Why Managers Treat Employees Badly
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Nov 14, 2011
Last year I wrote a post titled Standing Up For Yourself, giving employees some tips on how to address managers that treat them badly. Unfortunately, I heard from a lot of people who just didn't quite see it that way for a number of reasons.
It's hard to convince someone that they actually have some rights as an employee. It turns out that you might not have as many rights as you believe you have, or as many as I believed you had, based on an article I came across titled 10 Workplace Rights You Think You Have -- But Don't. It's interesting, but it seems that not everyone has the same rights based on where they live, and that's depressing because I'd always believed many of the rights mentioned in the article were federal rights. In a way I'm lucky living in New York, where many of the rights on the list are valid.
In any case employees often wonder what makes managers act horrible towards their employees. There are many reasons of course, but here's a sampling of those reasons.
1. Don't know any better. This is the number one reason because most managers have never received any training to know how to be better leaders.
2. Scared. Managers who don't know their jobs are scared of being found out. Managers who worry that someone else might know more than they do will work as hard as they can to keep those people down, no matter how helpful they can be to the organization.
3. Full of themselves. Sometimes when people get any type of accolade they start believing their own "press". When that happens they'll believe they're always right and in the right and thus can behave any way they want to and will treat others badly.
4. Lazy. Unfortunately, laziness manifest itself in many different ways, one of those being that they could care less about investigating anything or verifying anything that doesn't personally affect their job. However, when things go wrong you can bet that they won't take the blame for any of it.
5. Incompetent. There are many managers that get promoted for the wrong reasons, without verification of whether they know what their doing or not. Sometimes, they don't know the work their employees do either. This will always lead to some very bad decisions and alienation of employees.
You can add to this list easily enough so give it a shot. I will say this though; it's managers like these that make employees leave companies, and it costs a lot of money for employers to constantly have to hire new people. So they really need to figure out how to get a grip on bad managers.
During the time as manager, I have rarely treat employees badly, but there are things like incompetence, laziness and getting late for work which I don’t tolerate. In most cases this will lead to warning one or 2 times, the next step is usually obvious. It is pretty complicated matter, as team play is very important, sometimes even the best worker is not a team player or in some cases even the worker is not good enough, there may be problems finding another one in the same field. About incompetent managers, well I think those guys are everywhere, I call them “weasels”.
Carl, I call them weasels as well. lol As for employees, I find that if one has rules and never enforces them that employees will start taking advantage of them, and then whose fault is that? I was always pretty clear on the rules, but I tied them in with financial goals so people could be held more accountable for their performance.
Even thought the use of the word is politically incorrect, your boss is behaving in a way that is clearly abusive. Do you feel comfortable telling him that his choice of words and behaviour is insulting and demeaning and is affecting morale? Your first step should always be to try and discuss your problems with the abuser. Sometimes these idiots think they are being ‘funny’ and don’t realise they are causing offence. If you feel you cannot deal with him directly, go to human resources. If nothing happens, go to his boss. In these situations, where people are essentially being bullied, it is a good idea to discuss it with yourt co-workers and appeal to management as a group. You have a right to a respectful workplace.
Great stuff Casey, and you’re right, speaking with the person giving you grief should always be the first step… at least the first time.
If I were the manager, I would treat my employees not bad. Just balance the command and respect to one another. That way, the work will be smooth sailing between the two parties.
My partner’s having some difficult time with his senior manager. The SM is very defensive when given a constructive feedback and thinks he’s being attacked. I wouldn’t say the SM is incompetent because he is (I personally know him too). And now, he wouldn’t properly communicate with his managers about certain programs and developments, and it’s very hard for them to work like that. Anyway, how do you call someone with that attitude?
Jill, I have to first ask if the senior manager reports to your partner or the other way around. If he reports to your partner then I deal with it as “I don’t care because I’m telling you the truth” and I do what needs to be done. However, I have to say that unless I found my normal style ineffective, I was never a blunt guy unless I had to be. If people over-reacted to that then I’d ask them why and give them a chance to explain themselves; after all, it wasn’t like calling the person out. If your husband works for this person I’d offer different advice, but I’ll wait for your response first before pushing forward.
That isn’t right. is it legal? it might be that grey area. have you talked with the high high ups about how your supervisor treats you?
Jessica, it’s not my situation; I work for myself.
Woah I had no idea you lacked ALL of those laws. We actually have most of them over here, even to the point you practically can’t fire people for any reason apart genocide :p Yeah we exaggerate in the opposite side…
Yeah Gabriele, it’s a strange country sometimes. lol Each state gets to set its own rules of engagement, but federal laws cover things like harassment and discrimination, things that are constitutionally protected.
As a manager I treat my employees well who’s under me. I know how it feels when bosses got mad or something that makes you feel the taste of heal. They’re the life blood of the business so we should take care of them but don;t forget the rules or the company’s policy :))
I hear you on this Daphne, and I’m glad you treat employees right. Of course, treating other employees who aren’t under you can be a great benefit as well; trust me on this one.
Management needs to invest in leadership on a consistent basis.
The major reason people leave their job is because of their manager.
Unfortunately, management waits until there’s a serious problem.
Management needs to view leadership training as an investment, not an expense.
I can’t disagree with any of that Steve. The problem is that they don’t do any of that and don’t see things the way we see them. And overall there’s little we can do to change their minds except highlight the behavior and hope that either they, the people who report to them or the people they report to see it, recognize it, and decide they’re willing to take a serious look at it. I like Dr. Phil’s line: “How’s that working for you?”