Management Interview Question: Tell Me About a Time You Disagreed with a Subordinate

Once you’ve reached management level, there is a good chance you have enjoyed several years of work experience that the interviewer can ask you about. That is why management interviews often have a lot of behavioral questions.

As a manager, your leadership skills are going to be tested often, so you can expect some behavioral interview questions about your interaction with subordinates. Answer them carefully.

How to Answer

No matter how you traditionally manage, you need to make sure you sound like a fair and loving boss. You should not talk like you are wiser or more experienced. Instead, share a story about calm and measured disagreement, what you learned, and how the company benefitted. Or, if you caught an employee doing something illegal or slacking off, you can talk about that disagreement as well.

Try to call your subordinates something nicer too like “team members” or “staff.”

Bad Answer

“One time my subordinate came to me and refused to do a project. She and I had an argument in the middle of the workplace. Needless to say I fired her.”

This doesn’t really make you look like an outstanding boss. No story that ends with you getting your way just because you’re the boss is a good story.

Good Answer

“Often I would walk into my team member’s office and find that he was spending time on social networking sites instead of working. We had a discussion about the time he spent on his projects. It started as a disagreement, but I realized that he wasn’t wasting time for the purposes of wasting time. He was wasting time because he would get done extremely quickly and efficiently, and he would run out of projects and get bored. Rather than reprimand him, I started finding him more work to do, and he became one of our most productive employees.”

This is a disagreement, but only in the beginning. By the end of the story you have shared a tale that makes you look like someone that recognizes brilliance and communicates well with subordinates. These kinds of stories are much better for your employment chances.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Look for stories that make you look intelligent and fair.
• Stay away from sounding too dominant, but try not to sound weak either.
• Always remain positive.

Management Interview Question – How Will Your Subordinates View You As a Supervisor?

The effectiveness of a manager is measured by the effectiveness of the staff under their supervision. It does not matter if you have the greatest managerial skills the world has ever known if your subordinates don’t do their job. They can love you. They can hate you. They can buy you cute little Japanese trinkets to show their appreciation of your leadership. If they don’t do their job, you are not doing a good job as manager.

Everyone has their own management style. The question is not the way you are a leader, but rather how your subordinates will view your approach. That is why a common manager interview question is “How will your subordinates view you as a supervisor?”

Bad Answer

“I hope they see me as a buddy. One of them. My goal is that they think of me as their friend, and see my leadership as they would see advice from anyone that they like and respect.”

Yeah… No.

Mediocre Answer

“The staff and I need to have a shared respect. While I may be the ultimate decision maker, they need to feel themselves free to suggest alternate courses of action, so I will work hard to ensure they see me as open. But at the same time, I will make sure that they see me as a leader. Ultimately, my subordinates will see me as strong but fair.”

This type of answer is not bad. In most cases it may even get the job done. However, it ignores a basic aspect of the human experience, and it is unlikely to be seen as an “inspired’ answer. Rather, it is just a plain, old, regular answer.

Better Answer

“I try to institute an adaptive management style, which means that each staff member is going to see me differently. If someone is an amazing independent worker and a true go getter, then they will see me as the gentle hand to guide their way. If someone requires a more stern voice, they’ll see me as a little bit more of a taskmaster, but hopefully one that they respect. Each staff member is going to see me as the leader that is best for their specific circumstance.”

There we go. That is an answer that the employer is not expecting, and one that encompasses true leadership. We mentioned before that the answer to “what is your management style” should be something like “adaptive.” The answer above does not sway from that idea.

You can give a mediocre answer and you will probably not harm your chances of getting the job, but you will not improve them either. A more original answer like the one above should put you in a much better place with the company.

Take Away Interview Tips

• If you said you would be an adaptive manager, your subordinates should see you as such.

Management Interview Question – How Do You Motivate Employees?

Management job interviews have a variety of questions that relate directly to your own management experience, or at the very least how you expect to use your new position of leadership. It is in the interests of the company to ensure that you are ready to take full advantage of your new role and are going to work harmoniously with the company.

Management questions are about competency, so their answers should be based on your own beliefs and experiences. The only wrong answer to these questions is no answer. Explain to the interviewer exactly what you believe or plan on instituting, and you will likely receive a positive response.

How Do You Motivate Staff?

You will likely be asked questions about how you get staff members to work efficiently. “How do you motivate employees” is found at a number of different management job interviews. Your answer to this should come from your own beliefs and experience. The only thing to keep in mind is to make sure you explain how you motivate employees at all stages of the process, not only completion. Those newer to management like to only talk about how they reward staff for performing above and beyond expectations, but they do not mention how they keep staff motivate during their work.

Sample Answer

“I use a variety of different methods to motivate staff. When a project is about to start and I am delegating tasks, I supply some type of mild reward, such as ‘I will treat you all to coffee once this is over.’

Once the project has started, I schedule weekly meetings where we go over checkpoints to ensure that the staff has reached their goals. I also try to create time sensitive team projects so that the staff is motivated to work harder in order to not let down their partners. Throughout the process I will also check in at random intervals to see if there are any questions or problems. I do not blame staff for falling behind, and will help out where I can, but the random check-ins should do an adequate job keeping them active and working.

Once the project is over, anyone that has performed above and beyond expectations I will report to the executives, and may even request that one of the executives acknowledge the staff member in person if they have time. I also treat the entire staff to coffee, as originally promised.”

This answer discusses how you motivate staff at all stages in the project, from birth to completion. You should give an answer that explains all stages of the process similar to this answer, but add your own motivation techniques where applicable.

Take Away Interview Tips

• The only poor answer to a management style question is no answer or an incomplete answer.
• Discuss the type of motivation you use at all stages of the project.

10 Common Management Interview Questions

Management job interviews are unlike most other types of job interviews. The management interview questions and answers are often behavioral, asking how you have handled similar situations in detail. They are much less knowledge based. Knowing that you understand a computer program or have knowledge in business models is not as important as knowing that you can handle the staff under your supervision.

Over the next several months we will be going over how to answer common behavioral and management questions that may occur during your job interview. However, as we get to those questions, here are some examples of the types of interview questions you may face at your management job interview.

Management Job Interview Questions

1. Describe a time when you had to ease a personal disagreement between two staff members?
2. Describe a time when you had to motivate your staff to work at a faster pace.
3. Describe a time when you had to work with an underperforming staff member.
4. Describe a time when a staff member disagreed with your perspective.
5. Describe a time where you were unsure how to proceed with a project.
6. Describe what your management style is like and decisions it has affected.
7. Describe a time when you were running short on a deadline and your next steps.
8. Describe a time when a client/customer was treating your staff unfairly.
9. Describe how you have handled priority for multiple projects.
10. Describe a time where you disagreed with another manager.

Thoughts on Management Interview Questions

Answering behavioral interview questions can be tricky. In future posts we will go over how to answer some of these management interview questions (/questions-and-answers/manager-job-interviews) effectively. However, you should note that any time you either do not have an answer or your answer will not speak highly of you, the best course of action is to say “While I cannot think of a specific instance in the past of this occurring, if I were to encounter that situation I would handle it thusly” and supply examples of how you would answer each question.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Management interview questions are often behavioral.
• If you do not have an answer, explain what you would do in the situation.

What is Your Management Style – Common Management Interview Question

When you apply for a position in management, you can expect a variety of questions designed to assess your ability to lead a large group of people. Some of these questions are going to be behavioral. Those questions are designed to judge your ability to problem solve. Other questions, however, are simply basic management interview questions that simply want to understand who you are and what you bring to the table.

One of the most common management interview questions is “What is Your Management Style?” It is a simple question that is asked at almost every job interview question. In general, this question is meant to be friendly. Interviewers are curious what your answer is, and whether or not you have an answer at all.

Yet this is also a good opportunity to show that you will be a great manager, by answering this question with a non-answer.

The Best Way to Answer the Question

There are a number of different types of management styles. Here is a good list of some of the management styles you may conform to, and that list is by no means exclusive. You may have your own unique management style as well.

However, when answering this question, it is a good idea to give a “non-answer.” Don’t answer the question directly. Good managers are willing to adapt to different situations, so your answer to this type of interview question should be:

“I do not conform to a specific management style. I try to adjust my style of management to each situation, since part of my job is to assess both the best way to complete the project efficiently and the style of leadership that works best with current staff dynamics.”

If they press you further, then feel free and discuss the management styles you utilize most often, but your first answer to questions about your management techniques should always be that you are willing to change and not stuck with a set technique. You want your interviewer to understand that they are getting someone that isn’t rigid in their beliefs. They are getting someone that is thoughtful and analyzes each unique situation for its properties.

Take Away Interview Tips

• Answer interview questions about management styles with your willingness to adapt your solutions to each scenario.

Additional Links

• Sample Management Job Interview Questions and Answers