GD Topic-II for 29/03/2015

GD Topic-II for 29/03/2015

Is the boss always right?

One of the common things we all hear as employees is, there are two rules of working under a boss – Rule 1.) the boss is always right, Rule 2.) If the boss is not right, refer to rule no. 1.).

As soon as we hear the word “boss”, the most common first image that strikes our mind is that of someone who is in position of power coming from his designation. Many of us have experienced their bosses to be absolutely authoritative with a last say in everything while there are others who have found their bosses to be giving them an opportunity to participate in important decisions.

For – The title “boss” comes with an experience:

-The title boss does show off some authority but only comes with an experience and practical understanding of business. So, most of the decisions a boss would make, he would make on the basis of practical understanding of the situation.
-Organisations usually have a reporting system which means that a boss would make the decisions based on facts and figures. These will be well thought of actions and would be right in most cases.
-The bosses these days come equipped either with a management degree and/or have attended a lot of training programmes and work shops on team management and soft skills. This makes them understand that they can not work without team and have to give it due importance and credit. This again ensures that the boss makes a well thought of decision based on the skills and opinion of the team. This further increases his probability of being right.

Against – The boss is a human being too:

-The employees working in the frontline know the practical aspects of business which the boss might not know but they always make a decision for the lower level employees which many times are taken with insufficient information.
-It is a human tendency to focus on certain aspects while ignoring others and the boss is no exception.
-We can not expect the boss to know everything, many a times an employee may have an easy solution to problem than a boss. Many bosses are not able to accept this fact and get into a competition with their own sub-ordinates. Many a times, it turns out to be an ego issue for the boss.
-If the boss comes from different domain, he may not be technically as competitive as some of the senior employees though he may be good at managing the team and running the whole show. In such a case the boss may not always be right and must ponder over the thoughts of his team.
-The boss may at times get into the favouritism mode which might dilute the objectivity of his decisions.

The boss is a human being too and can have his own share of right or wrong decisions. We as employees should not be judging him just because he is a boss. At the same time, to run the organization effectively the boss must try to take his team into confidence and try to grow himself into the role of a leader while getting out of the shadow of the word “boss” which is a bit too strong.