Does your boss hate you?
Study shows why workplace bullying can actually be an advantage
Created: 06/28/2022, 12:03 p.m
By: Juliane Gutmann
Some managers do their job well, others are completely unsuitable for the position.
Some downright torture their employees – which, according to researchers, can have a positive effect.
Do you always feel like a scapegoat in your team because your boss prefers to bully you?
In their departments, bad managers distinguish between favorites and "black sheep", who are often made an example of.
The harassment often stops when employees clearly set boundaries and put their boss in their place.
If clear words do not help and the employee feels bullied by the manager, he or she
should inform the HR department and, if available, the works council
.
Bullying at work is also a big topic in research.
(Work) psychologists from all over the world deal with the triggers and consequences of bullying in the workplace.
As scientists led by Shannon G. Taylor from the University of Central Florida found out,
poor treatment by supervisors can even have advantages for the further career of employees.
Bad air in the office: some managers can make life hell for their employees.
© Imago
Bad management style means that those affected do not want to copy this mistake
Their study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, found that victims of poor leadership and mistreatment at work tended to treat their own employees better.
"Based on social-cognitive theory and related research, we hypothesize
that abusive bosses are more likely to resist than imitate the abusive behavior of their bosses
.
Specifically, we predicted that as some abusive bosses—that is, those with a strong moral identity—as they no longer identify with their abusive bosses, they will “change course” by becoming less abusive or demonstrating ethical leadership to their subordinates ", says the abstract of the study.
This conclusion is based on two experiments with 288 and 462 employed adults.
The researchers also included a field study among 500 employees and their supervisors.
The investigations showed that
if the study participants were badly treated by a fictitious or real superior, the majority distanced themselves emotionally from the manager and acted more responsibly as a manager
than the participants who had not experienced bad treatment.
This was especially true for those who said moral integrity was very important, according to the researchers, according to the Business Insider portal.
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Bad managers: According to researchers, companies should not promote the wrong people
Of course, it would be best if all superiors were to lead in an ethically and morally correct manner.
But it is not uncommon for the wrong people to be promoted.
According to
Business Insider
, the study's researchers advise companies to prioritize promoting
those with strong moral identities
.
These are, for example, people with a strong sense of justice who act in a friendly but determined manner and never cholerically or abusively.
(jg)
