What is a bad boss? Defining a bad boss is difficult as everyone has their own opinion of how to define a bad boss. A text book answer for defining a bad boss might be easier found by breaking down the words "bad" and "boss" individually. The word bad is defined as having an undesirable or negative effect. The word boss is defined as a person who exercises control and makes decisions for the workers. Combining these definitions would lead to the conclusion that a bad boss is one that leads and controls workers with a negative and undesirable effect. A textbook definition of a bad boss is far from definitive. Individuals who experience a negative encounter with a boss might define a bad boss with emotion rather than logic. Emotional definitions of a bad boss might include a boss that is: selfish, hypocritical, harassing, malice, a poor communicator or intellectual incompetent.
A selfish boss is one that never shares successful work progress with anyone but themselves. All types of work usually require the combined work effort of several if not all workers to be successful. A good boss would share the success of work with all involved. A selfish boss would claim credit only for themselves. The workers that believe they deserve credit for the success they contributed might consider their boss a bad boss for not sharing the credit.
Children are often told by their parents to, "Do as I say, not as I do." People do not like to be restricted by things allowed by others. A boss that allows certain actions by some and not others is considered hypocritical. A boss that makes rules and then changes the rules later is
considered a hypocrite. A worker on the restricted side of an action at work would consider their boss to be a bad boss for being inconsistent and hypocritical.
Anyone who has ever experienced a harassing boss at work can easily describe a bad boss. A harassing boss will find reasons to give certain workers more assignments than others. A harassing boss will almost constantly find any reason to verbally reprimand and dispense with written disciplinary action. This kind of harassment from a boss might even take place after working hours. A boss that harasses someone at work might not think twice about calling the worker at their home to continue the harassment. An extremely harassing boss might even pressure unwanted sexual advances toward a worker. A boss that is excessively dispenses verbal, written, after hours calls or sexual harassment is defiantly considered a bad boss.
Have you ever had a boss you knew didn't like you? Anyone who feels a boss instills malice toward them would define their boss as a bad boss. Malice from a boss can derive from somehow wronging the boss to a boss being raciest. Going to work with a boss that has malice toward you is simply miserable. A boss that harbors malice toward a worker will plan to make their work time difficult or even to have them terminated.
Being a good communicator is vital to any situation. A boss needs the ability to communicate to needs of the customers and employees. A boss that does not express themselves well makes the employees confused. A poor communicating boss makes the customer doubt the leadership of the company. A boss that is a good communicator understands what changes are needed in the work environment when necessary. A good communicating boss will also understand the needs of the customer and instill a sense of good leadership to the customer.
Intellectual incompetent boss is one who makes poor decisions and many mistakes. By this definition a conclusion might be drawn that the boss is dumb instead of bad. Even a dumb boss is a bad boss. Poor decision making and mistakes by the boss reflect the entire company in the eyes of the customer. The bad decisions made by the boss make the employees look dumb for following them. A bad boss will usually blame the mistakes on the workers to hide their own intellectual incompetence. Anyone that has ever had to work for an intellectual incompetent boss would likely define them as a bad boss.
Defining a boss depends on the individual's emotional attachment to their boss. A bad boss is often defined by the negative emotion an individual feels toward their boss. If an individual feels they work for a bad boss if the boss is selfish, hypocritical, harbors malice, a poor communicator or intellectual incompetent. A bad boss can be defined as any boss that conveys a negative emotion to their worker.
You need to refine your definition of "bad." A boss could be a middle manager, for instance. This middle manager might be considered a "good" boss by his own boss if he ensures that his department meets certain profit margins, even if he harasses and intimidates his employees. His employees, in that case, though, would likely view him as a "bad" boss. Even a top boss, a company owner, for example, probably judges whether he is "good" or "bad" as a boss by what he can get his workers to accomplish, rather than by how happy they are. So, you are going to have to discuss how issues of perspective alter what is understood by "good" and "bad" in this case.
Use " " marks to show the term you are discussing:
Defining a "bad boss" is difficult, as everyone has their own...
People do not like to be restricted by rules that apply to them and not to others.
This is pretty good; I like how you break up the two words, because that makes a definition for "bad boss" emerge from the notion of what a "boss" is supposed to accomplish. I think you should focus more on the idea that a "bad" boss is one that does not successfully fulfill her/his function as a boss.
This whole essay might be better if you replace the word "boss" with the word leader. Then you can even cite famous articles, like, Goleman's "What Makes a Leader?" of Prentice's "Understanding Leadership."
