Does my manager like hearing people bashing or is he just being a good manager?

Career Topics General
#1

My manager sometimes asks questions where the expected response could be to criticize others. This is usually in private conversation s. Stuff like:
I mention something I feel the organization has done wrong in the past, like move people around too much. He immediately asks me which of my previous managers I mean and gives me a list of choices, Jack, Mary, etc. And says if I tell him who he might agree with me and not move my people around if I don’t want.
He’s asked me several times if one of my reports has a problem that I’m younger than her, once after blaming me for something but than saying maybe it’s my report’s fault.
He asked if the way the organization was set up prior to the reorg was causing issues.

We’re talking about someone in a group I’ve had communication issues with (but who I’ve never explicitly named as the source of the issue) and he says that he personally likes this guy, but he’s a bit unresponsive, and pauses for me to comment .

All this could be just a concerned manager trying to help , or it could be someone who likes bashing people, what do you think?

#2

Management having conversations with staff, about other staff, that’s always gonna be really bad form.

#3

seems odd to me to fish for complaints like that

I don’t know if he likes “people bashing” as much as he wants to feel like the guy with the inside knowledge, even if irrelevant

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#4

He really loves talking about people , it seems. He gets much more into it than a lot of other things. To tell the truth, people are fascinating usually, just the bent to try to get people to complain does seem odd.

#5

Gossip Monger, not People Basher, neither is something I appreciate

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#6

Maybe it’s just in self defense to figure out if I’m the type of person who would bash him behind his back?

#7

that seems like people bashing if it’s a manager he’s asking about who you no longer work with and who has no real control on your career at this point.

if it was about people you still work with it makes more sense to ask who you’re talking about.

asking your report if she has an issue with you being younger than her is a really awkward thing to ask. i’ve worked with people above me who are younger than me. as long as i deem them competent, there is no issue. their age is not a factor. i’d hope nobody ever asks me such a stupid question. awkward question all around. also somehow seems possibly against age discrimination laws.

#8

I once had a manager who did that and then would go straight to HR. That wimp eventually got himself fired so it didn’t help him anyway.

#9

Go straight to hr with the gossip he heard?

#10

Yeah he tried to get people fired by just asking questions about them. He was a straight up idiot too.

He would send out a meeting invite at like 6:00 AM for an 8:00 AM meeting and low and behold when that person didn’t arrive for their meeting he would go to HR and say that the person was missing meetings.

#11

:astonished: even if they happened to miss a meeting that was scheduled in advance that they just forgot about, that’s such a dick move. talk to the person directly.

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#12

And that is how eventually everyone under him quit or got fired and then he got fired after he had nothing to show for it because everyone was gone.

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#13

Lmao this is insane.

#14

insane and/or the sign that he is a shitty person.