Boss-Haters & Other Office Pests

Boss-haters and other office pests are, well, in every office.  Someday they will have a psychological or urine test to detect them before they're hired but right now we still have to endure them.  Even as a consultant I have to put up with plenty of boss-haters. 

Like the Ancient Mariner, they take us hostage with their detailed stories of being abused by the boss and sundry other higher-ups.  Since they are filled with such venom, they scare us enough to make us figure we better just listen patiently, no looking at our watches. 

Maybe because they're so skilled at what they do we've never thought about them, only about their impacts on us, which range from a simple waste of time to low-grade depression.  Well, Jack and Suzy Welch, in their BUSINESS WEEK July 3rd column do us a great service.  They deconstruct this syndrome of boss-hating and what they observe can probably be applied to all the other (self-defeating) office pests, such as the double agents, the face-time champions, and the flirters who stop short of being nailed for sexual harassment.

According to Welch and Welch (thewelchway@businessweek.com), boss-hating is a mindset.  Brilliant, isn't that. 

Essentially that mindset perceives all authority figures and the "system" through the lens of chronic negativity.  Eventually that lens so hardens that it becomes incapable of  discerning any value in what the boss does.  Welch and Welch add, brilliant again, that boss-haters tend to hook up with each other and, given the power of numbers, become outspoken. 

You know how most of these stories end.  In every office I've worked in or provided consultations to, one of the boss-haters gets demoted or fired.  The rest of the gang of four or more lose their identity.  Most will fall apart and follow their leader to the penalty box or the street.  A very few wise up and morph into team players but that is rare.

The point Welch and Welch make is two-fold:  Boss-hating is a ossified personality trait, not situational.  And, it has absolutely no payoff. 

Let's call him PoisonMan.   He went from floor to floor at Chrysler (before it became a German company) badmouthing authority, ranging from out director of communications to Iacocca.  Of course, the double agents in the organization delivered verbatim these tales back to the powers-that-be.  After PoisonMan was denied a promotion and raise, he left in a huff.  When he was ready to finally look for another job, the word was out that, no, you didn't want this kind in your office.  Rumor has it he had no choice but to change professions.  But, there is no fresh starts for Boss-haters.  They self-destruct in all and every workplace.

In a future column, Welch and Welch might help us reduce the impacts on boss-haters on us hapless bystanders. 

Comments

[Victor Ertell]

I have a boss who wrote me up for not wanting to do overtime on my day off which was the 4th of July week end. I am in security work. My schedule gives me monday and tuesday off. I worked all the holidays for the last two years. I am empolyed for three years now, and i have a perect attandance record. Also i have not taken a vaction for the last two years. I just get the money in my check.In times past i have done all sorts of OT. I just wanted to spend time with my wife this time. My regular schedule days off. What can i do about this injustice.