Horrible bosses don’t necessarily lead to mean supervisors, study finds

The unnamed politician in Central Florida has a reputation for being a real jerk.

One person who worked on his campaign reported that he would often demean his staff, shout them down and send meetings into utter chaos.

But when that person dealt with his own subordinates in local politics, he did not take the same approach.

“He realized that he was learning what not to do,” said UCF researcher Shannon Taylor, who led a team that recently published a study on how a boss’ behavior can affect the leadership styles of subordinates. “He said, ‘I’m not going to be this way. I will be the total opposite.’ He’s now a leader in politics in this area.”

The story illustrates the conclusion of the study’s findings: If you have ever had an abusive boss – and who hasn’t? – you won’t necessarily perpetuate the same mean-spirited behavior to your own staff.

The work by Taylor, UCF business professor Robert Folger and researchers at UTEP, Suffolk University and Singapore Management University was recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

Known as “dis-identification,” the thinking is that supervisors who have mean bosses tend to take the opposite approach with their own staffs.

“Our study sheds light on a silver lining, of sorts, for people who are subjected to abuse at work,” Taylor said. “Some managers who experience this abuse can reframe their experience so it doesn’t reflect their behavior and actually makes them better leaders.”

Taylor and his team conducted a survey of 500 employees and 100 people in positions of authority in businesses that asked targeted questions about their bosses and their experiences.

A grad student’s observation — that he once worked for a jerk but that he didn’t take on those traits — touched off an interest for Taylor in the study.

The goal was to study whether a boss’ behavior would affect the approach a supervisor under them took toward their own subordinates.

Those who “disidentified” with their boss tended to be more ethical and better leaders, the study found.

Taylor says there are lessons to be learned from the study.

“It’s clearly not to put out there that we need more abusive people in positions of power,” Taylor said. “We are saying it’s possible to take something away from that leadership style.”