Global Human Capital Management and Development

Identifying Bad Bosses – Traits and Behaviors

Introduction

A boss is a person who exercises control over other employees in a workplace environment. “The boss” may also refer to the person who is the head of a company, not only in charge of subordinate workers but also in charge of all lower level managers and supervisors, sometimes called middle management.  Boss remains an overhead term for people filling an array of different positions, so there’s no single job description that quite fits the term. Such a person may only administer a few workers or may run a department or might be in charge of a whole company.  One thing that is general in most bosses is that they typically have some people who work for them. Beyond that, their responsibilities may be little or great. They may write performance reviews, create employee work schedules, report on their department’s performance to their bosses, or run an entire company. Much depends upon the scope of the company and the number of employees.

Throughout your career, you’ll encounter numerous different types of supervisors, managers and bosses. Those most effectual are usually the ones who are intrinsically good at effective communication. They all share the imperative objective of making certain that the work environment runs at peak efficiency and represents the company well, and they are sometimes called upon to do disagreeable tasks like reprimanding employees, firing them, or writing up performance reviews that are not exactly favorable. The differences between a good and a bad boss tends to be decided in whether or not employees feel essentially valued for their worth, work and contributions. If a boss exists only to wield authority and to scream at people, he or she is not popular, and tends to create a work environment that is less stable, and with a higher turnover rate.

Origin of the word

However, only few of us, know the origins of the word “boss.” Why do we call our superiors the big “boss,” and when did it become a part of the everyday English lexicon?

Boss is Dutch in origin and is a bastardization of the Dutch “base.” Its use was an exclusively American way of avoiding the word “master,” which had hurriedly become associated with slavery by the mid-19th century. Of course, bosses are far from slave drivers (though some would love to argue this point), so the new Dutch word was a convenient moniker for the rising capitalistic equivalent of the corporate figurehead.

Urban workers were fond of using ‘boss’ primarily because they despised calling their superior ‘master.’ Ironically, all the effort was in vain. The meaning of the Dutch word, “base” is “master.” And it all comes back full circle.

For many years it was a slangy usage, I’d guess more common in speech than in writing. In the 1830s James Fenimore Cooper condemned it as a barbaric vulgarity; this denunciation had no effect and it settled in as a permanent part of the language. It came back across the Atlantic to Britain sometime about the middle of last century to join the much older and unconnected sense of boss, “protuberance”, which is borrowed from the French about six centuries earlier. Neither has any link with boss-eyed or boss shot, two other nineteenth-century introductions, which seem to have their origin in a dialect word meaning “bungle”.

Research, Analysis and Findings

As per the Lake Research’s findings on “Bad Bosses”, Fifteen million workers report they have bad bosses, and more than 50 million say they feel pressed to stay with a bad boss because of the economy today.

The leading worker complaint is that their bosses are, “lazy” and “dishonest.” Between one-fifth and one-third of workers say their bosses take credit for their work, do not provide them with recognition for success or hard work, and do not provide them with the guidance or opportunities necessary for advancement. About one-third of workers say it’s a little difficult to very difficult to get time off.

Other key findings of the survey are as follows:

1. More than one-third of workers feel some pressure to stay with a bad boss because of the economy today (36 percent). Full-time workers are more likely than those working part-time to say they feel a lot of pressure to stay with a bad boss in their current job (21 percent to 12 percent).
2. About 10 percent of workers think they have bad bosses, which amounts to about 15 million workers. In addition, 13 percent of workers overall rate their bosses as lazy, and 13 percent say they are dishonest.
3. A higher proportion of workers overall see their bosses as taking credit for their work (21 percent), not providing guidance and opportunities necessary to advance (25 percent), and not providing recognition for success or hard work (33 percent).
4. Despite the jargon about flexible workplaces, about one-third of workers say it is a little difficult to very difficult to get time off. African Americans and evening workers are among those most likely to report that it is very or somewhat difficult to get time off.
5. About one-third of workers, or approximately 45 million workers, are working in the evening or both in the daytime and evening (31 percent). This includes 32 percent of men and 28 percent of women who say they are either working in the evening or both in the daytime or evening.
6. Workers who work the night shift are more likely to have a bad boss. They are more likely to see their bosses as taking credit for their work and report more difficulty in getting time off. Those reporting that they work daytime and evening shifts also prove less satisfied with their bosses.
7. Workers under 40 report more experiences with bad bosses than their older counterparts; they are more likely to report that their bosses constantly look over their shoulder and that their bosses ask them to work late unexpectedly.

Identifying the bad boss – Key habits and behaviors

The key responsibility of a head of a team that is participating or responsible for getting revenues or increasing profitability or managing a cost-center or business unit is to get the work done with the help of specified resources, including human resources. The way he or she will approach the given task, get it done and manage conflicting interests of all involved parties sets up the differentiation between a good boss and a bad boss.

If ask an ordinary employee to give his or her description of a good or an ideal boss, he may list down all or some of the following:

1)      Should not interfere in my work or should not micro-manage (which can be constructed as, I will work whenever I want to work and the way I want to work and this should be acceptable to my boss).  

2)      Should not criticize me for my mistakes or blunders. Instead, if I make mistakes then my boss should spend time to fix those mistakes.

3)      Should be emotional and sensitive enough to understand my problems, my concerns and my issues (even if it results in delaying projects and other critical assignments).

4)      Should give me good scores in my appraisal and thereby ensuring me good increments.

However, as in various surveys conducted by various agencies, key qualities of good bosses are that they are good listeners, great communicators, and encouragers, decisive, courageous and humble. In addition to this, good bosses take responsibilities, shares authority, shows empathy and they have a good sense of humor. On the other hand, bad bosses exhibit following traits:

1. Are not qualified for the boss work by either skills or experience.
2. Love brownnosers, tattletales, and relatives who report to them. They choose favorite employees and cover up and make excuses for the poor work of their incompetent favorites. They pay no heed to selected people and discriminate against many employees.
3. Fail to communicate, and may not even have expectations, timelines or goals. Bad bosses amend their minds frequently leaving employees off-balance. Bad bosses change expectations and deadlines frequently.
4. Lacks integrity, breaks promises, and is dishonest.
5. Causes dissention among staff members by his or her actions and comments.
6. Does not have the audacity to deal with a difficult situation despite knowing that it is the right thing to do.
7. Use disciplinary procedures inappropriately when simple, positive communication would correct the problem. Bad bosses disregard employees until there is a problem and then pounce.
8. Will not agree to constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement. The bad boss can’t deal with disagreement from employees who have their own opinions about work related issues.
9. Will not let go of problems or mistakes. The bad boss returns to converse negative events continually and searches for faults in employees.
10. Speaks loudly, rudely, one-sidedly to staff. Bad bosses don’t provide the air time for staff to react to accusations and comments. They intimidate people and bully staff. They allow other employees to bully employees.
11. Take credit for the successes and positive accomplishments of employees. They are equally as quick to blame employees when something goes wrong.
12. Fail to provide rewards or recognition for positive employee performance.

Common Behaviors of Bad Bosses

1. Lousy Communication: In a recent survey of 150 senior executives, one-third of respondents said lack of open and honest communication with staff members tops the list of management missteps. Managers withholding information from staff can corrode morale and devastate trust, while at the same time, not explaining the meaning of “make it better” is just a pitiable direction.
2. Poor Prioritizing: Bad managers not only fail to prioritize their own work, they also fail to prioritize yours. Also, managers who consistently work late or arrive early may be demonstrating an inability to manage their time or pace themselves; if so, letting them manage other people’s time hardly seems like the logical next step.
3. Allergy to deadlines: A deadline is a commitment. The manager who cannot set, and stick to deadlines, cannot honor commitments. A failure to set and meet deadlines also means that no one can ever feel a true sense of achievement. You can’t celebrate milestones if there aren’t any.
4. Intellectual incompetence: The slow-witted manager who is prone to misunderstanding people or processes (and of course blames others for that failure).
5. Self-centered & Selfish: The manager whose self-interest always comes first, and/or, whose chief drive is to constantly carry favor with senior managers at higher levels in the organization (without sharing credit with his/her staff or employees).
6. Bias against action: There are always plenty of reasons not to take a decision, reasons to wait for more information, more options, and more opinions. A poor manager not only flip-flops when delegating important tasks, but changes his or her mind about everything. Ineffective managers delay making decisions (and thus action) as long as possible. This may mean fewer mistakes are made, but nothing risked means nothing gained. Real leaders display a consistent bias for action. People who don’t make mistakes generally don’t make anything. Legendary ad man David Ogilvy argued that a good decision today is worth far more than a perfect decision next month. Beware prevaricators.
7. Long hours: In my experience, bad managers work very long hours. They think this is a brand of heroism but it is probably the single biggest hallmark of incompetence. To work effectively, you must prioritize and you must pace yourself. The manager who boasts of late nights, early mornings and no time off cannot manage himself so you’d better not let him manage anyone else.
8. Love of procedure: Managers who cleave to the rule book, to points of order and who refer to colleagues by their titles have forgotten that rules and processes exist to expedite business, not ritualize it. A manager’s fondness for rules and ritual may be indicative of an inability to see the larger picture, to face unique issues with case-specific diplomacy. An unnatural attention to detail and the perfection of small tasks is often meant to distract from the fact that this person is unable to perform their actual job. Love of procedure often masks a fatal inability to prioritize — a tendency to polish the silver while the house is burning.
9. Being a Control Freak: There are many great benefits to micromanaging.  It can be used to train both new employees and employees learning new tasks.  It can also be used to help those who have had performance issues.  But when bosses micromanage trained, competent employees it communicates, “I don’t trust you,” and “I’m the only one here smart enough to do it.”  It is especially destructive when it is followed up with temper tantrums or threats or belittling comments.  And then they wonder why no one ‘takes initiative’.
10.  Secrecy: “We can’t tell the staff,” is something I hear managers say repeatedly. They defend this position with the argument that staff will be distracted, confused or simply unable to comprehend what is happening in the business. If you treat employees like children, they will behave that way — which means trouble. If you treat them like adults, they may just respond likewise. Very few matters in business must remain confidential and good managers can identify those easily. The lover of secrecy has trouble being honest and is afraid of letting peers have the information they need to challenge him. He would rather defend his position than advance the mission. Secrets make companies political, anxious and full of distrust.
11. Throwing Temper Tantrums: Temper tantrums are also incredibly dangerous in the workplace.  They intimidate and manipulate people with the belief that somehow this added fear will increase productivity and or respect.  In reality, it causes people to lose respect for the angry boss and in many cases can lead to confrontation in the future.  Who came up with the idea that anger was a management tool anyway?
12. Preference for weak candidates: We interviewed three job candidates for a new position. One was clearly too junior, the other rubbed everyone up the wrong way and the third stood head and shoulders above the rest. Who did our manager want to hire? The junior. She felt threatened by the super-competent manager and hadn’t the confidence to know that you must always hire people smarter than yourself. Hiring someone who is not only less qualified but also less intimidating than another candidate is a bad management move. Good managers have the confidence to hire smart, confident candidates without feeling threatened.
13. Over-sensitivity: “I know she’s always late, but if I raise the subject, she’ll be hurt.” An inability to be direct and honest with staff is a critical warning sign. Can your manager see a problem, address it headlong and move on? If not, problems won’t get resolved, they’ll grow. When managers say staff is too sensitive, they are usually describing themselves. An inability to address a problem out of fear of upsetting someone is not a reason to shirk responsibility. In today’s economy and resulting work environment, now is the time for strong leadership. An effective manager doesn’t delay addressing an issue, but is able to do so with tact and empathy. Wilting violets don’t make great leaders. Weed them out. Interestingly, secrecy and over-sensitivity almost always travel together. They are a bias against honesty.
14.  Playing Favorites: I’ve yet to meet a manager or executive who admits to or even believes they are playing favorites. It’s like bad breath.  Everyone knows it’s there except the person who has the problem.  Managers justify it by saying they are “raising them up” or that they are “team players”, but the real question is:  Are they being treated based on their performance or based on how they make the boss feel?   I was recently helping an organization with so many “yes” men and women that I thought sucking up were part of the job description.  It wasn’t, but maybe it should have been.  It seems that the old adage is often true: ‘It’s not what you know it’s who you know.’
15.  Talking Down to Employees: Talking down to or belittling employees is a cousin to throwing tempering tantrums.  The constant need to remind people that the boss is the boss and that the employees are little more than indentured servants does little to boost morale or productivity.  Telling employees they are lazy or idiots or whatever, with the hopes that it will help them to ‘get it’ is more destructive than productive and communicates “you’re here because I pay you and you have no value beyond that.”  And they wonder why they hear employees say “I don’t get paid enough to do that?”
16. Stealing Credit: Stealing credit is one of the most damaging of all bad boss behaviors.  Stealing credit goes beyond not recognizing someone for a job well done.  This is far worse.  This is taking the results of someone else’s ideas, performance and hard work and claiming it as your own.  It is like identity theft for people in the workplace.
17.  Hypocritical / Inconsistent: A hypocritical manager applies differing rules in similar circumstances; for example, the manager may apply one set of rules to his or her own behavior, while applying completely different rules to employees in the same situation.

Conclusion

Almost all of us deceive ourselves about our workplace achievements, status and contributions. This isn’t essentially a bad thing, but it can certainly mislead us when we are told we need to change.

It can be demanding for high-level executives to improve their interpersonal skills. We tend to believe the habits that have helped us rack up achievements in the past will continue to foster success in the future. But, as the title of executive coach Marshall Goldsmith recent book asserts, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”, is not true.

The more often you are promoted to higher levels of executive responsibility, the more important is your interpersonal relationship skill to your success—and the more challenging it is to change bad habits.

It’s natural for successful people to believe that what contributed to their past accomplishments will continue to work for them. They also assume that they can—and will—succeed, no matter what. “Just give me a goal, and let the game begin” they think to themselves.

But when it comes to changing the way we interact with our peers and direct reports, we often fail to identify the steps required for ongoing results. Part of this stems from healthy denial, while another part may be sheer ignorance. Only then when confronted with performance or promotional issues do we begin to open our minds to change.  This usually triggers emotional hot buttons of self-interest.

Identifying the bad leadership habits you’ve accumulated over your career is a task that requires astute investigation, usually through a 360-degree assessment and interviews. When gathering and giving feedback, the interviewer must be sensitive, providing reassurances of confidentiality.

The road to change is paved with difficulties. It’s hard to let go of definitely ingrained behaviors. Furthermore, even though you may make some progress, it’s challenging to change the perceptions of others who have become so used to your bad behaviors that they may not even notice your efforts to improve for quite a long time.

One way to facilitate on-the-job change is to ask for help from a select group of peers. Here are some additional guidelines.

1. Get good information about what needs to change. A 360-degree feedback assessment is generally an effective means of determining how others recognize you. A qualified, experienced executive coach can help you obtain truthful feedback from your peers, bosses and direct reports.
2. Once you’ve identified a bad habit you would like to change, work with your coach to implement a plan of action. Get involved with a small group of colleagues with whom you can work to make improvements.
3. Apologize to people for your behavior, ask them to let go of the past, and tell them you are going to stop engaging in the bad habit. Ask them to let you know how you are doing, and when you fail or succeed.
4. Listen to their input, and thank them for helping you. Arrange follow-ups with them after a predetermined time of interval.

We hope that the content of this article including suggestions provided will be of use to its readers. Culture of an organization is created by its people and higher you grow up in the hierarchy, higher will be your responsibility in creating cordial and performance based work culture. However, knowingly or unknowingly, bad bosses, by their behavior, attitude and approach cause huge financial loss to the organization.  Many times, the loss is so huge to be measured in financial terms. Care has been taken to not only identify the problem but also provide measures to improve those behaviors.

Your feedback and inputs will be highly appreciated and in a way, will give us an opportunity to improve ourselves. I read somewhere (not sure, who wrote it) that a combination of arrogance, ignorance and ego is very lethal. It has doomed many kings and kingdoms, nations, businesses and businessmen and otherwise successful people/celebrities.  

Composed and Compiled by: Sanjeev Himachali

LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjeevhimachali

Emails: sanjeev.himachali@gmail.com; ss_himachali@yahoo.com

Twitter: sanjeevhimachali

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Reference Articles:

1)    New Leaders Don’t Get Coaching Needed For Success, According to Survey (Right Management, June 30, 2008 )

2)    Ten Habits of Incompetent Managers (By Margaret Heffernan, Fast Company, Sept. 11, 2008)

3)    11 Habits of the Worst Boss I Ever Had, by David Silverman; The Start-Up Diaries (Harvard Business Publishing), July 26, 2008

4)    …Five Best Practices For Leadership Competency Modeling (Right Management, Oct. 21, 2008)

5)    Bad Bosses Report (Working America)

6)    Lack of Communication With Staff Most Damaging to Morale (Accountemps, Nov. 6, 2008)

7)    Company Leaders Not Communicating With Employees On Financial Crisis (Weber Shandwick, Oct. 13, 2008)

8)    Bad Work Habit (Article Link: http://blogs.theage.com.au/executive-style/managementline/)

9)    The seven habits of typical bad managers (Article Link: http://www.examiner.com/x-3040-Minneapolis-Life-in-the-Cubicle-Examiner~y2009m5d27-The-seven-habits-of-a-typical-bad-manager)

Related stories:

1)    Stanley Bing, Crazy Bosses – Fully Revised and Updated, 2007.

2)    Gini Graham Scott, A Survival Guide for Working With Bad Bosses: Dealing With Bullies, Idiots, Back-stabbers, and Other Managers from Hell, 2005.

3)    Jean Lipman-Blumen, The Allure of Toxic Leaders: Why We Follow Destructive Bosses and Corrupt Politicians – and How We Can Survive Them, 2006.

4)    Marilyn Haight, Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Boss? 13 Types and How to Survive Them, 2005.

5)    Frank Buchar, Super Skills for Supervisors: A Narrative Approach to Developing Supervisory Skills, 2005.

6)    Roseanne Badowski and Roger Gittens, Managing Up: How to Forge an Effective Relationship With Those Above You, 2003.

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