Is new manager being over strict?

Question

I’m working for an engineering company and I am office based. We have a new manager in our department, she is a young manager and is very enthusiastic. She has taken time and now got to know us though it looks like she will be much stricter than our last manager. 

She has had quiet words with some staff about small breaches of rules, nothing major but just like not strictly adhering to the dress code and taking a bit longer than the allocated 10 minute break times. In a recent meeting she brought these issues to everyone’s attention and informed us that if she sees anyone not keeping to these rules she will formally discipline them.With our previous manager, small breaches of rules like this were never an issue and I can’t recall him even having any words with anyone about things like this so I very much doubt that he ever disciplined anyone. Do you think our new manager is being over strict about this or is she right to start disciplining us?

Answer 1

Get used to it .  During your career you will have managers who don;t care about rules as long as the job gets done, and you will have managers 

who are the managers and dont you ever forget it

That's corporate life" you can accept it or   move on

Answer 2

I would think her to be overly strict if she made rules that never existed before, or punished people for breaking existing rules without warning she planned to do so.  But because warning was offered, I do not think her expectation for the rules to be followed to be overly anything.

Answer 3

you have no say in it after all she is the manager , if you dont like it then leave .

Answer 4

Doesn’t sound over strict, sounds like the last manager was lax (maybe that’s why they are now the former manager?). It doesn’t sound like these are her personal rules, but the company rules that she is enforcing. If you don’t like having to follow the company rules, find a different company.

Answer 5

Sounds like she's just doing her job.

Answer 6

It's hard to say without having a feel if things were allowed to get out of hand under the old leadership. I worked someplace that had a lot of rules - no food in the work area, no open toed shoes, on and on. One assistant manager was pretty strict, but heck, she was following company policy which she had no say about. I showed her respect pretty well, and she wasn't that bad with me - but - I had her back. She may have been easier on me because I played along. 



I worked another place that was a different world. I was in a back room, and another employee asked me, my first week, was I going to have a Scrabble game set up so people could play on their trips to the rest room, and was I going to do x ,y, z, for the employees free of charge, (company policy was 'no'). And while my predecessor had done x, y, and z FREE for some of her colleagues, she told others her schedule didn't permit it, even if they paid for the service! It was clear, after about two weeks, why she was gone. I had two co-irkers who tried to get me involved in helping them get merchandise out of the store with really weird stories - it turned out each of them was stealing.



I found out the rules and stuck by them. Worked out for me. 



I worked for a some businesses that had few rules. Both of them suffered losses from employees who stole from them, not just merchandise, but customers or time. (Running a competing business on the side, and using their employer's phone as their own business phone.

Answer 7

This insecure, inexperienced manager is enforcing petty rules for lack of ability to really manage workflow & employees. She may mature, develop people skills, learn how to do her job effectively, or she may turn into a petty tyrant who really cannot manage the job.

Answer 8

Dress code I think is more important then talking too much. She wants her employees to look properly dressed and to be productive. The more you chat with your co workers, the less work you get done. 

If you never saw your previous manager discipline some one, you don't know if they actually did so or not. 

Every manager has different styles of managing people. Some are more strict then others. She may be on the more strict side. You're just going to have to see how things work out with her. If you don't like her style of managing, you can find another job. 

Answer 9

Sounds like a real contrast between the two management styles. When I was in corporate management it was said that the biggest mistake new managers make is changing things too abruptly to put their "mark" on their tenure. This can cause confusion, errors, loss of commitment and loyalty to both the manger & company and a myriad of other problems.



Perhaps enforcing existing minor rules more strictly is less significant than changing policies but the principle itself still holds. Even if you know the people you now supervise because you came from the worker ranks, the relationship changes and it behooves one to find out how former co workers relate to someone who has now been promoted.



This is true of someone new coming in from another department or from outside the company. Everyone has to prove themselves as managers in a new position before they can expect others to fully cooperate. In an employee-employer relationship, issuing orders and changing things too quickly too often results in passive agressiveness on the part of at least some that can undermine the whole department.



You say that she has taken time to get to know you but the question you ask seems to indicate that something isn't working quite right. Perhaps some of the observations I offer in response will be helpful in determining the answer to your question in the environment where you work.

Answer 10

You haven't worked many places I take it.  They enforce the rules.  The previous manager you had didn't,  so accept that you are now coming in line with the norm. 



Don't waste time at work,  dress right,  do your job.

Answer 11

I've been in this situation before as the supervisor. 



I had 9 workers most had been their 3 years without doing to much work.



Simply showing up wasn't going to work for me. I needed to be successful in this position to move up.



I watched how the program ran for 2 weeks. #iwasmiserable...lol then we had a huge staff meeting. We went over all the new rules signed off on them...and personally discussed each persons duty and what i expected daily.



Would you believe the biggest issue was the professional dress code i told them would be effective in 2 weeks...no more short shorts, sandels, flip flops...my overall all message is...your weekend beach clothes should never be worn to work...



It seemed to get better over time but, real change came after several discussions with two buddy workers who were fired on the spot by the superintendent while they were working. Now, if you want to see staff step up to the plate bring in the big boss and let them go. I could have fired them but, bringing in the Superintendent sent a diffent message to everyone.



Everything ran smooth then...funny note i asked the superintendent to visit once a month...wow staff scurried when he came on campus.



I was successful and moved on.

Its important for new management to do a better job than what left. 

Answer 12

Maybe that's the way she's trying to show who the boss is. She is new so she needs to show her power, and that's her strategy. Hopefully, she'll calm down and be more reasonable eventually.

Answer 13

From an employee standpoint, it's difficult to go from Glinda the good witch of managers to Hitler reigning over Nazi Germany.  It just makes for a very rocky road when you're so used to a comfortable work environment that isn't very uptight, trusts you and affords you plenty of personal freedoms.



Not strictly adhering to the dress code and taking a bit longer than the allocated 10 minute break times seem like trivial things.  Plus 10 minute breaks aren't extremely generous but it's company policy.  If anything your previous manager was probably too lax about it.  Everyone else has to adhere to the rules so why should exceptions be made?  What makes the person who's an exception to the rule so special?



In all honesty she shouldn't need to be enforcing these rules.  People are expected to be mature and responsible enough to follow them on their own accord.



Work sucks, doesn't it?  Workplace politics are for the birds.  

Answer 14

She is just trying to do a good job whereas the last one let things slide. 

Answer 15

If you are in the USA and are an exempt employee (usually defined as "salary"), you don't get a 10 minute break.  You are paid for the work you do, no the time it takes to do the work.

- If you are an engineer at the engineering company, i would surmise you are an exempt employee.



Non-exempt employees have to clock watch.  Non-exempt employees are paid by the hour.



I think she is just puffering to show her authority.  If people give her the respect she thinks she deserves, she will become more light about it.

Answer 16

You ask if the new manager is being over strict. But she only following company rules. Which is hardly being 'over strict'. Maybe your previous manager was overly lax, and you got to see that as the norm.



If nothing else, a new manager is always going to have a different management style. They also want to be seen, by their own manager, to be doing a thorough job!