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You're in the weekly
meeting of the Sales Team. The Head crushes a soft-drink can in his
hands. "I promised my wife this morning that I wouldn't shout at you
guys." Then, he proceeds to scream and humiliate each of you in turn.
When the meeting is finished,
he calmly says. "I don't know why you guys can't get over it... I'm over
it."
This is his regular
behaviour, but the board of directors considers the CEO a tough leader
who gets results - never mind how those results are accomplished.
Despite growing
awareness, the workplace remains an arena for verbal abuse, intimidation
and exploitation of power. And tolerance for abusive tactics tends to
increase the higher up the hierarchy the abuse takes place. It's hard to
tell how common abusive leaders are: while there has been a steady
increase in grievances by unionized employees, abuse tends to go
unreported at managerial levels.
What do abusive leaders
look like? Well, they're charming to their superiors and to people
outside the organization. They generally manage up very well and tend to
undermine the credibility of their staff to their superiors. The board
can be lulled into thinking they have a powerful leader, who is whipping
the team in shape. Little do they know how literal that whipping is.
Abusive leaders don't
tolerate criticism and they cannot be easily rehabilitated. They will
take credit for success and blame their subordinates for any failures.
Focused on the bottom line, they may get good short-term results, but
the long-term costs are high.
Please select one of the
following: -
My Boss is: -
A) A Monster
B) A Cretin
C) All of the Above
Does this sound familiar?
Is this what you face everyday? Do you harbor fantasies of the perfect
crime? Do you keep thinking that there must be a way around, up or out
of this awful situation, if you could only figure out what it is?
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