Posted on 03/16/2007 5:59:48 AM PDT by radar101
Quit, check out, or dig out Ex-Lax
If you've worked for long, you've probably had a boss or co-worker who was a complete, flaming jerk.
Maybe she always scowled as if she smelled something bad while reviewing your work. Maybe he never missed a chance to berate you in front of others.
Or he interrupted constantly when you were talking. Or sneaked up behind you at your desk. Or helped herself to your food.
Robert I. Sutton, a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford Engineering School, has heard it all while working on his recently released best seller, "The No A------ Rule."
The book grew from a piece he wrote for The Harvard Business Review in 2004 under the headline, "More Trouble than They're Worth." The piece, he said, inspired an outpouring of jerk-boss e-mails from around the world. His correspondents included the manager of a roofing company, the CEO of a money-management firm and a researcher for the Supreme Court.
Since the book came out, he said, he gets at least 15 e-mails a day from people with horrible bosses.
"I feel like Dr. Phil," the talk-show therapist, he said.
He argues that companies should screen for jerks as they hire and purge the bullies already in their ranks because, in almost all cases, they cost more than they contribute.
One of his other solutions may deflate anyone who works for a jerk: Leave the job.
If that's not possible, he suggests checking out emotionally. "Passion is an overrated virtue in organizational life, and indifference is an underrated virtue."
The Associated Press interviewed Sutton, who describes workplace monsters with a mild expletive, which has been changed here to "jerk." Excerpts:
Q: First, let's define who we're talking about. You define work jerks as people who pick on those beneath them and leave others feeling belittled and sapped of energy. What are some other signs?
A: To me, the main sign of someone who's a certified jerk is someone who leaves a trail of people feeling demeaned and de-energized. It tends to be more often associated with power dynamics - they kiss up to those above them and kick down those beneath them. About a third of the time, bullying is peer on peer.
Q: Since workplace jerks tend to pick on people below them, how can the victims, who usually don't have much power, fix the problem?
A: In normal organizational life, for people who have less power, the best thing is to get out. If you can't do that, try to avoid contact with the person as much as possible. You can also learn not to care.
The other thing is to find little ways to get control and fight back. One woman whose boss was always stealing her food reshaped Ex-Lax to look like candy, then her boss stole it.
My favorite story comes from a former CEO who told me about her worst board member. When he'd call and scream, she'd lean back in her chair, put her feet on the desk, put him on speakerphone, turn off the volume and do her nails. She would check in from time to time to see if he was still screaming. When he was done, she would reason with him. She put herself in a relaxed position and did something she could control - her nails.
Q: You describe ways to screen for jerks, such as Southwest Airlines Co.'s refusal to hire a pilot who was rude to a company secretary, and Virgin Group Ltd. founder Richard Branson's ruse on his reality show, in which he picked up contestants while disguised as an arthritic old driver and ejected the two who treated him poorly. How else can an organization separate the monsters from the rest?
A: In fields where there are relatively small and tight networks, people get reputations that are deserved. In my field of academia, we know each other. There are excellent scholars who are not considered because no one wants to work with them.
Q: Is there such a thing as a sick organization? Can a workplace grow jerks?
A: Some organizations are sicker than others. Exhibit One is Hollywood. I have a cousin who works in the industry. I asked her to name the nice people in Hollywood and there was this long pause, and she eventually named Steven Spielberg and Danny DeVito.
Maybe the worst occupation is doctors. Based on studies, as far as a high rate of abuse, nurses really have a brutal time. Ninety percent of nurses report six to 12 incidents of verbal and emotional abuse per year.
Q: You suggest companies perform an audit, quantifying in dollar figures how much a jerk's poor behavior costs. Then you give an example of a company that did, and figured one salesman's bad behavior had cost it $160,000 a year. Instead of firing him, the company took about $100,000 out of his bonus. Can you tell us about a company that purged its jerks instead?
A: I can't name the company, but it was a Fortune 500 retailer. As part of a turnaround, the new CEO came up with a mafia-style hit-list of 25 of the biggest jerks. He wanted to get rid of them all at once, but human resources said, "Let's get rid of them through the performance evaluation process."
The company did and my informant said you could see, even at the store level, less nastiness.
Q: One of your solutions to workplace jerks seems to be to stop hiring them. Other solutions include (one similar to) giving referees at youth soccer matches the power to "red card" abusive parents and eject them from the game, and shaming jerks when they behave poorly. What do you consider your top solution to the problem of jerky behavior?
A: First thing: I believe that some polite self-awareness helps. There's a test you can take; we put this on Guy Kawasaki's blog, http://electricpulp.com/guykawasaki/arse/.
Second, there should be consequences. People should know it's not efficient and it's going to cost them. My wife is a lawyer. She said with the more aggressive attorneys at her firm, in compensation discussions with them, the partners tell them they should cool it a little bit or it will cost them.
Yep. My DoD civilian boss has often in all sincerity explained to us contract empolyees that our purpose is to be on the job 8 hours a day every workday so that the govenment can afford their GS salaries and perks. We have a comment form asking for feedback about the service we provide. All the nice comments stopped the boss's desk. So I made a busines sized card telling clients how to complete the form online. My boss, of course, took credit for it when the big boss visited. (Sigh) Oh, well, it's the guys and gals in green that get me up in the morning.
I didn't think a male boss could ask those kind of questions. Asking a woman any question related to sex would cause a problem.
I have passion for school choice. A lot of teachers can't see how much it would help them -- even financially (depending on how it's set up).
I believe Sun Tzu says in "The Art of War" something along the lines that burning bridges behind you ensures added dedication to your mission. (i.e. You increase your chances of success, because now you HAVE to go forward)
I would just love it if a nosy person asked me questions like that. I would come up with the most disgusting set of diseases and symptoms that would make him vomit as I recalled each one.
"And then Mr. xxx my colon let out the most vile ........ right after that I developed sores which oozed........." You get the picture, have fun with it.
Heh.
A: Some organizations are sicker than others. Exhibit One is HollywoodCongress. There – I fixed it.
Yeah, including your freedom!
I believe in just approaching the boss with an air of understanding and good will... and a stapler in a brown paper bag.
"Boss, I find your decisions to be retarded and disasterous, your attitude beligerant, and the workplace environment poisonous"
"Uh... mind if I ask what's in the brown paper bag you just placed on my desk?"
"Pray to God you don't find out. But that's not what I'm here to talk about."
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
Oh, I had just said, "Doctor's appts." When he pressed the issue (like the ass he was), I explained that I was going to the gyn. Then he made a snarky comment about female troubles, so I obliged him with exact details of WHY I was going.
A principal reason why Digital Equipment Corp. went out of business was the gang of new "managers" it hired in the early 80s. In this short space I cannot adequately describe the brutality some of them showered upon their subordinates. In one group one guy killed himself, another was committed to an asylum, and the rest were all fired for "incompetence." The boss kept all the profit sharing and bonuses for her group for herself. The "boss" was subsequently promoted. Of course, all meaningful work in the company stopped and ten years later the best, most profitable computer company in the world went out of business, top management first awarding themselves fabulous golden parachutes.
Over the years I have become my department supervisor (at a different company that is larger and very successful) and past experiences have taught me the patience to do the job, where 20 years ago I probably would have been too much of a hothead. My guys (and girls) all start out young and inexperienced, all I demand of them is to be flexible and good listeners, and they will become competent rather quickly.
I would just love it if a nosy person asked me questions like that. I would come up with the most disgusting set of diseases and symptoms that would make him vomit as I recalled each one.
"And then Mr. xxx my colon let out the most vile ........ right after that I developed sores which oozed........." You get the picture, have fun with it.
-----
That is what everybody says to do. Say, "Im having such a heavy flow this month and feel sick."
lol
Another bad thing is those who request technical advice, then insult the ones giving the instruction by disagreement with their professional assessment and go on to screw something up...
I just sit back and let them fail.
I am with you. My phrase is "covering ignorance with arrogance." I LOVE when managers try to tell me how to solve the IT problems. If they get cocky I simply tell them my poor skills are not match for theirs and go ahead and do it to their own satisfaction.
"Also the more abusive they are to their minions the more kiss-ass they are to their superiors."
That's a big reason why it's hard to get rid of these creeps. Another is that they use their position to claim credit for the work actually done by their subordinates. Bad bosses will also plant their toadies and informants among the workforce.
Things improved where I used to work when the employees were given the right to rate their supervisors by secret ballot. The boss suddenly became much nicer. It was not necessary to bash him unfairly on the forms; just telling the truth did the job, because he was acting in flagrant opposition to management's expressed ideals.
I'm in computers....When people ask me what I do, and I answer honestly, 7 times in 10, I get a followup: "Man, I'm having problems with my (PC, Stereo, DVD, HDTV) and I wonder what you think about how to fix it.." What do I look like? Dr. Answers? Go to Best Buy and pay for what you're trying to get off me for free!
Now, if I'm just making smalltalk (particularly with people I don't know and don't especially like), I tell them I'm a paramedic. I can talk intelligently about it - Parents were EMTs for 14 years each, best friend was one as well. If they persist on asking questions, I start telling grusome stories. That usually gets rid of them.
Bumping to e-mail later.
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