What Makes an Employee Disgruntled? Poor Management Types

Poor management is the number one reason employees become disgruntled and leave their job. According to a Gallup poll of more 1 million employed U.S. workers, the No. 1 reason people quit their jobs is a bad boss or immediate supervisor." ⁽¹⁾ There are several management types that can severely impact an employee's motivation and ability to excel, creating a "disgruntled employee" where there was once an enthusiastic worker.

The Bully

Many managers seem to think the best way to manage is to yell, and come down hard on the tiniest infractions. The Bully picks on the employees they like the least whenever they feel like acting like the Big Cahuna and throwing their weight around. According to a New York Times report, women are more likely to be bullied than men. ⁽²⁾ That may be because most Bullies are cowards who have an inferiority complex and like to pick on the employees with the least power. The Bully thinks it is well within his or her rights as a manager to act like a colossal jerk, belittling, yelling, and acting out when he or she feels so inclined. After all, they are Managers!

The Erratic Micro-manager

The Erratic Micro-manager is there to drive an employee crazy. Really, they serve no other function. The Erratic Micro-manager hovers to see if you are doing your job correctly - important tasks like checking to see if you are tying bows correctly for displays and using the pink ribbon. The Erratic Micro-manager then tells you he or she clearly said WHITE ribbon (when they clearly did NOT), then calls you an hour after they went home to check to see if you put pink ribbons on the displays. You can hear the Erratic Micro-manager shushing their children in the background as they attend to more important matters - discussing the finer points of ribbon-tying for 1/2 hour on the phone while the associate tries to do their job with a phone glued to their ear. The Erratic Micro-manager is also infamous for taking the printed schedules and redoing them so everyone is now scheduled to come in on the days they have previous appointments.

The Nepotist

The Nepotist has his or her favorites. This elite circle of special buddies is allowed to get by with any infraction, but the other associates must pick up the slack. If the special circle is outside smoking, the remaining employees must handle the office and multi-task, often doing someone else's job, while the favorites exchanges gossip, smokes, snacks or sexual banter with the manager. The Nepotist will let his or her favorites take multiple breaks, slack off, come in late, leave early, and wear just about whatever they want, but heaven help the employee outside the sacred circle who is held up in traffic, needs a break, or forgets their name badge one day.

The Sleaze

The Sleaze is a manager who is sexually active with those under him or her, no pun intended. The Sleaze may work in HR or be a store manager or a department manager and is actually a lower class of the Nepotist. The Sleaze has taken their activities "under cover" so to speak. If you thought dealing with the inner circle of the Nepotist was bad, try getting anything done about the person the Sleaze is sleeping with. That person can get away with anything, and the Sleaze will either look the other way or chuckle indulgently.

The Harasser

Heaven help you if the Sleaze takes an interest in YOU and you do not return the sentiment! Then the Sleaze may turn into the Harasser. The Harasser will stop by an employee's work station to check them out, to flirt, to try to engage them in sexual banter. The Harasser watches employees from the security cameras to check out cleavage, and posteriors, that is, unless the Harasser is a Bully. Then the Harasser will just stop by to yell or glare at at those associates he or she feels like bullying that day, or drop snide remarks. Either way, the Harasser is a pain in the harass.

The Idiot

The Idiot is an incompetent manager who either slept with the Sleaze or was in the inner circle of the Nepotist and somehow became promoted to a manager without a clue what they are doing. In this situation, it is clearly the associate's job to try to make things run smoothly in their department, regardless of the manager's total incompetence. After all, the manager is either busy sleeping around with the Sleaze above them, or out smoking with their buddies. Don't worry, the Idiot is frequently also an Erratic Micro-manager who will call you later from home to discuss pink bow vs. white bows. In any case, THEY are the MANAGER, and the employee must pick up the slack.

The Petty Sneak

The Petty Sneak, who may also be an Erratic Micro-manager and/or Harasser, is the manager who likes to spy on employees in hopes of catching an associate doing miniscule, perceived infraction. The Petty Sneak will then gleefully write up a report to put into a file or review. For instance, in a situation where everyone has coffee and soft drinks at their station, an associate discovers he or she has been written up for it, and the report is now in their permanent record. Sometimes the Petty Sneak is also a Nepotist, In that case they may work with their inner circle to come up with a department complaint, which is never brought to the employee's attention until after it has been presented to the HR department or the corporate office. In some cases, employees are denied access to their HR files or discover through other channels there are reports in their files they never were made aware of and never signed off on. The Petty Sneak often hangs out in the security office watching their employees to see if someone eats a candy bar on the floor or is putting a pink ribbon where a white ribbon should go. Never mind that merchandise is going out the back door without being paid for -- the Petty Sneak wants to catch YOU with a candy bar or Coke in your hands!!!

While there are other problems with management, including managers who exhibit several of the above traits in grotesque combinations, these are the poor management types that seem to be the most common and the most problematic. Next time you hear about a disgruntled former employee, consider the fact the real culprit may be an ineffective, incompetent manager with a Napoleon complex -- a poor management type with with an entire corporation with its legal team and publicity department behind him (or her) to make the "disgruntled employee" look bad!

Read the companion piece: What Makes an Employee Disgruntled? Poor Management Decisions

SOURCES

(1) http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/

(2) http://www.nytimes.com/

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