Today had a lunch with a friend this noon. Apparently she is not happy. She complains to me that she had a problem with her boss who bypasss her and micro-manages her department. Even worse, the boss belittled her in front of her subordinates. The war between she and he became now public, whereas the GM just wants to play good guy and is not willing to take a position.
It is quite common to see the managers holding micro-management mindset in an organization. They are the people who feel very uncomfortable when they don't know the exact details of what is going on in their territory. Unfortunately when they lay their eyesight over the tree, they lose the forest.
What disturbs me more is the disrespect my friend's boss inflicted on her, especially in public. It is distructive behavior, not only to my friend, but also to the whole group of people seeing the conflicts.
No one likes nasty people. And nasty managers make more damage than common nasty ones. They hamstring people's passion at work, they create a fearful working environment suffocating creativity and initiative, and they demorale the whole team.
So what we can do about it? How can we stop the disruption caused by nasty manager? The answer lies on building a civilized workplace where nasty people can not live.
1. Enforce the no-jerks rule. Excutives who want to create a harmonized workplace will not only take haphazard action against one jerk at a time, they use integrated set of work practice to battle the problem.
2.Make the rule public by you say, especially by you do
3.Weave the rule into firing and hiring policies
4.Teach people how to fight
Nastiness is contagious. If it is not rooted out from organization, it would create civility vaccum, suck the warmth and kindness out of everyone who enters and replace them with coldness and contempt.
So, senior managers must take action to prevent nasty behavior happening at a very early stage and consistently shape a no-jerks culture.
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