Written on 6/12/2008 by Abhijeet Mukherjee, of Jeet Blog. 
For all the working professionals around the world who are employed in a company owned by someone else, most of the after-work gossip centers around one person - the boss. It's the person whom they report to and it's the boss' responsibility to ensure that they accomplish the tasks they are given, efficiently and productively.
The boss always has great expectations from the team and the team members always find it hard to live up to these expectations. Hence there comes a time when the employee and his boss enter into a heated argument over something, which ultimately results into the employee getting fired from his job. Although such arguments aren't
unexpected, there are a lot of things which the employee can do to avoid turning minor arguments with the boss into a heated debate.
I am not talking about losing your self-respect or flattering your boss, but some sensible tactics which can ensure that you have an amicable relationship with your boss.
Observe You can only predict the sudden changes in the behavior of a person if you have been observing them. Hence it's important to start observing your boss from day one and then decide the way you should approach and talk to them. If you find that he or she is an easygoing person who loves to talk a lot and be cheerful, then you can open up too and try to be friendly. However if he or she is a serious kind of a person who doesn't discuss anything with his team, then you should be careful and guarded while talking to them.
It's also important to observe the situations when your boss is very happy with something and the situations when he or she gets irritated and tends to lose their cool. It'll further give you an idea about different shades of their characteristics and likes and dislikes.
Whine less, Praise More Most of us take a step back when it comes to taking the onus of a team failure and whine about other aspects like work atmosphere, limitations, etc. It's not a good idea to always whine about different things in front of your boss. It doesn't leave a good impression and further, it gives them an excuse to rebuke you when
you fail to deliver on a personal project.
Also, you should take every opportunity to celebrate success with your boss and appreciate him for guiding you throughout. It's not flattering your boss, but praising him for his sincere efforts. However, if you praise your boss again and again, it doesn't leave a good impression with co-workers either.
Be careful while talking When you are discussing something with your boss in an informal manner, no matter how approachable and friendly he or she is, you shouldn't cross the line and say something which an employee should not say to his boss. This results in bad feelings and further affects your work and career growth.
Your boss might talk about things like a friend, but you shouldn't get carried away by that and start treating him like the guy next door.
Learn to listen It's important to listen more and talk less, especially when your boss is talking. You should raise your point whenever required, but it shouldn't look like you are trying to be authoritative.
Also, you should realize that your boss can have bad days and might sometimes shout at you for no reason. Instead of immediately reacting to it and arguing with him, it may be better to stay quiet because ultimately they will realize the error in their ways and voluntarily apologize. However, this doesn't mean that you should keep quite when there is a pattern of verbal abuse or ignorance; protect your self-respect at all costs.
Perform I think this is understood. If you don't slack and give a good performance then the chances of that heated argument with your boss further diminish. Your boss wouldn't want to get into an argument with you, because you are a performer and you are needed on the team.
Go that extra mile Most of us have the impression that our bosses are good for nothing and they don't do any work. However, in reality most (not all) of them tend to do more work than their team members and work even after the normal office hours.
So why not go an extra mile and ask your boss if you can be of any help. Usually a clever boss will approach a team member to share the work load, thus giving the employee a chance to raise their status in the boss' eyes. But if you find your boss always working late then you can always take the initiative and approach him or her to share some of their work load.
I hope this help you to further strengthen your relationship with your boss and avoid that inevitable (as they say) argument with your boss, which might cost you your job.
-Abhijeet
