What kind of a BOSS are you?”

By Leulseged Worku
It's commonly known that no matter how much you enjoy doing your job, it's is also determined by the working atmosphere,your co-workers and your boss that have the power to make it work among others. And it's none other than your boss, director, supervisor or manager who has the greatest say over your day-to-day experience. A good boss can make work a pleasure, nurturing,meaningful and rewarding At the same time there are some bosses that can be resembled a monster. I know, all bosses are humans like the rest of us with a glaring flaws. Still, they must be "better" than you in some ways to be in a “boss” position.
Have you ever have a chance to observe closely your bosses or your supervisors behavior? What special quality you notice , identified ? What is their weakness? What is their strength ? Well you might say “my boss is like a father to me. He tends to show me how the ropes instead of picking my faults.” Or you might say “well, my boss is a kind of arrogant who likes to hear his own voice.”Well, depending on your experiences, you might say a lot of positive or negative things about your boss or supervisor.
It is Crystal clear that, bosses behavior have a direct impact in productivity. It has its own role in stimulating or “killing” the working appetite of subordinates. If you like your boss or supervisor no matter how hard your task is you will have commitment and dedication to see it through. The reverse happens if you have a negative out look about him/ her, you will start the day by cursing the day you were born. For that matter even if you have the capacity to accomplish that simple task within a minutes, it takes you days or weeks. Bearing this in mind, lately, I had a chance to interview some employees and their bosses here in Addis.
Samson Mamo, journalist by profession is the owner and Managing Director of Samson Media Advertising. According to him,in Ethiopian context the term “Boss” has interpreted differently. He said,”From my previous experience, I can tell you for sure that, in our country bosses have an over exaggerated image for themselves. They underestimate others by creating ideal image for themselves. No matter what your previous relation is, immediately after they assume a position, they will despise you. And they are highly bureaucratic.” “No matter what your potential is, no matter how competent you are, they won't let open conversation or let you to work freely with confidence.”

Samson added, “to this kind of bosses, if you have self esteem, believe me you are a potential enemy. They consider employees as if they are subjects not citizens. Using their position, “Bosses” prefer to show their power and authority against subordinates. In other word they prefer to live in an imaginary fearful zone.”
“Therefore, using my previous experience as an input I don't want to create such stiff environment in my office. There is no any boss here in my office. I don't want any employee to develop boss and subordinate relation concept. I totally believe that, by creating a close relation with my coworkers I can increase productivity.”
What is more, when ever there is disagreement among staff, we have a culture of discussing the matter and resolve it in table discussion.

My other interviewee is Elias Atnafu who is working as a camera man and editor for Samson advertising. When I Ask Elias what A Boss mean to him,he responded saying: “Boss is not a clear concept for me. From my experience there was no time I felt that I had a boss. As long as I respect my job and discharge my responsibilities on time, there won't be any ground to think about boss. Beside this, due to his flexible leadership qualities my superior approach me like a brother not as a boss.”
To add to what the above two individuals and other unmentioned informants, told me I headed to Addis Ababa University(AAU) to add a scholar and science meaning and interpretation of Boss and what Conducive working environment is. Hence, Fekadu Mulugeta, is a lecturer and Educational Policy and Leadership a PhD candidate at the university. According to him, in Ethiopia the concept of “Boss” is interpreted differently. what a boss mean is someone who is not doing any productive work but benefit lot. But the reality is, if you are a boss you are expected to be the role model for your subordinates too. Unfortunately, in Ethiopia because of our traditional history and the way organizations are structured the conception about “Boss” is distorted. The developed image is that “Boss” is a person who has got all the power over his employees and sit idle while others do his job.

In any organization it is common to observe that if someone has became a boss he feels that all the burden has gone. Under any circumstances, no matter how the employees work hard to increase the productivity of the organization it is the boss who will be rewarded; If the company does something good it is the individual boss who would be appreciated.” .

Why do we hate our Bosses? According to Fekadu, because our bosses are not there to help us in time of needs. In most organization there is a common belief that bosses are sitting there to monitor, to supervise and control subordinates. Therefore, whenever the subordinates face challenge they don't feel that the boss is there to help them. But it should be the reverse. the boss is the leading feature in a particular organization he has all the obligation to direct and support his subordinates. He has to indicate alternative ways. He/ She must go to the extent helping and understanding the problem of individual worker.

Why the hide and seek game?This is also resulted of the big gap created between the boss and employees. Autonomy is not there. It is only the boss who has got this power. In the work oriented society,no one cares if the boss is there or not,the boss is trusted. Where as is country like ours,the boss is the only responsible person to the organization and the employees are not. Therefore, in the presence of the Boss every body work hard. But when he is not around every individual lag behind.This will create misunderstanding between them. Whenever the boss is in his office, the employees don't feel free and wait the moment to be free from his clutch.
Therefore, we can say that the “hide and seek game” is the result of a boss behavior and the gap created between them.
“I personally believe that employees who work with me should not play the hide and seek game. Rather, they should come and share their concerns, grievances positive and negative feelings.
In this regard the leadership quality of a boss play a key role in shaping the subordinates response. There are some bosses very strict with rule and regulations. For this kind of boss if they set the time to start work at seven you have to be there on time without being late a single minute.. The other are bosses who are a total different from these. For them as long as you accomplish your task they don't care about your punctuality. Therefore, we can say that the first ones are rule orientated or autocratic bosses who feels that the employees have no any alternatives.
This approach worked in the past. Today the trend has completely changed because employees have alternatives,they change jobs if they don't like the one they have. They don't look only for better salary but also need organizational security, peace, freedom and the like. They also want to be part of decision making process.
Who is the right Boss? Fikadu said, he is the one who would put himself in the employees shoes. He understand their value system and always will be on by their side to support them. He would be developmental and more open for participation, create a conducive environment where the employees show and develop their talents. In this regard organizational structure has a significant role in bringing the boss and employees together.
What is Conducive environment? Is a kind of environment that gives attention to the humanistic elements of employees. Understanding the feeling, the culture, the living condition of employees. It is an environment that try to care for its employees. This includes having shops, cafeterias or other service giving facilities in or around the organization.

To sum up, what type of boss you are? Or to what extent you are close to your employees or subordinates? Are you a kind of boss who prefer dictating instead of working closely with your subordinates? Do you have any comment on my piece?