Do you view your toxic boss as successful? This perspective makes you more likely to label their abuse as \u201ctough love,\u201d according to a study published in this month\u2019s issue of the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes<\/em><\/a>. Researchers at the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business<\/a> also found that employees tended to think a high-performing boss could boost their own career\u2014reproachful behavior notwithstanding.<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone is a good performer, we almost have this halo effect, or you assume that they have all these other positive traits particularly associated with leadership<\/a>, which goes directly in the face of an abusive leader,\u201d lead study author Robert Lount, PhD<\/a>, an Ohio State professor of management and human resources, tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cWe were trying to reconcile these issues and how that might help understand when abusive behavior might not necessarily be encoded as abusive.\u201d<\/p>\n In one part of the study, Lount and his colleagues surveyed nearly 600 full-time U.S. workers spanning an array of industries and positions, who had worked for their current supervisor for an average of five years. They used a pair of established scales\u2014a 15-point measure of abusive supervision<\/a> and a four-point measure of leader performance<\/a>\u2014that asked participants to evaluate statements such as \u201cMy boss ridicules me\u201d and \u201cMy boss is superior to other bosses that I have worked with before.\u201d Two weeks later, respondents further evaluated supervisors\u2019 abusive or tough-love behaviors, reacting to language such as \u201cI think my boss abuses team members\u201d and \u201cI would describe my boss as stern but caring.\u201d Another two weeks after that, participants answered questions about their career expectations and hostility toward superiors<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the workers polled projected their supervisors\u2019 perceived success onto their own career ambitions, there\u2019s no evidence those things are actually linked, Lount stresses.<\/p>\n \u201cJust because sometimes people look at [abusive bosses] as tough-love bosses doesn\u2019t suggest that being an abuser is going to be good or beneficial,\u201d Lount says. \u201cThere are all sorts of other leader behaviors that are far more developmental and far more valuable than working under an abusive boss, which has been found time and time again to have really negative psychological consequences for employees.\u201d<\/p>\n Such impudent workplace behavior spells trouble for employers, according to Donald Sull, DBA<\/a>, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management<\/a>. He also directs the MIT Sloan Management Review<\/em>\u2019s Culture 500<\/a>, a database created in partnership with Glassdoor that ranks corporations on cultural values including integrity and respect<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople often think that high performance is an excuse for abusive behavior\u2014they confuse disrespectful and bullying behavior for maintaining high standards,\u201d Sull tells Fortune<\/em> via email. \u201cBut it\u2019s possible to set the bar for performance high without berating or bullying people. And to the extent these toxic managerial behaviors drive high performers out of the organization, the abusive behavior undermines performance.\u201d<\/p>\n Sull adds, \u201cThe sharpest test of whether a corporate culture<\/a> truly respects employees is how senior leaders deal with managers who hit their numbers but abuse their teams.\u201d<\/p>\n LaylaBird\u2014Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A leader\u2019s top priority should be understanding and developing the people they manage\u2014that\u2019s what Bill Becker, PhD<\/a>, a professor of management at the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business<\/a>, teaches his MBA students. Yet not enough people in charge are equipped with the emotional and psychological skills to be in high-pressure positions and shepherd subordinates, he tells Fortune<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cMost bosses don\u2019t come to work and say, \u2018How can I be the biggest jerk today?\u2019\u201d Becker says, noting that when overwhelm is the probable cause of your supervisor\u2019s unpleasant behavior, there\u2019s opportunity for both of you to grow. \u201cIf you can be the bigger person and manage it and actually make things better, they\u2019ll recognize that oftentimes [and] you\u2019ll stand out.\u201d<\/p>\n Anyone can succeed under a great boss, Becker says, but if you can find a way to flourish under a challenging one, you\u2019ll be ahead of the curve. Even so, a fine line separates a thorny supervisor from a psychologically dangerous one.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have a difficult boss, it\u2019s more about them and it\u2019s not about you,\u201d Becker says. \u201cDon\u2019t see their behavior as a reflection of you and your worth and your value.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also well within the realm of possibility that your abusive boss could be a psychopath. No, that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re a serial killer; psychopathy is a common spectrum disorder that, in its most severe form, manifests in 1 in 100 people, according to the nonprofit PsychopathyIs<\/a>. Adult psychopathic behaviors<\/a> include frequent bragging, skilful lying, superficial charm, and trouble maintaining relationships.<\/p>\n In a 2021 Fortune<\/em> commentary, Simon Croom, PhD<\/a>, a professor of supply chain management at the University of San Diego Knauss School of Business<\/a>, discussed the prevalence of corporate psychopathy: \u201cMy colleagues and I found in our research that 12% of corporate senior leadership displays a range of psychopathic traits<\/a>, which means psychopathy is up to 12 times more common among senior management than among the general population.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Unrecognized psychopathy in senior management, Croom wrote<\/a>, could have disastrous financial and ethical consequences for businesses, employees, and customers\u2014not to mention society at large.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just their modus operandi<\/em> to manipulate people and abuse people, and do whatever it takes to gain power over them or get them to do what they think needs to be done,\u201d Becker tells Fortune<\/em>. If that sounds like your boss, \u201cthere\u2019s just no changing a psychopath, there\u2019s no managing a psychopath. All you can do is insulate yourself as best as possible, and that might be the time when you really want to look to at least move out from underneath that leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n Abuse takes many forms and can morph across employment environments. It\u2019s also subjective.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople bandy about terms like \u2018toxic\u2019 and \u2018abusive\u2019 to cover a lot of behavior that they don\u2019t like,\u201d Sull says. \u201cWhat one person might view as abusive, another might see as candid.\u201d<\/p>\n Sull\u2019s own research<\/a>, based on more than a million Glassdoor reviews, suggests egregious behavior such as outright harassment is rare. Nevertheless, a supervisor\u2019s abuse doesn\u2019t have to be overt to evoke negative reactions in employees, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cManagers who are disrespectful, noninclusive, or undermine others qualify as toxic even if they don\u2019t exhibit the extremes of abusive behavior,\u201d Sull says.<\/p>\n The antibullying advocacy group End Workplace Abuse<\/a> breaks up such mistreatment into verbal abuse, sabotage, and mobbing. The following are just a few of the organization\u2019s examples of each:<\/p>\n Jay Yuno\u2014Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you have the means to do so, leaving your job is the best way to free yourself from an abusive supervisor, according to Ben Tepper, PhD<\/a>, coauthor of the study and professor of management and human resources at Ohio State. If you can\u2019t, notify HR as soon as possible so they can begin to ameliorate the situation on their end while you get to work on coping strategies, he tells Fortune<\/em>. This includes documenting negative interactions with your boss. In addition, behave like a formidable opponent, so to speak.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople who engage in abusive boss behavior, they pick their targets very strategically. They don\u2019t do it to everybody,\u201d Tepper says. \u201cThey go after people who come across as weak and vulnerable, and so it\u2019s in the interest of the individual who has been targeted to present themselves as a bad target. And you do that by being good at your job, by being confident, by activating your social network\u2014surrounding yourself with other individuals who are competent and capable.\u201d<\/p>\n Tepper also recommends reading a pair of books by Robert Sutton, PhD<\/a>, a professor emeritus of management science and engineering at Stanford University: The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn\u2019t<\/em><\/a> and its successor, The Asshole Survival Guide: How to Deal with People Who Treat You Like Dirt<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Becker advises journaling about abusive incidents with your boss and returning to your entries with a fresh perspective. Once the heat of the moment has passed, you\u2019ll be able to more objectively assess whether you and your supervisor have butted heads here and there or recognize a clear pattern of toxic behavior.<\/p>\n When in doubt, \u201cI\u2019m a big fan of therapy,\u201d Becker says.<\/p>\n If you need immediate mental health support, contact the <\/em>988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Researchers](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-1188583021-e1720555813315.jpg?w=1440&q=75\"\/)
It\u2019s not you, it\u2019s your boss\u2014especially if they\u2019re a psychopath<\/h2>\n
How do I recognize workplace abuse?<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
![\"\u201cIf](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-1468501591-e1720652351359.jpg?w=1440&q=75\"\/)
What can I do if I have a toxic boss?<\/h2>\n