Questions with this tag relate to situations involving management in the workplace. Either side of the table is valid. Questions from the perspective of the manager, or the perspective of the employee.
54
votes
9answers
3k views
How can we protest a deadline that is too short?
Our Project manager made a project's presentation and assigned it to our team. The amount of work was estimated at 3 weeks.
Our team members discussed the project and we calculated that the amount ...
40
votes
2answers
2k views
boss smokes and colleagues who smoke get insider info
I recently started a new job and my boss is a smoker, so she frequently has smoke breaks together with my other colleagues who are also smokers. During these smoke breaks, they often discuss important ...
35
votes
6answers
1k views
Why would managers want to keep it top secret that an employee is leaving?
Since I started to work for my first employer, I have seen two employees quit the organization. What surprised me was that news of their exit was broken by team managers' only a week before the actual ...
34
votes
12answers
4k views
My facebook wall is bothering some people at work, do they have the right?
In my facebook wall, as everyone else, I post stuff that reflects my opinion about many stuff, selection of jokes, videos, posts..etc is simply representing my thoughts and who I am. Sometimes I talk ...
32
votes
10answers
2k views
How can I get employees to conform to office policies?
I manage a small company and find most - if not all - employees keep repeating certain mistakes. This is a young team and in general we have a positive office ambiance going on. But I want to find a ...
32
votes
10answers
2k views
My boss started sending me IMs to my private account. How should I deal with this?
I few days ago my boss started to send me instant messages to my private phone on my private account. He sends me error-messages and screenshots from customers.
I fully understand this may be his ...
31
votes
5answers
2k views
Should you reply to every email that directs work to you (even if not your boss)?
Suppose that I have a coworker, Bob, who is a manager. I am a new hire, still low on the totem-pole. But if said manager, who isn't my manager, emails me about some work that he'd like me to do, how ...
31
votes
7answers
1k views
Dealing with a manager who won't let go of being a developer
Suppose you find yourself in the following situation:
You have a good relationship with your direct boss, and you are a subject expert in the field. The boss is telling you to do something (a ...
24
votes
5answers
1k views
How to go about firing a family member…?
To cut a long story short, my company is set up like this:
51% is mine, the programmer
39% is my wife's, the artist
10% is my father's, who helped set up the company
However, my wife has only been ...
24
votes
5answers
2k views
How should I ask my boss about bringing in a pet?
It seems that some companies (as many as one in five) are now permitting/encouraging employees to bring their pets in to the workplace with them. Some are even claiming that pets in the workplace can ...
23
votes
6answers
1k views
How can I reinvigorate my passion behind my work if nobody at my job really cares?
Over the past 7 months, I've been working at a company programming/improving small little utilities and also doing a couple mundane daily tasks. I've come to realize that my boss is a Mort (this is ...
22
votes
8answers
1k views
Disagreeing with boss over personal topics when socializing
Is it bad practice to disagree with a boss on personal opinions, in the context of talking about things for fun? For example, if a boss is talking about how much corruption is in the Catholic Church ...
21
votes
7answers
1k views
Is there an effective personal strategy or methodology to stop bringing work issues home?
In my work environment I interact on a daily basis with people who are not as technically strong as they should be. Who do not have the necessary managerial and administrative skills to run teams or ...
21
votes
8answers
830 views
How can frequent anxiety attacks affect me in business and the workplace?
I tend to get very stressed out about how things play out around me in the workplace. A lot of the stress and anxiety comes from high level decisions and changes made by management and executives ...
21
votes
7answers
3k views
How can I talk to my boss one-on-one with confidence?
I am quite confident at work and with the work I do, and have a good relationship with my boss in the office. But when it comes to one-on-one meetings in which I present my plans and strategies for ...
20
votes
9answers
674 views
Is it OK to ask my team for ideas on how to save money?
I'm a software/engineering lead and executive management is cutting my budget.
I am looking for all ways possible to save money.
I understand people working at the lower levels probably have a ...
20
votes
4answers
737 views
A manager of the same pay grade was put underneath me after he messed up. Should I treat him as a manager or an employee?
I'm doing very well in my position, The other manager at my pay grade(who was hired around the same time as me) is doing very poorly. He was basically stripped of all of his responsibilities(but not ...
19
votes
5answers
2k views
How do I tell my boss I quit?
I know it sounds simple, but I'm finding it quite awkward to tell my boss I am leaving for another job. The main reasons for this are:
My boss is currently looking for more developers due to heavy ...
19
votes
4answers
602 views
A previous manager burnt out employees, how can I help them recover and be more productive?
The previous manager repeatedly pushed his employees too hard to complete artificial goals earlier than necessary. After 2 years of some of the best employees quit and this the manager was removed, ...
19
votes
6answers
410 views
Management tactics and bonus programs
I was reading The Econ 101 Management Method by Joel Spolsky. He speaks of management tactics to motivate developers by paying them for fewer bugs (for instance). He describes how bad such approach ...
17
votes
5answers
1k views
My manager always seems too busy to meet with me. How can I improve that?
He's a great guy, but it feels like he's always in meetings or going to conferences or on the phone on long calls. He has told me that he really enjoys those interactions. He and I work somewhat ...
17
votes
5answers
634 views
What are effective means of dealing with mistakes made by an individual?
Placing blame doesn't seem appropriate or beneficial when working with teams. On the other hand, the management team's first instinct is to hold each other accountable.
What is an effective measure ...
17
votes
2answers
314 views
Is there any evidence that giving references for former employees is inherently risky?
I've noticed a trend that most HR departments discourage or even have policies against giving references for former employees that go beyond these basic questions:
Confirm Employment
Verify dates ...
16
votes
11answers
2k views
How to convince employees that IM and Facebook during work is unethical?
I believe that the employer pays employees their salaries to keep working for 8 or 7 hours daily and he didn't agree while signing the contract that there is few hours daily for chat with friends, ...
16
votes
8answers
1k views
How to act in a meeting when everyone is a manager except me?
Sometimes I join some meetings where everyone is a manager, like department managers to discuss a problem or a situation which needs the joined effort of multiple departments. Anyway I am no manager ...
16
votes
6answers
803 views
Changing priorities too much
We are small growing company with demanding IT needs. As the company grows, new business logic needs to implemented to accommodate the growth and the existing system needs to be fixed which has a lot ...
16
votes
3answers
669 views
How do you tell your boss that being cheap is affecting morale?
Money was tight for our first year, but that's no longer the case. Our company is a team of seven total, including our two founders who regularly boast unapologetically about their extravagant ...
16
votes
3answers
749 views
A coworker gave our boss a very big gift. What do I do?
A coworker of mine was just sent by the company to a Microsoft conference. At the conference, attendees were given Microsoft's new tablet and the Lumia 920. During our weekly meeting, my coworker ...
16
votes
5answers
2k views
boss slapping me due to calc error
I was slapped in the face by my boss. I'm male. She's female. My Excel file had an error in the calculation. Ok, so I messed up. But to be slapped? I fixed it and saved it out to the network. If I ...
16
votes
4answers
366 views
Introducing daily standup meeting to workplace without standup meeting tradition
To have a better understanding of the project status and a better relationship with the developers who report to me, I want to introduce daily standup meeting ( as per suggested) to the developers in ...
16
votes
5answers
445 views
How do I respectfully go above my manager?
First off, this specific incident is about a volunteer organization, not necessarily a workplace... Having said that
I have two sets of managers directly above me: the management that funds, and the ...
16
votes
3answers
552 views
Should I disconnect from a past colleague on LinkedIn when a relationship has gone sour?
Despite my efforts at maintaining a professional and positive relationship while resigning from a job, I've recently been informed by past colleagues that my past employer has been saying a lot of ...
15
votes
4answers
2k views
How to provide negative review of manager in “360 degree” feedback?
At my workplace, in addition to the traditional annual performance review, there also another process called "the 360" where each employee is assessed also by their subordinates and peers.
I will be ...
15
votes
8answers
795 views
Should I enquire about my staff's private life?
I have one developer under me (I am a team lead of a group of 10 developers), who consistently comes in late, and worst of all he always looks tired when he is working. There were quite a number of ...
15
votes
4answers
674 views
How do I cheer up the team after someone is fired?
I never know how to deal with the situation, and I could use some professional pointers. We are a small company and a tight-knit team. Generally, our team is full of soft-spoken, kind-hearted folks. ...
15
votes
5answers
596 views
What should I do if I think a group of colleagues is being discriminated against?
I'm a teacher in schools for deaf people. In one of the previous schools I taught at, we faced an organizational situation that I thought originated from the management's distrust towards our deaf ...
15
votes
2answers
266 views
What is the best course of action when someone is performing sub-par in your team?
I've been in a couple situations where a member of the group pulls a lot less weight than the rest of us. Usually the manager doesn't realize. However after seeing people like that get credit for ...
14
votes
7answers
886 views
How do I deal with a boastful colleague who has inside information from the boss?
My colleague and I have the same boss. My colleague gets inside information from my boss before the information gets to me (which is relevant to my projects and some additional information which is ...
14
votes
2answers
645 views
How do I deal with a boss who has his “head in the clouds”?
Working with our boss has always been difficult but it got worse in the last weeks.
It seems he is not paying attention to anything we do or say.
Here is just one example. A few days ago a colleague ...
14
votes
4answers
351 views
What steps can I take to be a good boss to a more experienced employee?
I was recently given a small promotion at work, which has included some amount of managing an employee who has been here significantly longer than I have and who has more experience than I do. I want ...
14
votes
3answers
282 views
What guidelines should we have for employees bringing your own device to work?
We are getting ready to tackle the whole subject of people bringing tablets, etc. from home to work. We are a midsize company with 6 locations.
I'm curious what others have implemented in terms of ...
14
votes
2answers
523 views
How do I maintain a good relationship with my old boss after being promoted?
I have been in some situations where I have been promoted above my current boss and ended up being his boss. What are some strategies I can use to make sure that I still have a good working ...
14
votes
2answers
273 views
What can I do in my current non-manager role to prepare for a new career as a manager?
This is sort of difficult to explain...
I am currently a software engineer, and have been for about 10 years. I would like my next job to be the start of a new career in management. I have given ...
13
votes
7answers
744 views
How do you criticize/give feedback someone's work without demotivating them?
How do you criticize/give feedback someone's work without demotivating them?
If you need to review someone's work, how do you prevent demotivating them when they did a bad job?
13
votes
3answers
776 views
Convincing a technically inexperienced boss to not interfere?
My boss does a few things very well, such as keeping her team happy. Unfortunately, she is not quite as strong with the technical skills relating to the technologies we work with. Her inexperience ...
13
votes
5answers
347 views
How should I bring up working from home?
Working from home is becoming more and more common. If my work lends itself to remoteness, what's a good way to ask management to work from home from time to time?
Or is this not a reasonable thing ...
13
votes
4answers
483 views
How can I ask for more positive reinforcement?
I found out that what fuels me to do well at work is positive reinforcement from bosses, colleagues, and customers.
My current job at a start-up is very demanding. My boss doesn't have time to give ...
13
votes
2answers
500 views
How do I help a non-technical boss understand my work?
My boss is a journalist, and I am a web developer.
He thinks I am late on the project, and he doesn't appreciate the effort I have spent. He wants quick and complete service. He is not easy to ...
13
votes
5answers
2k views
Why is “I'm stressed and need the day off” a bad request?
The title says it all:
Why is "I'm stressed and need the day off" a bad reason to take the day off? And how can I phrase it so that it would be more acceptable? I've seen this attitude at my current ...
12
votes
2answers
830 views
How to deal with a colleague trying to steal my password?
Like Windows, Mac has a feature that allows users to remotely login to their system from another system. Yesterday, my coolleague asked me to remotely login to my Mac using his system. I did just that ...
