Where should my loyalties lie (workplace)?

[Nikia]

Without going into too much detail, I started new job with a new company that seems to have different people dynamics than what I am used to. I don't have direct collegues. I have a superviser. Someone a little lower, who I may supervise in the future. The company is family owned with the owner actively involved there as well as other family members employed there. There appears to be animosity between the family and my superviser. I have issues with my superviser. My superviser has told me that I shouldn't say anything bad to the owning family about him, including directly suggesting ideas which should go through him. They have directly asked me about various job related issues. Currently, my work is very intertwined with my superviser.
How should I handle this siutation?

[flvegan]

1. If they (the owning family) have directly asked you

about things, you should give them the appropriate feedback. I'd watch my back around that supervisor, though.

[hfojvt]

2. loyalties have to lie

with whoever signs the paycheck and has the power to fire you.

As I told my brother though. Work would not be so bad if it wasn't for the people.

[IndyBob]

3. All I can suggest

is to be careful. Workplace intrigue and backstabbing is a perilous game.

I've been lucky, my supervisor of the last 18 years and I get along well enough.

My pop worked at a place with 2 owners, 50-50. Once every other month or so they would get into an argument, and all the employees (perhaps 8-10) would get called into the office to vote which of the two was correct. Dad said he would just stare at his shoes.

[Nikia]

9. It sure does seem like a perilous game

I have been there two months and am trying to figure out the rules of it all. I am trying to stay back, at least for a while, until I fully understand what is going on.

[mwooldri]

4. Keep your head down. do your work and your mouth shut.

Not a healthy environment to work in. If you are afraid to voice your opinion because you are concerned of the consequences then if it were me I'd be looking for somewhere else ASAP... but in the meantime doing what I am employed for dilligently and dutifully. This means that yes, there may well be no new ideas coming out.

/mark

[Nickster]

5. Just let me pass along this bit of advice. I too have been in similar

situations and I've been the one to speak the truth to higher ups. It feels good to speak the truth, but the reality of it is crap rolls down hill. If you tell the higher ups something not too good about your direct supervisor, they are going to tell him. If you come up with a good idea that is contradictory to your supervisor's input, he is going to hold it against you. I hate to say that, but that's how office politics work. Trust me, I suffer with it all the time. Sometimes you have to get by and protect your own butt. Because if you piss off your direct supervisor, he has the ability to make your life at work bad, and will start looking for anyway to take you down, because you are a threat. Maybe I'm too cynical about the workplace, but I've found this scenario plays out everytime.

Try your best to keep yourself out of the line of fire between the higher ups and your direct supervisor. Don't put a target on your back that anyone came aim at.

[Nikia]

10. I figure that it is best to try to stay out of it, at least for now

I do have to work closely with my superviser. You are right that he would be upset with me and probably try to get me in trouble or make my work life hard there if I don't honor his request. The owning family seems to be the one's in control though. I suppose that I can just try to say as little as possible, especially since I am still learning a lot about my job, the company, and the people involved.

[mad-mommy]

6. This situation...

This situation shouldn't exist...if they don't like this supervisor, and it appears to be reasons why...why is he still there? Unnecessary stress for you. Does your supervisor have the power to fire you? If not, and the family is in total control, then that's who you answer to, IF that causes problems for you with the supervisor, they need to know that. If they are decent people, they should put an end to this situation of placing you in the middle.

[Nikia]

8. I have wondered why he is still there

There may be reasons why they want to keep him around though such as the fact that just not anyone can do his job and the fact that we are a small department and I am relatively new. I don't know how long this animosity has gone on but the owner mentioned in a meeting that there are things that have been uncovered recently that he doesn't like.
I believe that the family is in total control. They hired me. I did not even meet my superviser until I accepted the offer (In retrospect perhaps I should have asked about meeting him). I am not completely sure that he could not fire me, but I suspect that he would not have the final say.

[Metta]

7. You can't not answer to the family while still following the supv.'s reque

quest at least initially since you don't know what power he has with the family to do you in. I would tell my supv that his request implies, in my mind, that he's willing to work through what you need to understand or need help with so you can do the job well. I also would ask your supv. what the chain of command is, if that isn't clear, for those times when you and he, I presume it's a he, are at loggerheads and you think he's wrong.