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Boss's boss

 
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Hi All,
Recently I have joined a new company and my Manager is a really nice person to work with.
Yesterday a new person joined our company in the capacity of my Manager's manager.
The coincidence is this person (the newly joined) and myself used to work for a company earlier though I did not directly worked with him.
I've heard many (not so good) things about him from my colleagues in previous company.
My question is: What do I do with this? Should I change my group altogether OR wait for some time to see if things work out for me.
I think he being the root node in my hierarchy, it�s going to affect me in one way or other.

Thanks,
Hari
 
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Be happy that you got good manager as your immediate boss. Don't worry about your boss's boss. Your boss need to worry and not you.

Any way it may not possible that you get very good boss every time so, try to learn to work with all kind of managers(good and bad).
 
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I'm not sure what advice to give you, but I do have to disagree with some of the advice of KJ Reddy.

Originally posted by KJ Reddy:
Be happy that you got good manager as your immediate boss. Don't worry about your boss's boss. Your boss need to worry and not you.



A bad manager can impact everyone. I've seen bad CEO's run companies into the ground. Eventually people get laid off, but only after a painful and bumpy ride to the bottom.

In this situation you have to decide in what ways he is bad (and if indeed he really is, or if it's simply hearsay),and if the culture and organization are such that his shortcomings will negatively impact you.


Originally posted by KJ Reddy:
Any way it may not possible that you get very good boss every time so, try to learn to work with all kind of managers(good and bad).



He is right that you may not be able to get a good boss everytime. My advice is learn to recognize good and bad bosses and learn to change roles (or quit if necessary) when you get a bad one.


--Mark
 
Kj Reddy
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Originally posted by Mark Herschberg:

A bad manager can impact everyone. I've seen bad CEO's run companies into the ground. Eventually people get laid off, but only after a painful and bumpy ride to the bottom.

In this situation you have to decide in what ways he is bad (and if indeed he really is, or if it's simply hearsay),and if the culture and organization are such that his shortcomings will negatively impact you.



I agree with you Mark. Need to decide in what way the boss is bad. Also we need to think in what level that the boss's boss will have impact on us. But definitely if you immediate boss is a good manager, he will protect you in all angles.
[ February 07, 2007: Message edited by: KJ Reddy ]
 
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Originally posted by Hari Apte:
Hi All,
The coincidence is this person (the newly joined) and myself used to work for a company earlier though I did not directly worked with him.
I've heard many (not so good) things about him from my colleagues in previous company.


Generally a manager starts offending people when is under pressure, is unsuccessful in getting the projects done in the timelines. The attitude of his managers also has some impact.

As you say that he is a new joinee, he may not be under so-much pressure from the day one. May be after a few months he would start showing his old symptoms (i.e. the bad things that you heard about).

So you need not worry right now... you still have some time to think about it.

As already pointed out by others (in this thread), if your boss is good enough to tackle the new guy, then you will not have greater issues (still some times when your boss is on leave, minor issues may crop up).

If you are working in a team then you should certainly be a happy person as you have people to share your feelings.



My question is: What do I do with this? Should I change my group altogether OR wait for some time to see if things work out for me.
I think he being the root node in my hierarchy, it�s going to affect me in one way or other.



If you are satisfied with the work/pay/environment/your boss or any other aspects that you think are important for you then I would suggest staying there and only when things become unbearable then try changing the group. Quitting is the final option which you should think of. Even if you quit, be prepared to see such bosses in your new work place.
[ February 07, 2007: Message edited by: Srikanth Basavaraju ]
 
Hari Apte
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The problem is my Manager is very un-manager like. Everyone in our team takes undue advantage of his soft behavior & take him for a ride :-).
So in all,it could happen that I'll end up in a soup because of my Manager's inability to be firm when he needs to be....

Thanks,
Hari
 
Mark Herschberg
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Originally posted by KJ Reddy:

I agree with you Mark. Need to decide in what way the boss is bad. Also we need to think in what level that the boss's boss will have impact on us. But definitely if you immediate boss is a good manager, he will protect you in all angles.



That is a good point, good managers will protect you. I've had some great ones who have protected me at times. The question is just where he has enough clout to protect you, i.e. if the problems aren't so big that he can't hide you from them.

--Mark
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