The Bad Boss - generics

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

They lie, they forget things, they cant organise themselves let alone anybody else, they do things themselves that they dont allow you to do yourself / discpline you for, rudeness seems to be a common theme, As does not listening to the people they employ. Micromanaging, unrealistic deadlines seems quite common to.

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got it in 1 fizz, only you missed out the bit about stealing ideas.

ie, My superior is Mr X, and He works for Mr Y. Its only a 20man workforce so we all know each other pretty well and I'll just as often get work direct from Mr Y. The amount of times I've been given work from Mr X only to hear him hand it to Mr Y saying "I've finished these plans off for you" so taking all the credit.

Exactly the opposite is also true, like when somethings gone wrong. If Mr X does his own piece of work then hands it to me to hav a quick look at I'll check the technical aspects but wont know what the breif was and so when Mr X hands it to Mr Y who then says its wrong. I've heard Mr X replying with "well Matt was meant to have checked it"

So for your list Fizz you need to add:
Steals your thunder and dumps his **** on you.

[ixlr8]

Managers/"superiors" are often that because 1. they have only scant interest in the specifics of the work, 2. they then find a niche which matches their personality disorder. Their primary interest is in the process of management, not the outcome.

If obsessional, they become preoccupied with minutiae at the expense of the bigger picture (remember penny-wise, pound-foolish?), micro-manage through fear of an error happening on their watch and usually find emotions difficult to deal with esp. their own anger. These are the control freaks and become highly anxious and/or angry if thwarted.

Then there are the narcissists. They cannot bear being seen as fallible or even ordinary so have to take a position where they can't be blamed. This requires 1. a position where the accountability is diffused, and 2. which is best suited to not actually doing anything concrete. Further, they have an unceasing need for praise or admiration from those that matter, whether earned or not. Like obsessionals, they get angry if threatened with criticism or loss of admiration or status. Think politician for instance.

There's the odd bloke/woman who's boss because they're simply competent.

The Peter Principle stated that you'd be promoted until you were in a position where to go any higher would mean you'd be incompetent. So if you were really good at welding, you'd be the chief welder. But you wouldn't be the sales manager, because all you know how to do is weld.

THe Dilbert Principle states that the least effective workers are moved to the jobs where they'll do the least damage: management.