How to manage a manager?
I work for a small company in a very nitch service industry. We operate three locations within a single small state. There are a total of six licensed FT employees, two FT support staffers and handful of per diem employees. The company is owned and operated by a single individual.
The issue is that the owner refuses to manage our team. If there are employee conflicts, he insists that we handle them on our own directly at the source. He does not act on concerns brought to his attention and will not address problem employees in any fashion unless the issue is legally problematic. His primarily focus is on networking with other industry professionals nationwide and he is often absent from our daily operations. The entire dynamic is causing a great deal of conflict and stress in the workplace. Many, if not all, of the employees are at the breaking point. To make matters worse, a recent hire is exploiting the situation and causing things to spiral. As many of the employees see me as a sounding board who confidently speaks her mind, I have approached the owner on many occasions with our concerns as well as the recent hire with my personal observations.
Is this the new management standard employees should expect? I find this extremely unfair as I did not choose to pursue a degree in HR/management, nor did my coworkers. The owner is intent on expanding, so I anticipate staff relations will continue to deteriorate as responsibilities and workloads increase. What can we do as employees to engage our owner to become an effective manage?