”Only if I was the boss [when asked if she would work in an office again]” quote by Janet Ellis, suppose should be shared by each person who has no fear to be a boss.

According to the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary Boss’s etymology is as follows: Dutch baas master that dates back to the 1653. Definition is really simple and easy to remember. 1: a person who exercises control or authority; specifically : one who directs or supervises workers. 2: a politician who controls votes in a party organization or dictates appointments or legislative measures. This time we will talk about the first meaning of the word.

Even though I mentioned above that the definition of the BOSS is easy to remember, managing relations with him/her hardly can be as much easy. I worked not on too many positions but still had to experience personalities and priorities of 6 bosses.

While surfing in the internet to go through this issue more deeply, I found out that this is a problematic, actual, and quite interesting 1 680 000 times covered topic according to the Google search results.

Headlines of the articles and posts vary as much as many types of bosses do we have. Something like: Little Things That Make Employees Want to Leave... Boss or Friend? Dealing with a Difficult Boss: How to Handle Working with a Boss ... Getting Along With Your Boss, and so on.

Once of my friends said that there is no good boss. Neither agree not refuse this statement because I happened to have a boss whom I can work with quite along time. But that happens rarely.

One of the difficult issues that rise in boss-employee relations is the issue of pay rise.

According to the SOURCEWIRE, almost half of PAs and secretaries (43%) do not feel comfortable in approaching their boss for a pay rise as they find their superiors intimidating. Through the online poll by office support recruiter Crone Corkill found that most would rather wait and see if they were offered a salary increase than request one.

31% of respondents admit that their approach to their boss regarding the issue much depends on the workload and stress level at the time. Just under a fifth of the respondents said that they are often rewarded for their hard work.

“It is surprising that so many PAs said that they would not approach their boss considering they work so closely with them” comments Tracy Durrant, Managing Director at Crone Corkill. “However many also said they would have to judge their boss’s workload first so they obviously know them well enough to know when is a good time, and when isn’t! Discussing workplace and employment issues is important and office support staff should see it as a vital element in building a strong working relationship, which employers will value.”

Despite all the efforts of offering different ways to deal with the problem I think that relations are manageable on the bases of accepting and following the priorities of bosses but anyway if the interests priorities differ then not the relations but business fails. As Sam Walton says: “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”


References:
http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=LXmQi
http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/keywordquotes/boss