Bossing Around

Today’s boss should not feel reluctant to delegate responsibilities to his subordinate, provided the person he has selected for the particular assignment fulfils the essential qualities
Kishor Pawar / Tarapur

Gone are the days when “You are fired” was a common phrase in an organisation. Today the world has become more competitive; specialisation is to be found teeming in every walk of life; subsequently the demand-supply graph has become more complicated.

Studies have revealed that emotions play a vital role in today’s world of management. Only salary , perks , security, welfare do not fulfill the satisfaction level of an employee. He also expects good environment, good scope, transparency in the system and much more with it. Words such as ambition, attitude are the key words of the youth of the present generation.

There are certain norms to be followed to become a ‘good’ boss:

Delegating responsibilities
Today’s boss should not feel reluctant to delegate responsibilities to his subordinate, provided the person he has selected for the particular assignment fulfils the qualities demanded by the position and has got sufficient potential and caliber to cope even at critical times.

This broadens the scope of the subordinate, brightens his future prospects and also acts as a moral booster, which helps him to attain a good confidence level. Paving the way to your subordinate can help you grab a better position ahead.

Understanding employee needs

Needs are changing more frequently than anything else in the world. A boss has to play an important part in understanding his subordinate’s needs. He has to be more extrovert and friendly.

Introducing interactive sessions in his schedules can work wonders where he can meet his subordinates and understand their needs privately.

Be more democratic in decision-making

A boss may not loose much if he consults his subordinates while making some important decision. Also he should not be imposing his thoughts and choices on the issues, this may tend to take his position outclassed.

Setting up a committee , giving the freedom to cast a vote or unani-mously arriving at a conclusion, should be the right procedure to decide on some crucial matters.

Maintaining the relationship by information exchange

What’s happening and what’s not is the base on which a boss should be maintaining relations with his subordinates. Give and take informa-tion is very essential for a system to extract the best results, never forgetting that giving respect is earning respect.

More friendly and humorous

Taking some time off and having a casual meeting with subordinates to update things and keeping oneself involved in the departmental matters can help in bonding good intradepartmental relations; and at tea time cracking a few jokes or being humorous can make you more close to your staff. the managers to walk around, in restaurants, parking lots each day, where they can.

Maintaining the culture/respect for hierarchy

You may find it a little difficult to digest this, but the respect to hierarchy is a must and at the same time the culture of the department should also be maintained so that your subordinates do not take you for granted and do not provoke to cross their limits.

Flexibility a must

Today’s boss should be flexible enough to change his actions and work as the situation demands. He should not be carrying the stereotype image which can help his subordinates manipulate the prediction of the management’s action.