My own thoughts below the fold.
(Thanks very much to Instapundit for the pointer.)
For several years I worked for a boss who held me, the owner of the company we worked for, and the rest of the known world in contempt. Not just a boss-hater, but a hater of almost everyone. He was bullying, threatening, insulting, and did his best to marginalize me and fuck up my career. I worked through it for all that, and while he is now gone, I’m still here. Neither the owner of the company nor my current colleagues consider me to be quite as incompetent as this ex-boss, so either I’m an incredible actor, or not quite the fuck-up my ex-boss purported me to be.
This part of the article is most poignant:
The boss-haters in any organization tend to find each other, and once in numbers, they usually become quite outspoken. Boss-haters also tend to be on the high-IQ side. That’s unfortunate, really. Because instead of using their intelligence to improve the way work is done, boss-haters focus, laser-like, on all of the organization’s flaws and the sheer, incomprehensible idiocy of the higher-ups.
Dead-on, though I’d also add that boss-haters also tend to hate most of their colleagues, or at least those colleagues that don’t join into the general chorus of boss-hating.
Interesting. I never thought “boss-haters” were on the High-IQ side. I guess incredibly intelligent people can be really stupid sometimes.
I guess I am lucky that I have never really hated any of my bosses. After one merger, I did have one that I knew was fundamentally dishonest. At first opportunity, I left that company to join another company.
My problem with “boss-haters” is why anyone would want to work in that type of environment? Some people would argue that they can’t find another job, but there are always other employment opportunities out there depending on what you do.
I have told all of my employers that I have as much loyalty to the company as the company has for me. Some bristle at that comment, but I explain that if the company treats me well, I will be reluctant to leave even if it means a little more money. A good working environment is definitely harder to find than a lousy job with a great salary. It’s tough to make $100K a year when you want to cut your throat every day when shaving.
I think the true number of “Habitual boss-haters,” i.e. those who will hate their boss no matter what that boss does, is very small. We come into contact with a wide range of supervisors (you have to serve someone), and some will be better than others.
I suppose there are two types: Situational boss-haters, who hate this boss but not all bosses, and Habitual boss-haters, who hate all bosses no matter what.
The problem is when Situational boss-haters are wrongly identified as Habitual boss-haters. This is a management strategy designed to weed out those who hate the current regime, no matter how currupt the regime is. The wrongly identified boss-hater is used as a totem by management, as an example of irrationality, and is villified as such. They are called malcontents and are examples of “the bad employee.”
I think it is a useful fiction for bosses to see employees who disagree with them as Habitual boss-haters. It helps the bosses deal with troublemakers and this fiction makes them feel better about themselves. It feels good to be blameless. If you can show that you’ve done your best to satisfy the unreasonable employee, then you can feel safe and secure that no matter what you do, there is no solution, and you are free from responsibility. It’s childish.