how to manage bosses?

Question

Hope the question is itself enough.

Answer 1

%^%^%^

Do as you are told
Speak only when spoken too
Stay out of sight and work 2X as hard as expected.

Answer 2

As distasteful as your first impression of this idea may be, making your boss look good is about the only leverage/carrot you have for your boss.
Managing how to structire incentives for your boss to get this from you is probably the idea that comes to mind first to manage him, but it comes to everyone's mind, including your boss. Get a book called the "59 Second Employee", as it offers many good tips, particularly for bosses that follow the management fads of the day.
Another suggestion is to follow the current trands in management fashion, so you know what's coming when your boss sits down and requests you to take the Meiers Briggs personality test. A bunch of VP's at Union Pacific used to agree what personality they would portray on the test depending how they thought their new boss would best react. Next time your boss starts giving you silent treatment, empowering sessions or what have you, you will know what angle he is trying to approach you from.

My experience with managing engineers is that they tend to feel organizations are like any closed physical system, energy you put in must come out somewhere. Truth is organizations are black holes, where you do not get the credit for the real value of your work. Sad fact, many managers will exploit a technical worker as much as possible thanks to the worker's belief that fairness and equity will prevail leaving you with what you deserve, so good luck with this.

Note: Don't shrug off the management books as a bunch of fluff, even though many of them are indeed lousy. MBA's take them very seriously so they offer key incite to what bosses are told they should see as important.

Answer 3

If you're talking about a working environment then in many cases it is difficult to manage a boss. However, if you do your job well, and you are diligent in your work ethic, usually you don't have to worry about your boss too much. Sometimes it's u that needs to be managed better. If you are the good worker and you are being treated unfairly or you are really unhappy I would suggest talking to someone in Human Resources or find another job.

Answer 4

For insight into the care and management of bosses, especially engineering bosses:

www.dilbert.com