Everyone needs to
be able to recognize a bad boss. Executives so that they can
either alter the behavior of the bad bosses or get rid of
them before they do irreparable damage to the organization.
Employees so that they can gather evidence for a grievance
or to move to another job with (hopefully) a better boss.
And job seekers (although they will have a more difficult
time identifying them ahead of time) so that they can try
to avoid bad bosses. Books, articles, workshops, seminars,
and the like proffer advice on how to be a "good"
boss and how employees might cope with a "bad" boss;
however, rarely has a book tried to provide specific examples
of bad bosses so that they readily can be identified by anyone
with even a relatively brief encounter with them.
Everyone needs to be able to recognize a bad employee or
coworker, too. Bad employees are not just those whose performance
is unsatisfactory, but also those whose behavior or attitude
may serve as the "bad apple" that "spoils the
whole barrel." Managers need to be able to recognize
them in order first to try to change their behavior or attitude
and second to terminate them if the employee cannot or will
not change. Other employees need to be able to recognize them
in order to avoid or "walk carefully" around them
so that those employees don't get "spoiled" by the
"bad apples." Job seekers need to be able to recognize
them (although again they will have a more difficult time
identifying them ahead of time) so that they can evaluate
whether or not to accept a position where they might have
to work with a bad employee/coworker.
Finally, everyone needs to be able to recognize a bad job.
These are jobs that managers should try to redesign so that
they are no longer "bad," compensate more fully
(not unlike combat pay in the military service), or somehow
get rid of. Employees or job seekers need to be able to recognize
bad jobs so as to avoid them or to demand extra compensation
for taking them on.
This book fills the need for real information. It is a first
in that very specific examples of bad bosses, bad workers,
and bad jobs are presented based on actual reports from individuals
at various levels in actual organizations. We have spent our
careers intimately involved with the practice, teaching, and
research on management and organizations and have gathered
literally hundreds of such examples. The most obvious and
easily identifiable ones have been selected for inclusion
in this book.
Order Workplace
Survival: Dealing with Bad Bosses, Bad Workers, Bad Jobs
now.
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