I'm stuck in a very interesting position.

I report to a manager which reports to a director. I was summoned to the office one fine day when my manager was not around. The director had a casual chat with me and ask me if there are any problems and such. I did mention that there are few issues.

He then questioned me why I didn't go to my manager regarding these issues. I did mention that it's not very urgent/important and the last time I went to my manager on these issues, he just gave me some suggestion which ultimately still leads to me solving these problems. The director shares the same view as me that the manager should help his subordinates to resolve non-technical issues, as he can't provide any technical help.

The manager is relatively quite new, but is reponsible for my salary increment. It is actually the director which hired this manager to manage me and my deparment. I was asked to give my manager a list of problems and report to the director in 2 weeks regarding what my manager have done to resolve it.

I've also heard rumors that I may be promoted and I am wondering if this is some kind of test. Any request for promotion/increment have to be approved by the director. The director have personally picked me to do this as we had a good relationship from prior work experience in other areas.

Although my manager have control over my department, the director is able to override any decision made by the manager.

Am I playing with fire here? Should I do what the director ask me to do to sort of 'set up' my manager? Or should I play down the issue saying it is not very important/urgent. It's like biting the hands that feed you or biting the hand that feeds the hand that feeds you

Well do you want his post or not? Sometimes this is the way for the higher management to test someone else, if something goes wrong you will get the blame not him

Play your cards right or you'll end up with nothing.
List out the strong/weakness of your manager and compare it with yourself.
In terms of capabilities, appearance, maturity,presentation, etc, how do you rate compared to him ?

There is a few ways to work it up the ladder, do not backstab him.
Bring out the manager weak points and when the director asks for details, give him the details and protect the manager back.
Remember that feud among peers is not healthy.

You think it is easy to setup him ? Maybe your director wants you to assist the manager ? Promote you to assistant manager ? You'll never know.
Good luck.

I've held management level position for few years...and hence been the "kuli" before for quite some time. U must be smart in tackling this issues. Its true the director can override the manager's decision. But NEVER overlook your superior for the director. I think what is important here is TEAMWORK. The best way to approach this is to work together with your manager hand in hand and try solve the problem together, but make sure u indirectly bring this up to your director to let him know u ARE a team player. U see, nowadays in organisation, there is no more a one man crusade. Its a more teamwork, team effort. But keep your triumph cards close to your chest. Besides, like u say, your manager's new. Give him time to adapt. But watch out for his attitude. Some people dont like u to be smart and threaten their positions. Just be humble and respect their position and opinions. Oh yeah, dont listen to rumours, until everything is dotted black and white. Focus on your work. Dont worry, hard work will definitely pay off. What important is to get noticed, be smart and..enjoy yourself. Good luck Mr Manager-soon-to-be

Forgot to mention that this possible promotion is not to replace my manager, but it is something like a technical lead position which will still report to him. I've nothing against my manager actually, it's just that he's not doing enough as a manager.

Believe it or not, but I am not really interested in this possible promotion. I'm happy doing my job and not too interested in any power struggle by anyone. I don't think I can do a better job than my manager because he is a managerial kind of person whereas I am a technical sort of person which just solve technical problems, and not people problem. However, I do think the director did a much better job than the manager before this new manager came into the picture. I believe that the director believe he is not getting good worth from the manager which I believe earns in the region of 10k+

i think differently. your manager might not be in the field for long enough. since your manager's suggestion tak boleh pakai, if i were you, i'll come out with problem statement and put in possible solution (by helping the manager to make decision). this will be a team work.

don't care about promotion / salary increment. if you think the offer is not good then leave. if i'm the boss, by paying you 1k i expect you to earn for me at least 2k and i don't want the headache.

Gave suggestion to the manager dy. But then he don't agree with my suggestion but the director agree with my suggestion. Since he is my manager, I have to follow what he say even though I don't agree.

I suggest A to manager, manager ask to do B. Doing A will definitely by directly undermining the manager's authority

When I suggest A to director, director said manager should do A. Director said if manager do not do A, then report back to him.

Seems like you are trapped in between.

Why not try to convince and reason with your manager that A brings more benefits than B? Perform a short but persuasive presentation that lists out the benefits which A will bring far outweigh B.

How is the office communication in your company? Is it heavily depends on email? Decision making is a process that should keep every related and important people in the loop. The director should be in the CC list, and is aware what is going on during the decision making process.

hehehe in my office, everything talk about cost saving.

if me, i'll convince my manager why my idea is better and normally i'll ensure he got nothing better then mine... this is how i get my salary increment...

if he insist to follow his path, i'll escalate him. in your case, bring up to director lor

back ur manager.

u've informed the director about suggestion A and do not recommend B, and the director agrees with u. u should try to back ur manager's decision to go for B. ur director is evaluating both u and the manager. if u've played ur cards too fast, u'll be seen as overzealous and ready to step over other people to get higher posts, and also can be seen as bodek boss.

this characteristic can be seen as weak and undecisive as well. but backing ur manager would be a way to go. only when the manager agrees with the director's suggestion A will u start working on A. if not, stick to B.

ur still under ur manager's supervision despite ur strong relationship with the director. never overstep ur position. if u respect this, people will respect u more. the director will know if ur on his side, u wont backstab him. so build up the reputation.

ehhh my big boss once asked me... are you questioning my decision? are you letting your manager's decision to override my direction? (i still remember my big boss calling from Singapore that time)

to me, its all about escalation, escalating my ex-manager was like daily task already.. hehehe.. now my new "manager" treat me much better.

well i believe different company have different mindset...
get the correct person to do the correct job

easy mah.... play the politic game, play to last.... in your opinion, which of the above asses will stay with the company longer? is it the manager or director? cos if u intend to stay with the company, you know who you'll end up with.... so that's the perky little ass that u have to kiss. its that simple.

one thing about backstabbing: what goes around comes around. Especially when backstabbing a boss... or a superior, make sure the reward is a promotion to a position of at least his/her level.... cos you'll never know when he's gonna get back at u.

I'm not trying to backstab anyone.

Director just asking me if my manager is doing his job.
Manager is doing a job, but not very good at it.

The director is certainly very powerful and can make life good or bad for anyone below his power. Actually, the director actually calls all the shots, whereas the manager is reponsible to ensure the director's plan is carried out.

Regarding cost saving, it will save more cost if the manager solves the problems and leave the team to concentrate on the technical matter. No sense paying someone lots of money just to forward emails around, rite?

Oh well.. I'll just have to see how things goes. Thanks for your comments.

if u mention manager not doin his duty well, then why director have to hire the manager, director can replace his position already with someone new or perhaps YOU?

Director was probably fooled by impressive resumes. You won't know how good is a person solely based on resume and a few interview sessions. Hiring managers is probably not as easy as giving a test and a few interviews. Seems like that in my company, the more impressive your resume is, the worst the person perform at the actual work.

Anyways, my department manager changed 3 times already, and it's not an easy job to be the manager. I have a feeling that the director is starting to number the manager's days already. Few people resigned already and the director nowdays is more worried that the manager is causing the department to fall apart.

I definitely won't be the manager for sure as it is a managerial position. Most is just some technical lead role for a group of 4-5 ppl only.

dude... suck it in and ride it out... at least that's what most ppl do... whichever direction the wind changes u'll still get ur salary, if he stays, the most harm the manager can do is give u smaller increment... if he goes, you'll have a new ass to kiss... if so many managers already left, perhaps the problem is not the managerial level... perhaps the director is a fussy ass that needs super extra smooching... but that's not up to u. just work yourself out.

or just check out and try ur luck elsewhere... chances are it might just be as bad.