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NEW YORK (Reuters) - How do people get ahead in the workplace? One way seems to be by making their subordinates miserable, according to a study released Friday.
In the study to be presented at a conference on management this weekend, almost two-thirds of the 240 participants in an online survey said the local workplace tyrant was either never censured or was promoted for domineering ways.
"The fact that 64.2 percent of the respondents indicated that either nothing at all or something positive happened to the bad leader is rather remarkable -- remarkably disturbing," wrote the study's authors, Anthony Don Erickson, Ben Shaw and Zha Agabe of Bond University in Australia.
Bad bosses get promoted, not punished? - Yahoo! News (broken link)
I can cite many examples, but one happened at a local university. A dean of one of the schools feared he was not going to make the budget, and needed to shine with the president. So, he trumped up charges against his financial person and her assistant and got them fired. I still don't understand why he felt he had to do this, since Florida is an at will state. But this really did happen. To make matters worse, neither one could get hired for the longest time, because whenever an employer called for a reference, the dean would say the person was fired for cause. After an investigation, the fact was, no cause was ever found. The same dean has a history, but has never been reprimanded and still holds the same cushy job.
I've seen it both ways, the rotten and the nice competents both being promoted.
An interesting legal aspect to consider. If a boss treats everyone like dirt, they are legally insulated from charges of discrimination when badly treating a subordinate in a protected group. If the boss is generally nice, treating this individual badly, even if well deserved, opens up the boss to legal actions.
Some people have a natural instinct to make others miserable, and at the same time make them look bad...It's their tactic to succeed.
And, I am sorry to say that it often works...
These people are the butt-kissers to upper management - They take on the responsibilities of projects, pass the work along to their own underlings, or even to other departments. And, they antagonize people while they are trying to get the work done. This makes the people fear them, and at the same time, puts the people on edge - So that they appear withdrawn, un-cooperative, argumentive and even incompetent...
So, to upper management, the abusive manager (who really is doing nothing but passing the buck, and antagonizing people) looks like the only reliable person...
I've seen people that have survived years in a company doing this - And, it gets to a point that they rise to positions that shield them from criticism and dismissal - Even though others in upper management finally realize that they are just "bulls*** artists". They find themselves in positions that it may cost the company a bundle of money to get rid of them, or their dismissal would embarass some of the other upper management.
The best protection, is to document everything in your dealings with these types (You should always keep a diary in business anyway)...Get to know your responsibilities "inside-out". This will prepare you to not only defend yourself against these idiots, but to turn the tables on them in meetings...And believe me - That stops them in their tracks.
Most importantly, learn how to go over their heads (directly to upper management). This is not as hard as you may think...All you need is one mentor in upper management. And, once they learn that you are the real "go-to" person, you will rise in the ranks...
And, to get an upper management mentor, play the game...When you prepare a report, and hand it to the antagonizing manager - Leave some not so critical thing out of it...The antagonizing manager will miss it, and hand off the report to upper management...That is your chance to casually poke your head inside the upper managers office, or stop them in the hallway - And mention to them "By the way, when I prepared the report I did not specifically include (some item), as I assumed it was already (covered, mentioned, understood...or whatever)..".. Then, if the upper manager cues you, go on to discuss it briefly with them... And, this could be the start of a mentor relationship...And, the end of your misery with the antagonizer.
Location: When things get hot they expand. Im not fat. Im hot.
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Im retired now. My old company was very large and often in the spot light. This made it difficult for them to fire anyone unless they were an axe murderer and they had TONS of docmentation. I think a lot of nincompoops were promoted because thats the only way their department could get rid of them.
After many year working for a number of major corporations I can say that most managers are promoted because their superior thinks that they do/did/will do what he/she wants. This may or may not have anything to do with competence, performance, or treatment of staff. It is simply a matter of perception in making the boss look good.
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It's a well practiced tactic
