HRM

SURVIVING THE BOSS FROM HELL

KEY FACTS
 David working for his boss Thaddeus who’s is not just rude but also adopts
.
demotivating approach towards his team.
 His boss didn’t allow him holidays while he was medically unfit to be in office.
This depicts that his work has taken a toll on his health and he does not see any
further growth and motivation to be in his current role
 David is having excellent dash board skills for which Irving who is an EVP gave
him an offer to work under him at the same Grade 10 employee with same
salary, a Horizontal move.
 David’s colleague Steve suggests accepting an offer and Helen who is an
assistant tells him that these bosses come and go and in the meantime it’s a
Job, horizontal move is a dead end and he will not get any further promotions in
his career.
 Now, David is in dilemma and worried about what step he should take?
Go for horizontal move or remain with Thaddeus??
SOLUTION
 From the facts mentioned in case, David comes across as a
resource full employee. That’s why he has been offered by
Irvin based on his great knowledge and skills with respect to
dashboards. Before taking any decisions David should
consider the below facts:
 He has to do some Intelligence gathering
 He needs to find out from others about how Irving is like to
work with
 Find out from Irving itself what it will take to be successful in
the job and growth opportunities it offers
SOLUTION CONTINUED
If satisfied he should go for the horizontal move because for the below
reasons:
1. As rightly said by Lauren, as Irving is at higher level in organization than
Thaddeus, presumably with several levels of people reporting to him, the
new job should give David more room to maneuver and advance
2. Irving has more direct connects with higher authorities as compared to
Thaddeus which would be beneficial for David in long run
3. David should consider carving out a new role for himself, to capitalize on
his expertise in creating a useful Project Management dashboard
4. David is facing severe health issues and as mentioned in case as well as
surveys has showed that effect of bad bosses on health and I would like
to put the point of Brad Gilbert here that more than his career he needs to
take care of his heath.
5. Moving “across” the company, rather than in an upward trajectory, means
you get to see and experience different departments and teams. You get
to meet new people, try out different roles and get a hands-on look at
everything that goes on in the company
 CONCLUSION

1. Horizontal Move allows you to leverage and improve upon the

skills you already have, in order to take on new responsibilities
and experience different leadership style.

2. For this David should accept Irving’s offer. While working with
Irvin he should ensure to have a regular interaction with him to
openly discuss about any concerns and be loyal to him so as to
gain results eventually.

3. Before leaving he should also discuss the matter with HR so that

HR can take his inputs in order to take up further actions with
respect to improving commodore’s equation with his team.
 RECOMMENDATIONS

360 degree feedback exercise: Conduct anonymous 360 degree feedback

activity as a regular HR practice for various teams in the organization. This will
help carry out detailed investigations with respect to team management and
leadership skills of different leaders in the different departments and verticals.
Commodore’s team will also get covered in this which will help identify his
equation with his team. Based on the outcome of the exercise, suggestions and
feedback can be provided to Commodore in order to improve his team
management.
 RECOMMENDATIONS

One-On-One Connects: In order to increase communication, HR should

facilitate one-on-one connect sessions of employees with supervisors for
various teams in the organization, where employees may openly discuss
about the supervisor on the concerns, share their aspirations with
supervisor and receive feedback as well as guidance with respect to their
journey ahead in the organization.
 RECOMMENDATIONS

Coffee Connects: In order to increase a dialogue between team

members and their supervisor, HR may facilitate group connects over
tea/ coffee, which will help in improving internal team connect as well
as connect with supervisor. This will further improve team synergy.
 THANK YOU

Contributed by:
 Madhura Chilka (88)
 Trupti Gangan (89)
 Shweta Gupta (92)
 Harpreet Kaur (95 )
 Bhavana Mahajan (98)
 Vishal Mishra (99)
 Pooja Mundhekar (100)
 Manish Singh (115)