Bosses Behaving Badly

A friend of my daughter recently joined us for dinner.  During our conversation she shared some stories about her current employment: she is a college student home on break and working a summer job at a local recreation facility.  The experiences she shared were very unsettling:

"My boss is always yelling and never really tells anyone what they are supposed to be doing."
"If you are on his bad side, he will publicly humiliate you.  If you are on his good side, you can get away with anything."
"He has a habit of calling people names and has made comments that make me uncomfortable."
"You never know what to expect from him."
"I dread going to work...."

When I questioned if there was anyone she could speak to about his behavior, she stated that his superiors seem to love him.  She continued on that he has been in the managerial position for a number of years and the general consensus is "that's just who he is" and it's easier to just "deal with him" than to find a replacement.  Even the customers have accepted the situation because "it has always been that way" or they've learned to avoid him.

I challenged this young lady to speak up, but like so many young 20-somethings who are still unsure of themselves, she is hesitant and afraid of the repercussions, afraid to lose her job mid-summer.

This conversation made me wonder how common this situation is: How many of these managers are out there in the world - not only giving our youth some of their first job experiences but creating damaging environments for employees across the board?  How many employees have just accepted abusive behavior for fear of losing their jobs or being punished?

Bad managers are nothing new, but managers behaving badly is simply unacceptable in 2010.  We have come far in creating a society that is attune to management through respect rather than through fear.  Between labor laws creating fair standards & preventing abuse and social networks allowing individual employees to share their voices, anyone leading through fear is taking his or her organization into troubled waters.  Equally guilty are those in positions of authority who continue to accept and condone (by absence of acting upon) the behaviors of the offending managers.

My counseling to this young lady was around speaking up and reporting her experiences, both verbally and in writing, to all of the supervisors.  We also discussed what makes a good leader/manager and an enjoyable workplace.  If nothing else, she will apply this experience when looking for work in the future.

I still can't help but wonder if we have an epidemic of bosses behaving badly where individuals put up with it to avoid difficult conversations or out of fear.  I will report back at the end of the summer with what comes of her conversations.

How about you, will you do the same?  Are you committed to speaking up against "bosses behaving badly"?  Leave your comments below.

Comments

[Jonathan Hakakian]

Interesting, this blog (BNET: The Real Reason for Bad Bosses) infers that a lot of it has to do with hiring practices: "That’s because numerous studies point to an inherent contradiction between the prescriptions about how to get the most from others on the one hand and the realities of what it takes to build your own reputation and power on the other. While being positive, supportive, and warm often gets the best from subordinates, being critical and even nasty results in more attributions of intelligence and competence. Because people usually get hired (and promoted) on the basis of how competent they appear, companies, sometimes unintentionally, reward precisely the opposite behaviors that would make someone a good boss."

[Lauren Canning]

Thanks Jonathan for this insight. I absolutely agree that the hiring practices or "lack thereof" are the culprit for bad hires. Additionally the neglect to address bad behavior therefore giving it silent approval only exacerbates the situation.