Boss Abuse and the Consequences of Subordinate Payback
How do employees respond to boss abuse? A new article published in Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, entitled “Boss Abuse and Subordinate Payback,” by author Harvey A. Hornstein suggests that up to 60% of subordinates retaliate in some way following boss abuse. The article finds not only are the consequences of subordinate retaliation not all bad, some of the consequences can benefit the subordinate, the organization, and the abusing boss. The abstract for the paper:
After re-confirming an earlier finding that as many as 60% of subordinates retaliate
in major and minor ways after suffering a boss’s abuse, using data from 100 participants, this investigation identified the characteristics of successful (the abuse is discontinued) and unsuccessful retaliation. Without arguing that retribution is the response of choice to boss abuse, evidence is presented showing that well-crafted retaliation often produces benefits for the abused subordinate, the organization, and even the abusive boss. Action steps that might guide crafting an abused employee’s response to a boss’s abuse are provided as well as directions for future research.
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*Employees image attributed to FTTUB (CC)
