Gotta love this..IT management at its finest

[bozack]

So my team last year saw a promotion, one of the senior analysts who was brought in by the department director (she wasn't that technically skilled) was promoted to manager of support...the director was concerned at the time that I would leave because of this as she knew we had disagreed in the past on dealing with the customer (I put service first and quality of work wheras she is more concerned with policy and metrics)...thinking the evil you know is better than someone from the outside I said sure, promote her and I won't leave so long as the micromanagement is kept at bay (she is notorious for this) and that customer service doesn't suffer because of adherence to policy, and finally that she learns to control her temper as when upset she acts anything but professional...all of which the director said she would deal with.

Well at first things were ok, but I am guessing this was due to a new guy that came on taking all the heat for poor performance...but as time went on and he got his act together the entire team started feeling the brunt of her poor management skills and abysmal personality...

Bascially it all built up to the point where something had to be done as no one in the team was happy working there, she constantly reprimanded people in public for things they weren't even responsible for, and the level of micromanagement was unbearable...plus there was an incident where she reprimanded me while in front of a customer (via nextel)for something that was totally out of my control (was assigned a call ticket by our help desk that I had no idea of)...it was so uncalled for that the customer said she was being a beotch and that it was ridiculous that I or anyone on my team would have to deal with that.

So after this incident and the constant complaints from the rest of my team I called a meeting with the director to voice our concerns, this was then followed up by a lenghty document outlining our conversation with issues highlighted and then possible suggestions for improvement made....the director met with my team individually to see if the complaints were across the board, which they were....and then decided to take action....

What was done??......

The director told our boss to think about what she is going to say before saying it...and then they gave her a new office and moved her out of the cubicles where we all sit....nice huh, someone on the software dev team said it reminded them of an episode of seinfeld....guess it pays to be recommended for promotion by the director and to be a friend.

The dir did say that if problems persist we should let her know but still I wonder was the office offered first? and I doubt things will get better....typically I hate HR but given this example of what was done unfortunately I see no other alternative next time around.

Sorry for the rant but I know a couple of you guys at least are in IT and might find this similar to things you have seen.

 

[Matt2]

I need cliffs before I read.

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: Matt2
I need cliffs before I read.

Cliffs

-New manager with horrible management style, whole team hates working for her...was promoted by director who was a friend of hers...

-Manager reprimands team members constantly for things out of their control and finally in front of a customer which is unacceptable

-Situation brought to attention of director by all team members

-Director responds by giving bad manager her own office

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Matt2
I need cliffs before I read.

Doing speed reading, I think it has something do to with a girl getting unfairly promoted and then the OP got herpes.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Cheesecake.

 

[Captante]

Dilbert lives!

You have the right idea ... next time straight to HR.

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: Captante
Dilbert lives!

You have the right idea ... next time straight to HR.

Yeah I was thinking this was a Dilbert moment...especially whe the Director said that we all should watch out as she just broke the bad news...I couldn't help but get the mug one out of my head (Director yells at manager, manager yells at employee, employee yells at his coffee mug calling it stupid)...

 

[RichUK]

I need a cup of tea before I read that.

 

[wetcat007]

Solution: stop putting any effort into your job, do the bare minimum not to get fired. Office Space has lessons that can be applied to everyday lol

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: wetcat007
Solution: stop putting any effort into your job, do the bare minimum not to get fired. Office Space has lessons that can be applied to everyday lol

I am thinking about it...though the director did ask a few of my colleagues if I suffered from IT burnout because I don't volunteer for projects any more....the reality is that I did but my manager would squash them and tell me that they weren't a part of my job and thus not important....I was told that in order to do well on my review next year I have to go above and beyond my job responsiblities.

 

[Phokus]

...i believe that's my stapler...

...set the building on fire...

 

[KahunaHube]

if your current manager doesn't look like she's going to be leaving anytime soon, and you don't want to have a manager from outside, then it may be best if you transferred to another team with a manager that appreciates you.

Otherwise, if your relationship with your manager sucks.. the likelihood of getting a good review from her is low and that may hurt you in the long run.

 

[Nocturnal]

It's typical office politics man. My only advice to you is get out if you think you can do better elsewhere. If your boss or their bosses see you as important and an asset to the company, they'll do something even more drastic to get rid of her or transfer her to another dept.

 

[Sentrosi2121]

"You're promoted up to your level of incompetence."

Learn this quote and put it up all over the place at work. In cubicles, in the break room, on the bulletin board.

 

[tranceport]

You should find another job. Take your skills elsewhere.


Don't waste your time going to HR. Find a job and get an offer letter. Then you can go to HR and say if things don't change I am going to accept this offer from another company. If it were me, I'd just accept the offer letter.

 

[Chaotic42]

It's so hard to fire bad employees that it's sometimes better to promote them somewhere that they'll do less damage. Sad but true.

 

[ch33zw1z]

****** deal, punch her in the face like a TRUE MASSHOLE BABEY!!

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: Sentrosi2121
"You're promoted up to your level of incompetence."

Learn this quote and put it up all over the place at work. In cubicles, in the break room, on the bulletin board.

Someone mentioned this as a possible scenerio with her.

As for me, I am trying to get another group to pull me in under them as technically I work for them but I don't report to that manager...hopefully I can work something like that out as he is alot more reasonable and knowledgable.

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
It's so hard to fire bad employees that it's sometimes better to promote them somewhere that they'll do less damage. Sad but true.

I think with this Chaotic, the director supported the promotion wheras HR previously wanted to put a letter of reprimand in her file (she has had other incidents in the past with other employees, and sordid affairs like dating a security guard which turned bad)....so in order to save face and help a friend the dir is doing whatever it takes to mitigate the situation on that end, rather than realize they made a bad decision.

I think the office move was twofold, first to get her out of our hair and away from us so that everything we talk about won't annoy her, and secondly to keep her closer to the director so that she can monitor the conversations and her actions...but personally I am never a fan of rewarding poor performance, and regardless of the reasoning, a personal office is a reward in my book.

Whatever, I will see how it goes, but I am still going to work other angles like getting out from her group or finding new employment, just tough as the job is ok other than horrible management and we just had a baby last year and last thing I want to do is contract again.

 

[zephyrprime]

Is she sleeping her way up?

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: wetcat007
Solution: stop putting any effort into your job, do the bare minimum not to get fired. Office Space has lessons that can be applied to everyday lol

Spend some time thinking about how hard your job is. I;m an engineer and when you think about what you know and how you attained your knowledge ... you quickly realize that engineers are grossly underpaid. Alot of time and effort is required to get to where you are. Because you can learn principle quickly, you realize that finance is a joke and those geeks should get paid at least half. I could learn any of their jobs in about 6 months. They could never learn Java or C++ in 6 months to the level I have though.

Because of this, I abide by the Office Space principles. I am sick of being part of the most shat upon profession in existence.

Thank god I have a brain and realized this and am taking action that will make retirement from the POS career a possibility at age 45 or so.

 

[TXHokie]

Those who can, do
Those who can't, get promoted to upper management
Sadly I see this way too often

 

[waggy]

one of the last places i worked was like that.

there was VP of technology, head of IT, Me, then others.

anyway the head of IT was a 50 yr old battleaxe. She was very mean. you screw up she would chew you out. we couldn't keep people there. once between her fireing and others quiting we had 1 computer operator (should have had 7 full time and 3-4 weekend). I had seen people come in to complain about something to her and they would leave crying.

well eventually the VP changed it so if there was a problem you did NOT talk to her etc. then told her to go to anger management and if something happened she would be fired. well she was fired.

Well the VP had a very hot "assistant". they were cought in a motel room together and she was always in his office.

well since the head of IT quit they had to find someone to take her place. I ended up doing her job. Well about 6 months later they tell me its between me and another person. a week latter i get called into a meeting. they give the job to the VP's assistant (she has NO real experience in IT and her degree was in something stupid like basket weaving (no i am not joking)).

they ask me to stay after the meeting. they said they would give me a raise IF i stay and keep her out of trouble.

well within the first month she starts making dumb decisions. She wanted to cut down the budget. part of it was all the backups we were doing. we would do a daily, weekly, monthly etc.

she thought that was to much. so she cut out the daily and weekly backups. since we cut out the weekly backup (which is what the weekend ops do) she figured we can fire some of the weekend guys.

i tried to talk her out of it but she said she was in charge. so i gave my 2 week notice.

about a year latter (or so) i got a call asking me back. said i could have the job. i never found out what happened but she got fired.

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
Is she sleeping her way up?

No, well I don't think so as all of upper management are women, but the common theme are women who have no families but are dedicated to the job...or rather committed to the job, an example would be the email I recieved at 9:30am today about a project I am working on that isn't due up for another five months....

mind you this is only at my location, the others have a diverse mix, and most have lives outside of work.

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: waggy
one of the last places i worked was like that.

there was VP of technology, head of IT, Me, then others.

anyway the head of IT was a 50 yr old battleaxe. She was very mean. you screw up she would chew you out. we couldn't keep people there. once between her fireing and others quiting we had 1 computer operator (should have had 7 full time and 3-4 weekend). I had seen people come in to complain about something to her and they would leave crying.

well eventually the VP changed it so if there was a problem you did NOT talk to her etc. then told her to go to anger management and if something happened she would be fired. well she was fired.

Well the VP had a very hot "assistant". they were cought in a motel room together and she was always in his office.

well since the head of IT quit they had to find someone to take her place. I ended up doing her job. Well about 6 months later they tell me its between me and another person. a week latter i get called into a meeting. they give the job to the VP's assistant (she has NO real experience in IT and her degree was in something stupid like basket weaving (no i am not joking)).

they ask me to stay after the meeting. they said they would give me a raise IF i stay and keep her out of trouble.

well within the first month she starts making dumb decisions. She wanted to cut down the budget. part of it was all the backups we were doing. we would do a daily, weekly, monthly etc.

she thought that was to much. so she cut out the daily and weekly backups. since we cut out the weekly backup (which is what the weekend ops do) she figured we can fire some of the weekend guys.

i tried to talk her out of it but she said she was in charge. so i gave my 2 week notice.

about a year latter (or so) i got a call asking me back. said i could have the job. i never found out what happened but she got fired.

Wow cool story waggy, did you take the job?

Sadly I don't see that happening so long as this director is in charge, but if she leaves I am certain my manager will rub someone the wrong way fast and without her sheild in place she will see the door...

I already know much of the organization which we are under consider her to be seriously lacking in ability from a technical standpoint (I believe one director called her a boob)...really a better project manager than a people manager and the lack of knowledge about exactly what we do on a daily basis and the unwillingness to learn makes things that much more difficult..The problem is the team I work with were all previously unemployed or had bosses that were somehow worse, thus no one is going to quit to prove a point other than me...but not to toot my own horn or anything but I do know the most about the environment, I am constantly mentioned in a positive light when they conduct customer surveys, and there will be alot of disappointed people if I left, let alone for hostile reasons.