To ask does this type of management style have a name?

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So my manager has a tendency to be negative, for example

Me Great news Mr C wants to go ahead with our proposal.

Manager:- that's good but what about Mr D has he cone back?

We recently had a dispute with a company which led to them invoicing us, it was impacting seriously on moral because it was causing blaming each other within the team.

I managed to argue our case and they voided the invoice. In one of my emails I stated something along the lines of if this is not resolved we will complain to your ombudsman and seek compensation.

So I emailed "hey good news this is sorted"

His response that's good, what about the complaint to the ombudsman? I said but it's the result we wanted, they accepted their error job done. Moral back up and sighs of relief from all staff.

I think this is his management style but does it have a name? Just wondering so when I sit with him today I can gently say I wonder if it's worth considering not using this technique?

Tell him to stop being a cunt?

@LEMtheoriginal that really did make me LOL!!!

I used to work in a lab doing research, and if i ever took results to my boss saying something like "I've got the results, they look good" he'd completely pick them apart. Everyone in the lab noticed it, so we all used to go to him with a bit of a negative "got the results, don't think they look very good though..." then he'd be all "what are you talking about, this looks good" etc think it was just his personality. Some people just don't like you to ever say anything is good!

I too work with someone like this. The first explanation is that they are preetythick and don't always get it and the second is that they never give due credit, always replacing well done with a ludicrous imagined scenario. I call them credit stealing shitbags but there are probably more mature terms. It's definitely a thing though.

He sounds quite negative, as if he always wants to keep you in place! Does he try & pass it off as thorough? No wonder morale is no. He sounds like a divide & conquer type. Or Nurse Ratched.

In "Games People Play" Eric Berne described this behaviour as playing a game called Blemish. Well worth a Google.

I don't think this is negative management style. at all. Have you ever been a manager? Of course they have to keep their eye on things/options. They wouldn't be doing their job if they weren't.

If the proposal went to Mr D and Ms C and Ms C said yes, the natural progression is to say "what did Mr D say".

If in a situation you just said "don't worry, its sorted", a good manager would have a lot of questions. Did you sort it by complaining, did you sort it by escalating it? Did you sort it by going down there with a cricket bat and yelling at people?

Maybe work on your communication and think about these problems holistically. Try to be more clear. Instead of saying "don't worry its sorted" Say "I believe the situation is sorted: They are rescinding the invoice by tuesday, and have agreed to end all litigation. Therefore we do not need to go to the ombudsman at this stage. I will follow up with finance on Tuesday to ensure the invoice is rescinded and will confirm with you when I hear".

The manager's behaviour can be seen as always checking the back up. At least this person is paying attention. Both times he said: "That's good", so how is he being negative?

It's morale in this context, not moral. Sounds as though he's trying to make sure everything is covered off.

NOmorespaghetti - I wonder if the manager you mentioned just liked being oppositional?

Oppositional negging.

@ZoeWashburne yes I am a manager, but he manages me. My technique is based on team and positivity. I do feel his style is negative it's always a good with a BUT.

@fourquenelles I'll take a look at that.

some people just like to criticise, nothing is ever good enough.
Lots of people are like it!

I'd call this being a decent manager and looking ahead/at the whole picture as opposed to the minor stuff. It's what you have to do as a manager. The Ombudsman thing is a bit thick, tho, you obviously would no longer need to contact them.

When you feed back you could say how it would help you to hear more positive comments. If you tell him what NOT to do you are effectively doing the same as he is, and may lower his morale!

Or...to be cleverer, you have identified he's a person with an 'away' focus. He doesn't think "this is great,how can we celebrate " ('towards' the good stuff) but thinks "This is fine so far, how can we avoid a cock up?" ('away' from the bad stuff).

So your feedback to him could be couched in the style he feels comfortable with. "It would help us avoid mistakes, or prevent our morale dropping, if you give some positive, specific feedback without conditions or negatives each time we do something."

To be clear I'm not saying he shouldn't ask about clients but just keep that separate from congratulating on positives.

Obviously clients are not all going to respond at the same time, one has to be first, second, third etc.

The complaint thing was an email from the company confirming that it was their error, they were cancelling the invoices etc so he was fully informed.

In most cases when someone is given tasks a, b and c but only gives an update about task a, it is expected that the manager will then ask about b and c to check if some help is needed. Have you also tried giving a more complete update to cover all the open tasks? It sounds like he is acknowledging the success with "good", but not strongly enough for you because he moves straight on to the next topic without a pause. He just isn't as excited by each small win because he sees all the other tasks, so he's possibly highly critical / self-critical, particularly as "all the tasks" never ends. You could suggest that the team would benefit from more emphasis on positive messaging, e.g. more celebration of good news even with the small wins or taking a little longer in acknowledgement of the good news.

@RosyPrimroseface that is genius! Thank you!

@Excited0803 yes that's all done in weekly meetings. But obviously if good or bad news arrives during the interim then that's fed back. What I'm saying is that he should just go "great" and then we do the complete catch up
In the weekly meeting.

I know a lot depends on tone etc so I don't want to assume you're misinterpreting it but this doesn't really sound negative to me. The good is being acknowledged, and then there are follow up questions to clarify the rest of the situation. That seems quite normal and thorough to me. Managers need to have a handle on the detail!

This does sound like a negative management style, as the manager in question does not appear to understand the importance of positive reinforcement and praise in building an effective working environment. I would say in regards to management theory he has a benevolent/authoritative management style as he does appear to have some trust in his team but can be a bit paternalistic (ie checking up and asking follow up questions about other issues) and slightly condescending