For Nick, Kurt and Dale, the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a far too many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con, the three friends devise a seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective bosses — permanently. There’s only one problem: even the best-laid plans can go awry.
That’s the storyline of Horrible Bosses, which releases in US theatres today. A brief look at the trailer on the website obviously suggests that the film has drifted from reality, since no matter how ugly things get, you are unlikely to plot to have your boss killed. The producers know that, which explains the over-use of the word “comedy” in the promos.
But a majority of office-goers all over the world would still sympathise with the basic premise of the over-the-top promo that says: “What can you do when your boss is a psycho, a man-eater or a total tool?”
For proof, consider a Gallup Organisation study of over 1,000,000 employees. The study found that if a company is losing good people, more than any other single reason, the cause is their immediate supervisor. Gallup also found that poorly-managed workgroups are, on average, 50 per cent less productive and 44 per cent less profitable than well-managed groups.
Whatever HR spin doctors tell you about many companies in India becoming “leadership temples”, courtesy their elaborate training procedures, the fact is it’s really time for corporate India to get serious about bad bosses who treat their employees as invisibles.
The bank chairman who suspended his Mumbai zonal manager a couple of months ago for keeping him waiting at the airport for over an hour because the car keys were accidentally locked in is just one example of a bad boss. The zonal manager couldn’t please his boss despite arranging “two sets of dhotis and towels” and a duplicate key late at night, but he was lucky to have been reinstated (albeit on a transfer from Mumbai to Chennai) after the media picked up the case.
Others are not even half as lucky. HR consultants will give you umpteen unbelievable examples of bosses who think respecting your people is some fuzzy new-age management fad and they must be someone whose mood range from sour to apoplectic. For instance, one boss fired an employee for serving him a Coke that was flat and another sacked a lowly-placed subordinate because he (the subordinate) didn’t recognise him!
There is yet another example of a junior manager who supervised five employees. His boss called him one day to say he was taking one of the people under him off his hands to give him more time to work on bigger projects. The junior manager was happy because it would (or so he thought) give him an opportunity to grow. A few days later, the company issued a circular deciding to take away the manager title – and bonuses – from anyone who managed less than five people. The junior manager may have been incompetent and the boss was well within his rights to remove him from the post. But by playing a game, he lost the confidence of his entire team.
Then there are the workaholic bosses who enjoy their job so much that they work and work and work. They find that appealing; but their subordinates mostly find that appalling. There are also stories about bosses who appear to have jellyfish spines — someone who would never stand up for you. There is also the obsessive micro-manager who would give assignments but then manage them to death. He trusts his people the way you would trust a five-year-old behind the wheel of a car.
There is also this legendary example of John Patterson, former head of National Cash Register Company (now known as NCR). Patterson, who was supremely efficient in his work, zoomed his way into the Forbes list of worst bosses because he liked to fire and then rehire executives just to break their self-esteem. However, at least one employee was bold enough to decline to be rehired. The employee, Thomas Watson, later started his own company called IBM.
No wonder, in a survey conducted by a global research firm, seven in 10 Americans said bosses and toddlers with too much power act alike.
One of the surest signs of being a disliked boss is when you never see people walk by. Employees would rather circumnavigate the entire office to get to the coffee machine or bathroom than take the shortcut past your door and risk being invited in.
If that’s happening to you, it’s time to seek help. Or, as an HR consultant quips, watch Horrible Bosses with your office staff. Laughing together can be a good cure. The film releases in India on July 22.
