November 25, 2011

Why is the Boss a Necessary Evil?

It is a universal truth that most of us hate our boss. However, we often come to terms with the truth that he is the necessary evil in our life without whom we can hardly survive as we spent most of our days with him. The Indian Institute of management professor Mathukutty Monippally in his recent book , “The persuasive manager” highlights  the fact that if a person wants to be a successful boss, he should first understand why people hate him?

Most of us are always happy to hear about our boss’ mishaps as we are so much fade up with their domination every day.  In the book the persuasive manager, the author describes a man’s state of happiness when he hears about the boss’ death and wishes to hear it again and again as this gives him a sense of satisfaction that his boss is no more and is no longer there to dominate him.

Many feel that boss and mother-in-law fall in the same category as both are universally hated. Every employee wishes to be the boss one day as every daughter-in-law aspires to rule the house and take the position of the mother-in-law. Likewise, nobody feels like delivering kind words to the head, be it home or office and end up showing our resentment against them by throwing pins on the dolls which represent our boss. However, the fact remains to be that no matter how bad they are, they occupy an important position in our life

Imagine you are the boss and you are responsible to handle your subordinates. It is always said that in order to become a successful boss, you need to research why people dislike their boss in all sphere of life. You should understand that the reason of hatred lies in the fear of power that you command as a boss. This fear compels the subordinates to bend before the boss; if they want to get along in life. Therefore, they hate it. The subordinates consider the fact that they cannot do anything about your power over them. The employees avoid encountering you face-to-face as they are scared of the terrible avengement that they might have to face. Hence, they yell behind your back to take out their grudges against you and these grudges always succeed to grab sympathetic ears.

Not even the big boss of the universe is spared from this kind of a dilemma. People start abusing the almighty if something goes wrong in their life and a few go to the extent of threaten the almighty to stop the delivery of the offerings that they usually make. Fortunately the idols cannot reciprocate and therefore, the devotees can easily show their grudge towards. This poses a serious question that when Gods fail to win over every individual, how can you as a boss succeed to win over your subordinates? The author says the answer is yes you can.

The complication lies in the fact that as a boss you depend on your official power to make your subordinates work according to you. As you are the main lead in the organization your subordinates would not wish to mess with you . The subordinates feel it is basically difficult and impossible to openly challenge you and continue to work within the organization you command. The employees think that they have no choice apart from obeying your orders even if they don’t agree with your ideas. Your subordinates might possess great ideas but they might not be sharing them with you as they might think that you are a dumb boss or you won’t listen to them.

Persuasion is the best ingredient to manage the employees although it takes a bit longer; however, the result will be quite satisfactory and long lasting. Persuasion targets to get the employees efforts in place instead of forcing them to do the work. Once they buy into your proposal or suggestion, it becomes as much theirs as yours. Then you don't need to stand behind your subordinate with a scourge to watch the performance. Either you need to tempt them.

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