supervisor conflict

dynamite9551

for whatever reason, one of my supervisors refuses to acknowledge me as her supervisor. she refuses to even address the situation. i'm new to this medical office and have asked a lot of questions, in order to learn why and how things are done. she has blatently accused me of "attacking" her and refuses to cooperate. she holds meetings with her staff without getting ok from me (meeting held after hours)which means i'm also paying her staff for these meeting. when i asked her about why i was not at least advised of the meeting - she replied that she did not think she did not feel it was necessary.

she's a good supervisor in terms of knowledge and dedication to practice - but how do i work and deal with her.

MS HR

head to head.
establish your authority now or forever be regretful.
anytime expenses are incurred, such as overtime to attend meetings, must be approved by you. Ditto any "group" meetings ought to be coordinated with you as you might have some input into the meetings.
I would verbally warn her about her insubordination (but document it in your file)and stay on top of her.
that's what you're getting paid for.....
just my thoughts

LeeR

be direct. tell her the proper pecking order and require her to obtain your approval for meetings.

Whatever

You and the supervisor need a head to head meeting. State the obvious. You are new to the company. That whenever a new supervisor comes into a company, things will change. Tell her that you appreciate her knowledge and that you are counting on her cooperation. Then remind her that in the end you are the supervisor. Also, tell her what you expect of her (ie advise you of all meetings, cooperation). Finally, document the meeting for your file.

Bizee1

Definitely time for a Come-to-Jesus meeting. You might want to think about including YOUR supervisor in that meeting as well, with the explanation that you want everyone on the same page when it comes to who is in charge of what and who. This includes having meetings that incur overtime without approval first. Having your own supervisor there will reinforce whatever is said on your behalf.

Ruby Tuesday

I agree with what everyone else said. Meet with her as soon as possible. Don't expect an easy road ahead. I was in a similar situation. One of the women who reported to me made it blatantly obvious that she wanted my job. We had numerous conversations and I couldn't get it through her head that she reported to me and not the other way around. I hoped for her cooperation and very much wanted to make it work but in the end I'm still here and she's not.

Good luck!

POPEYE

First of all Dynamite, welcome to the best HR forum on the Net. You will find this to be a very informative venue and you will benefit from a wealth of knowledge. You also need to know that at times there will be totally different points of views rendered and please don't take those personally.
With that said, I'm going to render mine. A determining factor in how to handle your situation depends on what position you hold, how your organizational structure is set up and how the levels of reporting have been done or have been changed. I have 14 supervisors that according to our structure are my direct reports. They call meetings every day, perform their job responsibilities and I never know it. I would not have it any other way. The reason that at times HR gets such a bad name is that people feel that we want to try and control everything they do and unfortunately that is the way things are handled in some companies. I have always been and will continue to be of the mindset that the farther away I can stay from the day-to-day operational activities, the more objective and fair I can be when there is a problem that requires my attention. Granted that there may be times when "Micro Managing" may be the only way to get a handle on things but I have never been there and hopefully never will.

MS HR

Popeye,
Granted your point of view is valid in some organizations like yours because you have developed it that way, but I'll bet if one of your directs were to "challeng" you, you would face the situation head-on in the same way the above posts recommend.

POPEYE

Yes there have been times when challenges have come up and we do meet them head to head. However, I try to make it a learning experience for everyone and not a do it or else. I feel by being hands off and allowing my supervisors to do what they are being paid to do and only stepping in for the "serious" issues, allows HR to gain the respect within the company that we all strive for.

Ruby Tuesday

Popeye I'm not talking about "micro managing". I am not the type of manager who breathes down someone's neck or does not allow anyone else to make decisions. It's not about it being "my way or the highway". It's about employees that consistently challenge and refuse to cooperate. It's about employees that have a problem having to answer to someone else. It's about employees that have little or no respect for the person they report to not because the supervisor is unreasonable or demanding but for the sole reason they do not like to have to answer to anyone. In some cases it is because they were overlooked for the management position and they feel they should have gotten the position so they are mad and they retaliate by doing everything in their power to make life miserable for their new boss.

HRQ

I have one employee: she spends half her time doing HR stuff, the other half doing other stuff. She applied for my position, I was hired, and she was openly resentful to most of the staff prior to my arrival about her not getting the job. I knew all this going in to the job.

I chose to wait and see how things developed. Several months down the road, I learned that she had been badmouthing me to at least one location director. I don't know anything about the company, I don't do as much work as she does, you know the routine.

I sat her down, told her what I knew, and told her I don't mind if she disagrees with my style, etc, however I expect her support me publicly. Not necessarily PRAISE me, but support me. I

As far as I know, she stopped the negative chitchat, or she found a "safer" person to talk to. Either way, she's being careful about it and I think we have a decent working relationship now. Getting it out in the open in a non-confrontational way worked best for me.