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.
Years ago I was a medical technician. I got a position at a VA Hospital. I already had five years expierence in the public sector and was totally unprepared for work as a public employee.
In the private sector the shifts were always fully staffed. In the VA Hospital I worked in, the shifts were always understaffed. There were more treatment request then could be handled by the staff on duty. So the treatment request were piled high on a table, and when you came on for your shift you would be expected to go through the stack and decide for yourself which treatments to do, or not do.
I had the misfortune to work with someone that has been with the VA for years, and he did not do anything but watch TV.
I finally complained to the Medical Director about the situation. Nothing was done, I got fed up after less then six months, and quit. Shortly after I left the medical field completely.
My skills, my knowledge, my expierece, and my passion, was not wanted. They just needed a body to fill the shift. It is a shame, but that is public service.
You have an enviable signature:
Combat Infantry Badge--173 Airborne
An old phrase:
Bureacracy: The death of enthusiasm.
I work in academia. No money, lots of ego, and very little work being done.
I had a POS boss at my last job. Guy used to have a Napolean Complex and would bully his subordinates regularly. He had hired a bunch of non-boat-rocking, co-dependent people that put up with his crap....then I came along.
Guy ALSO used to sleep everywhere...meetings, his car, his office. I covered for him at first, but after a few undeserved butt chewings, I stopped, and just answered questions truthfully. "Where's your boss?" "He's asleep in his office."
The guy didn't last long in his position. He got promoted (LOL!) but was not in charge of anyone - he worked 'special projects'. Not sure if he's still with the company.
My boss announced to all of us that she had a gyno appointment and was leaving for the day.
That's a bit TMI as well!
This sounds a lot like the company I presently work for-also a data storage company. A coworker of mine commited suicide by shooting himself in a customer's data center 2 years ago. It is still brutal in some places.
There are two types of people here... The ignorant who don't know what they are talking about and those who intentionally attempt setting you up for failure... it is important to distinguish between them...
The flip side of that is an employee who abuses sick leave. I had a job at a small office away from the main office. Because we were a remote office, we had to send in our time sheets early and estimate the last day or two's work for the pay period. One employee always seemed to get "sick" that last day of the pay period after time sheets were turned in so it wouldn't be put on his formal time record at HR. It was so regular that the other workers would say "It's the 31st so XXXXX is going to be off sick today."
Nonsense. They can ask whatever they want. From the employer's position, HIPAA only applies to information obtained through their group health insurance, not information voluntarily provided by the employee.
I don't socialize with my coworkers either. When it's time to go home I leave. If someone else is in a pickle, I'm sorry but it's not my responsibility.
Boy did I burn bridges.
At my exit interview I had my boss (the manager), his boss (the regional manager), and the president of the company (because I knew him personally).
I told my manager that if I ever saw him getting mugged in an alley, I'd wait till they were done and then get my kicks in.
I told the regional manager that if I ever saw him getting mugged in an alley, I'd wait till they were done and then come and laugh in his face.
I told the president of the company that if he ever wanted me to work for his company again, he'd have to fire both of them and double whatever I was making at the time.
I didn't just burn bridges, I exploded bridges at that company.
"I see you are leaving early two days this month for doctor appointments. Is there anything wrong? Why are you going to the doctor?"
Try this: "I used to be a postal worker, and I had to quit before the stress made me do something...horrible. I thought this job might not be as stressful, but..."
The term "mucus plug" devoid of any other context should shut down questioning bosses.
Where to start?
whoa - you had to mention DEC. What a strange place.
I was brought in as a consultant there and could not believe what a socialist paradise it was. The group I worked with had one member who nobody had seen for 3 months. Supposedly computer screens gave him headaches. (yes, that and alcohol)
A friend of mine owned a lot of DEC stock and after a week out there I told him to SELL IMMEDIATELY. He did, fortunately.
The president of DEC Ken Olson didn't believe in desk top computers and stayed out of that market until it was too late. They had one incredibly good product, the VAX, and they frittered away those profits like a drunken lottery winner.
A perfect example socialism at its worst. After the company went under former employees had to hide the fact on their resumes. Nobody would touch them.
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