you declare your indifference. Saying nothing means you don't care. But if your feedback concerns...
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...Chapter One Business Now: Change Is the Only Constant Review Questions 1. What factors contribute to the rapid pace of change in business? Is the pace likely to accelerate or decrease over the next decade? Why? 2. What role does entrepreneurship play in the economy? Who stands to gain from the success of individual entrepreneurs? How do other parties benefit? 3. When did American business begin to concentrate on customer needs? Why? 4. How do nonprofit organizations compare to businesses? What role do nonprofits play in the economy? How do they interact with businesses? 5. What are the factors of production? How can economies grow when one or more of the factors is weak? 6. What are the 5 dimensions of the business environment? Discuss the key elements in each area as they relate to U.S.-based businesses. |Dimension of Business Environment |Key Elements | | | | | | | | | | | | ...
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...Welcome to the new HBR.org. Here’s what’s new. Here’s an FAQ. MANAGING PEOPLE Are You Sure You’re Not a Bad Boss? by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman AUGUST 16, 2012 Conjure up the term “bad boss” and what comes to mind? Scenes of red-faced people berating subordinates in public. Smarmy souls taking credit for other people’s work or saying one thing and doing another. Cutting remarks. Yelling. Feel free to continue — we’re sure you can. This is iconic bad boss behavior — defining in our minds the very essence of what bad bosses do. When we see these things portrayed on TV or in the movies, we can’t help laughing, even while we’re thinking “Whew! I don’t do those things; I’m not a bad boss.” But, not so fast. Our research suggests that the offensive actions so often associated with being a bad boss make up less than 20% of the behavior that actually defines the worst bosses. When we analyzed the behavior of 30,000 managers, as seen through the eyes of some 300,000 of their peers, direct reports, and bosses on 360-degree evaluations, we found that the sins of the bad boss are far more often those of omission, not commission. That is, bad bosses are defined not so much by any appalling things they do as by certain critical things they don’t do. We came to this conclusion from two directions: First in this group of 30,000, we focused on the 11,000 leaders who received the lowest aggregate scores on their 360 feedback reports — the bottom 1% and the bottom 10%...
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...The relationship with your boss is probably the most important relationship you have at work. Boss management can stimulate better performance, improve your working life, job satisfaction, and workload. Give your boss a hand and reap the rewards. ________________________________________ When we think of managing someone, we usually think of managing our team members or subordinates. The above title appeared for the first time a few years ago in a Harvard Business Review article written by two well known socio-psychologists. Their argument was that in modern companies, subordinates are not solely dependent on their bosses, but that today's complexity requires interdependence: the boss needs her team as well. I have the vantage point of being an adviser to top management, a CEO, and now as Co-Director of the PED program at IMD. In addition, I have been involved in the restructuring of a major international company, which involves some 12,000 people and 12 hierarchical levels. In order to unleash the energies and get closer to customers, we divided the group into 250 'small companies' of some 50 people each and of three hierarchical levels. To change the mindset, we organised a 20-day management seminar, during which we discussed the challenge of how to deal with bosses, who in the old structure, tended to hamper change. The whole process forced me to crystallize my observations and previous experience and test them with the 250 managers. I have grouped the results into...
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...his defense of them? The boss’s evaluation is not good and fair for Sandy. And it is not helpful for Sandy to improve. Rating against a standard permits a supervisor to classify employee performance independently from that of other employees. Both supervisor and employee have a reference point for accurately looking at an employee’s long-term performance growth. Ratings against a standard do not preclude comparisons. While employees may typically compare themselves to others, there is little to be gained by having the organization promote such comparisons. They are likely to create envy, vanity and dysfunctional competition. In this case, boss lets Sandy to compare with Charlie. It may create envy, vanity and dysfunctional competition. In a healthy organization, one employee’s success need not mean another’s failure. If all can succeed, much the better. Those who prefer an absolute standard tend to give lower scores to employees, as they fear new workers who receive high marks will not feel the need for further improvement. In contrast, raters who feel a worker has done superior work considering his time in the position, may rate him as such. An evaluation six months or a year later yielding a superior mark would require a corresponding improvement on the part of the worker. I prefer the latter approach, because it seems more positive. Supervisory evaluations often suffer from rating deficiencies: • One particularly good or poor trait may contaminate other performance...
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...10 Signs You Have a Bad Boss * * tweet47 * Email * Print Alison Green, On Tuesday 6 September 2011, 23:28 SGT Everyone likes to complain about their boss now and then, but here are 10 signs that you have a truly bad boss, the kind worth getting away from. And if you're a manager and recognize yourself in any of the below, it's time to immediately send yourself to manager rehab! [See 15 Ways Good Bosses Keep Their Best Employees.] 1. Yelling. Managers who yell actually diminish their own authority because they look out of control. After all, a manager confident in her own authority doesn't need to yell because she has far more effective tools available to her. Don't yell, and don't work for yellers. 2. Fuzzy expectations. If your manager doesn't communicate clear, concrete goals for your work, and convey to you what success in your position would look like, she's falling down on one of her most important jobs. A good test: If you and your manager were both asked what's most important for you to achieve this year, would your answers match? 3. Unreliability. She says she'll review your report by Tuesday, but it doesn't happen. She promises to join you for your important meeting but doesn't make it. She says she'll forward you a client's contact info, but it never arrives. You need to be able to rely on your manager to do what she says she's going to do, just as she needs to rely on you for the same. 4. Unwillingness to make decisions. This often takes the...
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...review BEING THE BOSS is a must read for all managers. This document is an outcome of the book review completed by Group 8 of PGSEM 2013 batch. The intention is to capture the key ideas endorsed by LINDA HILL and KENT LINEBACK through BEING THE BOSS BEING THE BOSS is a must read for all managers. This document is an outcome of the book review completed by Group 8 of PGSEM 2013 batch. The intention is to capture the key ideas endorsed by LINDA HILL and KENT LINEBACK through BEING THE BOSS BEING THE BOSS THE 3 IMPERATIVES for BECOMING a GREAT LEADER BEING THE BOSS THE 3 IMPERATIVES for BECOMING a GREAT LEADER Group 8 Jitesh Gopal( 1312017) Pravar Ranjan ( 1312054) Rajesh Unnikrishnan(1312034) Group 8 Jitesh Gopal( 1312017) Pravar Ranjan ( 1312054) Rajesh Unnikrishnan(1312034) BEING THE BOSS is a must read for all managers. Linda A. Hill and Kent LineBack have comprehensively explained the paradoxes associated with Management Job. As becoming a manager is a journey – A journey most managers fail to Complete, it’s important that people are given tools and methods that will help them progress through the long road of management. Through BEING THE BOSS, Linda and Kent have provided us with such a tool. Jason, the protagonist in BEING THE BOSS, embodies the paradoxes that...
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...One of the best aspects of movies is they can be a timeless tradition. People can choose to see any type of movie in the comfort of their own home or at the theater. The best thing about movies is providing a way to escape from our lives for awhile. There are many movie genres that exist and many movies that use the workplace as the main focus. Review seven that can easily be considered all time favorites. 9 to 5 This movie first came out back in 1980 and is a great reminder of how many women were treated back then and how many may still be today. The movie is about employees who exact revenge on their boss who is as bad as a boss at work can seem to get. Working Girl This is a romantic comedy that came out in 1988 and was a movie that...
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...the book to my friends and colleagues who aspire to be a good leader. This book should be read by all the leaders and managers to be successful. It exemplifies some of the important skills manager or leader should practice at the same time it explains the mistakes one should avoid being a successful and effective leader. Michael Feiner’s experience in PepsiCo, given examples and instances in his tenure makes it easier to understand the facts in detail. These examples also helps retain all the points and laws explained in the book. After reading this book, I could relate it to my own managers I have worked for. I also could analyze the reasons behind their successes and failures. Leadership always misunderstood as the relationship with the people who are working for you but this book tells you every relationship in the organization is important no matter if it is with your subordinate, or with bosses, or with peers. First part of the book states about leadership. What it is all about and how it has been misunderstood. We usually think that, leadership is only about telling people to do the things. But leadership is taking all the people together asking them about their views and completing task successfully. Usually we see the leader as a great speaker or motivator, but leader has to do a lot of the things beside this which are important. To show difference between managers and leaders author has given really good contradicting examples which help you understand the difference...
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...Discuss how personal differences and preference can impact organizational ethics. Personal differences is a judgmental call on behave of the person, and they consider the situation by the way they regard the specific issue. Personal differences and preferences can impact organizational ethics because as people we have our own issues and or demons which we wrestle with on a daily basis. In the story “How personal can Ethics get?” Valerie has a clear sense of what is right and wrong but due to her working status she has decided to be quite about the issue which she was able to see from the papers left on the printer. The author can understand why Valerie had to weigh the options and decide which is in her best interest even though there was a clear and emanate danger in her keeping these issues to herself. The preference of Valerie would have been to tell the her bosses dirty little secret to everyone and expose him for the sneaky, undermining devil he is, but after discussing the facts with her boyfriend they decided to wait and have Valerie secure a new job and complete her studies before exposing Waters. According to Randall who has surveyed empirical studies and determined that there is a linkage between judgments and intentions was quite substantial. Other research has been done by Duinsky and Loken(1989) which conformed that a positive relationship between judgments that an action was morally acceptable and intentional to perform the action. Discuss how organizational...
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