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7 Traits of a Bad Boss

I remember applying to an organization where someone – let’s call him “Boss” — asked his subordinate to call me for an interview. For reasons, I was unable to receive the first call. I managed to trace back the call, find out who called me, and talk to the Boss.

This man, most probably someone’s “boss”, made me call him every day by saying, “I am a little busy today. Can you please call me tomorrow around this time so I can tell you what time to come for an interview”That ishighlyunprofessional! This went on for about two weeks (unfortunately, I was desperate for a job at that time) until I gave up and told him that I don’t like his methods. He replied by saying that “you are a rude kid and you have no idea how to talk to a senior.

Later, he told my reference,who was an employee at a different branch that he did all of that on purpose only because I didn’t receive his first call.

Believe me, when I found that out, I was so glad I wasn’t an employee in that organization! Why?

Because I realized that he was definitely an overly-emotional, arrogant, and mean boss and if that’s the kind of attitude you get from “seniors” at the workplace, you’d rather not work there.Here are some tell-tale signs of a mean boss you might want to watch out for.

Over-controlling: Mean bosses want to control everything. Not being able to control something makes them angry and infuriated. They simply don’t understand the meaning of delegation.

They feel they are “in power” no matter what. Everyone should listen to them and do things their way, or take the highway.

Detached: A detached boss is the other extreme of the first trait. This type of boss doesn’t want to control and doesn’t want to take responsibility of anything that directly impacts his organization. He doesn’t want to get his hands dirty with the difficult work and finds way to delegate such tasks. He lacks decision making, has poor planning skills, and takes credit for the “good” that happens to the organization while blaming others for the “bad”.

Inflexible: A mean boss is usually a very stubborn one. Forget about trying to convince him about something. He’ll have it his way no matter what it takes. Heis right, no matter what. And once he has made up his mind about something, he certainly won’t change it.
 
Uses Fear as a Motivator: A tyrannical controller always gets his way by rousing fear in his subordinates. He uses fear to motivate his employees and get work done using that fear.
 
Excessively Moody: A horrible boss is the tantrum-throwing, overly emotional type.
He lets emotions get in his way of decision making. Instead of using logic, data, and other credible factors, the boss uses his emotions as a guiding beacon. Anger and other such negative emotions are his way of “coping with stress”.
He expects others to understand his mood swings, because they are a result of someone else’s mistake or something entirely else.
 
Makes Favorites: This one, we all hate (or maybe love if you’ve been a favorite). However, nobody likes favorites or bosses who build favorites. This will only disconcert other employees who fail to get recognition for their share of the work.
 
Overly Demanding: An overly demanding boss is like that mean research supervisor who is too hard to approve your dissertation and wouldn’t let you graduate, so you end up hiring dissertation writers UK for help.
 
A super-mean boss is guilty of setting the bar too high. He is overly demanding in his work and you have to go above and beyond to get positive feedback from him. Work other than the exceptional kind is not given credit to. Making mistakes is simply unacceptable.

It’s not difficult to recognize a bad boss. They are the kinds who have an exalted view of their power.
Their ways are socially and professionally unacceptable. If you feel you are unable to cope with their ways, try to think of ways you can influence their behavior. If that doesn’t work, think of an escape plan and when you get the chance – quit!

About The Author

author

Rochelle Ceira

Rochelle Ceira is a fun loving and creative person, pursuing a career in photography to quench her artistic thirst. Though she’s an art aficionado, her real job involves administrative work at a renowned firm.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Over-controlling
They feel they are “in power” no matter what. Everyone should listen to them and do things their way, or take the highway.

Inflexible
Forget about trying to convince him about something. He’ll have it his way no matter what it takes

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Uses Fear as a Motivator
He uses fear to motivate his employees and get work done using that fear.

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