2

I have some signs that my manager is not giving due credit to my work.

To come out of that I requested him to send the mail for any work assigned.

He politely told me that, that is not required and I know that you are working.

But after that he will take the ownership of the ideas and work or he will give credit to somebody.

But I cannot go and fight for the things that happened in the past.

How to resolve this issue.

If I go and tell him that I don't believe him, what are the possible situations I may face?

Improve this question
5
  • Don't you use a task tracking workflow system at your place? Like jira
    – Dawny33
    Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 8:40
  • 2
    An idea is an idea, sometimes what matters is the implementation. Is the somebody given the credit the one actually implementing it? Also, have you taken a look at this question? It seems similar to what you're asking but I can't tell without context.
    – rath
    Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 8:49
  • 3
    At the risk of coming across as culturally insensitive or stereotypical: isn't this normal for Indian companies?
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 12:06
  • I do massive amounts of work where I'm employed and rarely get credit. So far in my experience that's how it works, you do the work, and bosses take the credit! Just gotta keep working, and eventually you'll find a boss willing to give you due credit!
    – New-To-IT
    Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 13:56
  • 3
    You will see a lot of blogs out there about what makes a good boss, and good bosses do give credit where it's due. Blogs like to dream! Unless your boss has the stature and the personality, I suspect that a pat on the back for the team is normal. That doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate your work, he may just value his upward mobility in the company more than yours.
    – CKM
    Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 14:47

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
4

Answering from an Indian perspective, so might or might not be relevant/suitable to professional environments elsewhere:

If I go and tell him that I don't believe him, what are the possible situations I may face ?

You can get fired. If not fired, you'd just demote yourself on his list of favourites.

In India, the hierarchy is very rigid, and as you go higher up the tree, you get tougher managers with higher ego.

So, confronting him should be the last thing you would want to do.

Break it to him as softly as you can. You can send him a polite meeting invite (like sort of a 1-on-1) and inform him:

Sir,

I am really enjoying work under your mentorship. However, there is a proposal which I want to make so that both of us can keep track of my goals and targets properly.

It would help me track my progress and thus would help me improve my career, and the quality of my work at the company. It would also help you gauge the work of our team and help us document the progress and achievements, which would help us in meetings and also project demonstrations.

And then, propose the solution, be it a e-mail documentation, or a software like jira, or keeping a hard copy of the projects(<-- not recommended!)

Make the proposal look as if it would benefit him more than anyone else.

So, if you can't confront him, convince him instead.

Improve this answer
7

Your boss is not required to give you written documentation of the task assigned to you (it would be great if every manager did that, but what are you gonna do). It's your job to keep track of your tasks, as well as update your manager on your progress. In this spirit,

Hello M,

Brief status report:
I've started working on X. Y is falling a bit behind, waiting for Z to complete. I've also contacted client A,B and will try to reach the rest today.

Cheers, V.

Let's enumerate what you've achieved:

  • You have forced yourself to implement a task tracking system if you don't have one already
  • You are giving your manager timely updates on your work
  • You are creating a paper trail for the work you are doing

It's the last item you're interested in. I don't know how exactly that may help you due to the lack of context in the question, but it's definitely a great place to start. Hope this helps.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    This is a great idea -- if you work with a Western boss. I would... not send this email if I was an Indian working for an Indian boss.
    – enderland
    Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 17:37
  • 1
    @enderland As a lifelong westerner that's a cultural aspect I'm completely blind to! In fact I find it most surprising. Does it come across as disrespectful? Is it the informal tone, the brevity, or would M. get annoyed by regular emails (just stabbing in the dark)?
    – rath
    Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 18:05
4

You can tell your manager anything you want. Depending on the individual there are a few ways this could go.

The manager might take it as constructive and start pandering to your need for recognition of your efforts.

The manager might just ignore it.

The manager might be surprised because they had no idea you felt that way and saw no need to give you any recognition, in which case they will probably either start giving it to you, or take it badly and start criticising your work.

The manager might be guilty of intentionally downgrading your contributions for his/her own reasons and decide you have become a problem that probably needs to be disciplined.

I suggest you make sure you have a good idea that this will go in a positive direction for you, before you complain.

Improve this answer
2
  • +1 if I were a credit-stealing manager, having a subordinate point it out to me would definitely put them on my list.
    – rath
    Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 13:26
  • @rath - your name seems to go well with your comment ([w]rath) :-P
    – AndreiROM
    Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 14:31
1

Easy way to maintain your work is to document it. Document whatever work assign to you and share it to your manager/superiors or boss. Document should include brief details about work, assignee and time duration given or approximate time required to accomplish task. By this, you and your management keep track of your work and how you perform. If they want any changes in work assign then update document accordingly and share it again. This way you make things transparent.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .