The Bully-Free Workplace: Stop Jerks, Weasels, and Snakes From Killing Your Organization

Overcome the “Boss Problem”

A funny thing happens to many supervisors when they are first promoted. Far too many allow their heads to swell, forgetting their beginnings in nonsupervisory jobs. People simply do not start out at the top. It's very easy to forget that fact when your head is swirling with an inflated sense of self that naturally accompanies a promotion.

New managers brought in from the outside or newly minted MBAs have no historical roots in the company. They had no previous connection to the people with whom they work. They had no previous loyalties or bonds. Troubles and difficulties they cause can all be traced their stereotypical expectations about what it means to be a “boss.” Television shows and movies exploit these for fun. But the inherent inequality between a boss and subordinate is not funny. If that relationship is not handled with care, it can easily be misused to subjugate another human being.

New supervisors would be loath to suggest they have a slave working for them. Despite this, with the way many subordinates are routinely treated in the American workplace, it is not an exaggeration to say that the relationship is only slightly better than that of master and slave. It is disgraceful when one human being, with no identifiable difference from another person other than a job title or position on an organization chart, can act with total disregard for that other person. “Management” should not connote the right to capriciously withhold positive regard ...