[Closed] Managers who are cocks!

Or the flipside a manager who is incapable of managing a team. Just dithers, let's meetings go of course and just forwards upper managment ideas without reading/ understanding then.
If a manager shouts then their fair game for the same back imo. As that's just poor practice
Personal hate of mine is the fyi email just forwarded.

I'm guessing you work in an office?
ALL managers are cocks because they are the only ones prepared to lick and kiss ass to get where they are. 'Ha Ha Ha Ha' you hear them all laugh at the senior mngrs jokes like pigs round a trough, even though everyone knows he/she is the most goddam awful person in the dept.

My manager is pretty good - she has some foibles, but they're just little annoyances and not strictly job-related other than the amount of time off sick she has (not sure if it's because she's got young kids or is supremely unhealthy but she has waaaay more than the average), but then she doesn't unreasonably question anyone else who has time off sick as a result.

Simples [well, so it seems to me studying an Operations Management module now for Uni]:

Be cock =

*Get promoted/arselick
*Drive people hard/get extra results with less staff
*Extra Pay/bonus
*Run lean ship [extra profit/pay/bonus]
*Create job for yourself

The only downside is people think you're a cock. If you're cool with that, then "Go you".

Cocks.

No not in an office. I reside in builder land, and as a rule I'm the manager of construction sites/ptojects of all sizes. However we do work for the odd company and I'm also hands on too.
Said interface with cock end was entirely my fault as we were walking across the factory floor fully vizzed up but missing a couple of ear plugs. The noise in the factory is minimal but because its constant "ear protection is required" our walk across the floor took all of ten seconds. He had an audience and clearly was gonna stamp his authority on these two builder scrotes 😐

My manager in my current role frequently amazes me by being a decent bloke and doing a good job of managing.

Although I suspect the nature of the job involving self motivated employees makes it a damned sight easier.

My current manager and my last manager have been brilliant, have had a few stinkers in the past.

One of the worst was trully awful to work for but outside work was a really good bloke. I could never square that circle.

I'm guessing you work in an office?

Yep he is the only office-worker on Earth who has a 'ground-worker' as a 'sidekick'...

Pigface - see points 2,3 and 4 of my list [which isn't a list less I break the page's layout again].

@patriotpro I thought he meant his alter ego mental sidekick who can kick all the baddies' heads in and can grant wishes.

Wow. You have that opinion of management and you are still at uni. You,ll go far with that attitude (says the manager)

my last team manager was in many ways an absolute nightmare;
terrible communicator, disorganised, rude, erratic, spiteful

but she keeps publishing and winning grants,- she is carried by her senior postdoc, I have no idea how he puts up with her, but I know that if he left she would be absolutely stuffed.

Interesting. I am 29 and have worked under a few managers thus far.

Tell me then, how you see it?

So you break safety rules, get a bollocking and it's someone elses fault.

I reckon the cock badge has been pinned on the wrong person.

I've seen many managers with exactly the same traits bullys at school had.

Being a good manager isnt a skill many are born with, it takes a lot of practice and experience. Few have those skills.

Or the flipside a manager who is incapable of managing a team. Just dithers, let's meetings go of course and just forwards upper managment ideas without reading/ understanding then.

This is my MD all over. Incapable of making a decision, too lightweight for his own good. Plus he's a s**t driver.

It makes me wonder how he ever got into business in the first place. Oh that's right, it's his company...

People need managers and to be managed. But most of us hate it.

For safety rules - perhaps telling you off in front of the people who work under you will ensure they too get the message?

But there are ways of doing it well and ways of doing it badly,

Our main manager at work thinks our morale is solely our own responsibility

Hey hands up I was minus two ear plugs, I apologised immediately for my indiscretion, but it was his whole manner, you could see he was craving the attention of his little group, one of whom was a very fine looking lady.
The Bully comment above is quite interesting as said psycho Groundworker used the same words when we spoke about it after.
Perhaps I'm managing my sites wrong and should start acting like cock manager man to the lads. Wonder how many visits to a and e I'll have...

Paolo di Canio, Gerrard Houllier, Steve McClaren ... to name but a few

Arsene Wenger goes without saying (doesn't matter how good he is 😉 )

I'll add Glenn "God" Hoddle and Harry “wobbly head” Redknapp for balance … I might add Christian Gross, Juande Ramos, Jacques Santini… Blooming hell we’ve with had some rubbish 🙁

but they cannot possibly trump

Old Turnip head himself …. Graham Taylor

Cock

adults who 'tell off' other adults are fair game to be knocked the **** out, IMO.

I think I should also say [assuming for a moment anyone is paying any attention to what I type]:

I don't [i]want[/i] to work in a company with an unaccountable hierarchy. I might do-so as a way to get to where I want to be, but that's: designing as an independent or with a friend or two as co-workers.

I don't mind fitting in with a company/structure if I agree to work for a company.

The post was about "Managers who are cocks" - my reply was about them too. There must be managers who manage well, have an oversight of the companies goals [long, mid or short-term], the staff they are there to assist in reaching those goals, and the needs of both and whose job/role it is to match the two of them up. Then there's legislation to adhere-to, and various other things like providing an interface between the more senior members of the company and the "ground floor" workers, formulating action-plans within different departments and observing cash-flow or whatever, many things. A proportion of them may work hard every day to keep everyone happy and still make the thing work.

My [i]personal[/i] opinion on the whole thing is there are a lot of "Managers" who have managed to insert themselves on the gravy-train and are intent on staying there. They are often the aforementioned "Cocks".

Personally, I'd far rather be self-employed, or be able to manage myself. That is my goal in life, that is how I will find fulfillment. I was, for example inspired by the story of [url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24205497 ]Valve[/url]

Please excuse the long personal post, but if I'm going to put down this indelible mark on the internet, I might as well clarify.

You walked across a factory floor without ear protection? Next year it'll be a "Anyone else suffer with tinnitus?" whinge thread. You sir are a MASSIVE cock and deserved everything you got. 😀

😉

If you want to be a manager, you shouldn't be allowed to be one

But then there seems to be a lot of people these days that you give the slightest millimeter of authority to and they become the biggest cockbag they can possibly be, must be on the first page of the manual

Christ, it's like a Socialist Workers Party AGM in here

Welcome to STW, Comrade 😉

If you want to be a manager, you shouldn't be allowed to be one

So if you have an idea that you can do things better than someone else, what do you do, just sit back and wait for someone to hand that to you?

There are good managers/drivers/cyclists/doctors/lawyers/brickies/joiners/chefs/teachers/policemen and there are shit ones.

Personally having seen how badly people have managed things in my industry over the years I thank them for my success! It makes me look like a ****en genius sometimes.

SORRY, I CAN'T HEAR YOU.

^ 😆 ^ 😆 ^ 😆 ^ 😆 ^ 😆 ^ 😆 ^ 😆 ^ 😆 ^ 😆

Problem with management in the UK (and wider) is that people are normally promoted to management based on their competence in their field rather than their aptitude for management. Hence most managers aren't any good at managing, just good at the task their team is doing. You normally get a double loss, the good technical person no longer does technical stuff combined with a completely unsuitable team leader.....

We had a manager with no people skills whatsoever (he used to come up to me every single f-in day I was in my cycling gear and say "Did you ride in today?" ARGH!) and he couldn't manage a team to save his life. He was only in the job because he'd been with the company 40 odd years and they didn't know what else to do with him... (He's gone now, a new boss with management skills came in and he was gone within 6 months).

My current manager is pretty good. Approachable with the right level of hands off and steer as needed. Listens to input and acts on it too rather than just riding rough shod all over.

My last manager I rated and respected massively. I only saw him once every two weeks! Very hands off "so long as the job gets done then I'm as flexible as you need" approach. We talked on the phone every couple of days. He had excellent technical knowledge and I learned shed loads from him in the two years I worked for him. Top lad.

I've even rung him a couple of times for help and advice cracking some technical issues in my current role with no problems in another organisation.

I would still of been there if the opportunity for a role elsewhere hadnt come up with a 5k payrise attached. He did try to keep me on but his hands were tied massively on what he could do to retain.

By default all managers are cocks. You never get to the top without someone thinking you're a cock.

Interesting, actually, Mr.byhills. I was writing a report yesterday and thinking about how, when I first started at my placement, I was given a series of experiments to do with a view to developing a sensor package.

After being told the routine I was to use, I thought "These experiments are rushed; we need to find the simplest model of the system, work on that until we can infer from our remote position the state of the item we are trying to monitor. [i]Then[/i], slowly add additional complications, step by step, ensuring that this does not damage our ability to maintain the accuracy of our inference of the system".

But as I'd just started as a placement student, and it was the Director* of the division, I thought "Better keep that to myself, don't make a fuss etc etc".

After 3 months the data set [beautifully categorized and managed, cross referenced and with all experiments very carefully executed exactly as discussed] was returned to me because no-one could find the trend or patterns in it to allow us to infer from our sensing package what was happening with the monitored item.

Should I have refused to do the work as directed? Should I have done BOTH what he asked and what I wanted to do?**

Would this make me a good manager? NB - the Director of Studies at my University told the Director in question the same thing as I was thinking a little later, and nothing was done/changed.

*He's a nice chap and clearly usually knows what he's doing, I'm just using this as an example.

**A la development of the 512k Macintosh. When the original Macintosh was launched, Steve Jobs said there was no need for more that 128k of RAM, but the team knew better. So they made one in their spare time, and when it became apparent it was needed, Jobs had to U-Turn. Luckily, it was already ready; probably saving the company.

I wonder how you office types put up with this manager crap every day, I would have walked as soon as any childlike behavior became apparent.
I'm freelance but work with (with, not 'for', there's a difference) people who have employed me and I employ people to assist me on shoots but I can only think of a couple of instances when a raised voice was needed or a quiet word and that was more to do with something somebody was about to do that was a safety issue.
Your heart must sink every time you walk through the door on a Monday morning.

I think the reason I love my job is because I don't really answer to anyone other than the owner of our company who is my boss. However he leaves me to it nowadays as he can sometimes be cock manager man, and therefore cause me grief on site with the lads.
And darcy you be careful with that chopsaw today won't you 😉

My current boss is a seagull manager. He flies in, makes a mess for you to tidy up and then bu**ers off again.

But seriously, its truly terrible. My only coping mechanism is to find his terrible management style humerous. We definately have prospective clients who would not use us due to this mans complete lack of people skills. I mean who answers the phone by saying, 'yeah hi'!

Massive, massive bellend!

Don't manage; lead.

Funny how management appears to be a dirty word. The situation should dictate the right approach. Not much leadership required in linear structural situations. Take health and safety. Do you want a manager or leader?
Well it depends ... Managers work within defined processes to make them as efficient and effective as possible. You actually need more people like this than you might think.

Oh and you get idiots in all roles and walks of life.

I imagine occassionally I am referred to as an idiot, but sadly I cannot keep everybody happy. Sometimes its about doing the least worst thing

OK. Are you not going to reply to my questions DT78?

buzz-lightyear - Member

Don't manage; lead.

I give you General Custer.

Or you, surroundedbyhills?

Afraid I've not read your long post I'm dipping into this thread in breaks at a conference

'k. Well, if you have any thoughts - I love data to grind 🙂

Also - everyone needs a little funky Cornish Reggae/Dub

http://backbeatsoundsystem.bandcamp.com/track/daily-grime

GFS - see what that band need is a good manager, that way we all would have heard of them!!! 😀

Right, 'cos what we really need is another One Direction 🙄

The comment about management being a skill not everyone is born with chimes with me.

My first (and only so far) experience of managing a team was not a happy one. I found I was too nice to them, and too honest to my boss (who just wanted someone to blame directly for the poor performance of that team). I ended up doing loads of work that my team should have been doing because, for example, what can you say when someone is half way out of the door leaving stuff unfinished and says "if I don't pick my daughter up from school she'll be left standing there"?

My predecessor had basically lied and evaded when quizzed by the higher manager about basic security and fraud-prevention checks that she should have done, but took ages to do properly. She had handily moved (been promoted) just as a second wave of bad practice was about to become apparent.

I think one of my major failings in career progression is my inability to tell a lie!

Also, the success of a manager depends greatly on the motivation and personalities of the team they are leading - good, self-motivated people are obviously a lot easier to manage than people who work solely to rule, try to evade doing anything unless directly supervised and generally don't give a toss!

Those who can, do.
Those who can't, manage.

adults who 'tell off' other adults are fair game to be knocked the **** out, IMO.

And therein lies the problem. In the same way there are lots of shit managers, there are lots of shit employees who feel that their manager getting onto them about stuff they do wrong is some failing of their manager. Sometimes it is, but some people are just shit and need to take responsibility for their own problems be they manager or employee.

[quote=lilchris ]Those who can, do.
Those who can't, manage.

Looking at it another way, as a manager you should always hire people to do a specific job who are better at it than you could be. If you hire someone who can't do their job better than you can, you hired the wrong person.

Those who can, do.
Those who can't, manage.

Those who can, do.
Those who can't do, teach.
Those who can't teach, manage.
Those who can't manage, project manage.

FTFY

Don't manage; lead.

You sort of need a bit of management in order to lead.

As said up there, there are numpties at every level.

Said interface with cock end was entirely my fault as we were walking across the factory floor fully vizzed up [b]but missing a couple of ear plugs[/b]. The noise in the factory is minimal but because its constant "ear protection is required" our walk across the floor took all of ten seconds. He had an audience and clearly was gonna stamp his authority on these two builder scrotes .

should have said to him sorry i cant hear you im a bit deaf.

A mate got told a few weeks ago, that the safety bots he had bought where seen as to agressive for the job, of handynman in a nursing home , and he should wear shoes,with steel toecaps, just the same as the boots but shoes.

You know the one who has to show the people who he's currently talking with who's boss, by berrating others! Unfortunately I was on the receiving end and would gladly have let my psycho sidekick groundworker loose on him, but my better judgement kicked in!
Cock!

Should try working in a kitchen, was still doing it part time as a second job to earn some extra money but the head chef went psycho for the last time. I flipped and walked out.

Seriously, they all think they're Gordon ****ing Ramsey.

I know, it's a trite remark, but it serves to illustrate that management without leadership is not uncommon; perhaps why "management" is "a dirty word". What do you think leadership is?

1. Actually quite hard to define!
2. Having some idea what to do and persuading others
3. Something to do with getting people to perform
4. Suggest your own...

buzz - my definition of good leadership that I tried to attain:

In my old job, I could make people do things because of the rank structure.
Leadership was making them want to do things.

I expect many will not get that.

Leadership was making them want to do things.

+1

Tom_W1987 - Should try working in a kitchen, was still doing it part time as a second job to earn some extra money but the head chef went psycho for the last time. I flipped and walked out.

dish the goss Tom, I'm at work & being poorly managed surfing the web, I need goss to get through the day.

Very easy to have a go at managers - and often justified. But it might be interesting to see the boot on the other foot?

I wonder how well some of the "all managers are numpties" brigade here would do at taking some responsibilities for others actions themselves.

Just saying 😉