Caused irritation, having acted as boss after row (7)
I believe the answer is:
rankled
'caused irritation' is the definition.
'acted as boss after row' is the wordplay.
'acted as boss' becomes 'led'.
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'row' becomes 'rank' (I've seen this before).
'led' put after 'rank' is 'RANKLED'.
'having' is the link.
(Other definitions for rankled that I've seen before include "Annoyed" , "was source of irritation" , "Caused ongoing annoyance" , "hurt" , "Embittered" .)