董仲舒天人感应:坏老板的五个标志

坏老板的五个标志正文 评论 更多职业与管理的文章 » 投稿 打印 转发 MSN推荐 博客引用 分享到新浪微博 分享到搜狐微博 发布到 MySpace.cn 英文字体马特•卡普兰(Matt Kaplan)在塔克森(Tucson)亚利桑那大学(University of Arizona)的一间实验室工作，当他管理的员工迅速从6人扩展到了30人时，学校为他聘请了一位管理教练，以确保他做好充分的准备。随后了解到的情况令他惊讶不已——他的员工认为他高高在上，而且不信任他们的工作。

Everett Collection在BBC播出的电视剧《办公室》中，Ricky Gervais扮演了一位典型的坏老板。他说，对我而言，最大的挑战是我认识到了不能什么事情都亲力亲为。我必须学会信任我的团队，而这是一个循序渐进的过程。

专家表示，很多老板对于他们在员工心目中的形象毫不知情。以下是你可能已经被员工贴上“坏老板”标签的五个信号。

1. 你大部分的邮件只写一个字。

曾出版过数本关于工作场所礼仪方面书籍的管理教练芭芭拉•帕切特(Barbara Pachter) 说，这么做可能很有效率，但很多老板并没有意识到一个字的邮件——甚至简单的“是”或“否”——会显得多么地敷衍了事。帕切特将其称为“黑莓效应”。

帕切特说，管理人员的态度经常会生硬无礼，特别是当他们在忙碌中回复邮件的时候。它会成为引发冲突的诱因，简单地加上一句“谢谢”会很有帮助。

一些管理人员甚至还会写出更短的邮件。克莉丝蒂娜•马库斯(Christina Marcus)用电子邮件给她的前任老板发送了一份项目计划书，对方只回复了一个字母“Y”。马库斯认为老板是对她的想法存在质疑，用20分钟的时间回复了邮件。可是结果呢？字母“Y”的意思是“同意”(yes)，而不是“为什么”(why，音同字母“Y”)。最终马库斯离开了那家公司。

2. 你很少与员工进行面对面的谈话。

《好老板，坏老板》(Good Boss, Bad Boss)一书的作者、斯坦福大学(Stanford University)教授罗伯特•萨顿(Robert Sutton)说，通过电子邮件进行沟通可能会很便利，但老板们正在越来越多地使用这项技术来逃避令人不快的谈话。

萨顿说，没有人愿意去干讨人嫌的工作，但处理困难问题是当老板义不容辞的责任。帕切特补充道，面对面的谈话可以增进老板与员工间的信任。

3. 你的员工经常会请病假不上班。

萨顿说，员工会通过假装生病来避开坏老板。但是，的确有证据显示坏老板可能会对你的健康带来危害。瑞典人在2008年完成了一项研究，他们在过去10多年的时间里跟踪观察了3,000多名男性，结果发现认为自己的工作单位管理水平较差的人患上心脏病的机率要高出20%至40%。

4.你的团队加班工作，但却仍然无法按时完成任务。

《与坏老板共事的生存指南》(A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses)一书的作者基尼•格雷厄姆•斯科特(Gini Graham Scott)表示，新上任的老板尤其容易为员工设定无法完成的时限。

纽约一家公司的人力资源主管表示，在新老板上任后，她开始每天工作15个小时。（当前她正在找机会跳槽，因而不愿透露自己的姓名。）她的老板上任后的第一道命令是：向客户承诺更具挑战性的完成期限。这位元女士说，老板会跟客户讲，“我们可以在三天内为你准备好，”但那是不可能的。

5. 你会大喊大叫。

管理教练帕切特说，即使你没有冲你的员工怒吼，高声说话也会损害工作场所的士气。员工们会经常感到他们在被你训斥，因而一旦有问题发生，他们将会避免让你知道。

在马库斯先前的一个工作单位，每一次讨论都会成为一个公共辩论。她说，我的老板们会毫无顾忌地在办公室里大喊大叫，即便他们并不一定真的很生气。这样会让办公室的气氛变得紧张，而且无疑会降低生产力，特别是当你在努力搞清楚该听谁的话的时候。Five Signs You're a Bad Boss正文 评论 更多职业与管理的文章 » 投稿 打印 转发 MSN推荐 博客引用 分享到新浪微博 分享到搜狐微博 发布到 MySpace.cn 中文字体When the number of employees Matt Kaplan managed at a lab at the University of Arizona in Tucson mushroomed from six to 30, the school called in a management coach to make sure he was prepared. What he learned surprised him his employees thought he was distant and didn't trust their work.

'The biggest challenge for me was realizing I couldn't do everything myself,' he says. 'I had to learn to trust my team, which was a gradual process.'

Experts say many bosses are similarly clueless about their appearance to employees. Here are five signals you may be one of them.

1. Most of your emails are one-word long

It may be efficient, but many bosses don't realize how curt a one-word email—even a simple 'yes' or 'no'—can be, says Barbara Pachter, a management coach and author of several workplace etiquette books. She calls it the 'BlackBerry effect.'

'Managers have a tendency to be abrupt, especially when they're answering emails on the go,' Ms. Pachter says. 'It comes off as an invitation for conflict. A simple addition of 'thanks' goes a long way.'

Some managers craft even shorter emails. When Christina Marcus emailed an idea for a project to a former boss, he responded 'Y.' Thinking he was questioning her idea, she spent 20 minutes crafting a response. Turns out, the 'Y' meant 'yes,' not 'why.' ' Ms. Marcus eventually left the firm.

2. You Rarely Talk to Your Employees Face-to-Face

Relying on email may be convenient, but bosses are increasingly using technology to avoid having tough discussions, says Robert Sutton, professor at Stanford University and author of 'Good Boss, Bad Boss.'

'No one wants to do the dirty work, but it's a boss' lot in life to deal with difficult issues,' Mr. Sutton says. Face-time engenders trust with employees, adds Ms. Pachter.

3. Your employees are out sick a lot.

Employees will fake sickness to avoid a bad boss, says Mr. Sutton. But there's evidence that a bad boss may be bad for your health. A 2008 Swedish study that tracked more than 3,000 men over 10 years found that the men who said they were poorly managed at work were 20%-40% more likely to have a heart attack.

4. Your team's working overtime, but still missing deadlines.

New bosses are particularly prone to giving unmanageable deadlines to staffers, says Gini Graham Scott, author of 'A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses.'

A human resources executive at a New York firm who declined to be named because she's currently looking for a new position, says that she began working 15-hour days after her new boss came on board. Her boss' first order of business: Promising more aggressive deadlines to clients. 'She would tell the client, 'We can have this for you in three days,' which was impossible,' says this woman.

5. You yell.

Even if you aren't screaming angrily at your employees, speaking loudly can damage workplace morale, says Ms. Pachter, the management coach. 'Employees will constantly feel like they're being reprimanded, and they'll avoid you if there's ever a problem,' she says.

At one of Ms. Marcus' former jobs every debate was a public forum, she says. 'My bosses would shout freely across the office, even when they weren't necessarily angry,' she says. 'It charged the atmosphere and really killed productivity, especially when you were trying to figure out who you should be listening to.'

Diana Middleton

Diana Middleton