Organizational Behavior (Stephen Robbins)

Chapter 8Leadership 289

OBAT WORK

CBC VIDEO CASEINCIDENT

How Bad Is Your Boss?

No matter where you work, you cannot escape the boss.
He or she can be demanding, can be out of touch, and can
stress you out.
Shaun Belding, a consultant and author, developed a
quiz about the seven deadly sins of being a boss. Answer yes
or no to the following questions to find out how bad your
boss really is:

Yes No

1 .Has your boss ever embarrassed you
in front of co-workers?

2.Does your boss have a tough time
making decisions?

3.Is your boss a poor communicator?

4.Does your boss hog the limelight
when things go well but look to
blame others when things go wrong?

5.Does your boss argue about everything?

6 .Is your boss unclear about what he or
she expects of you?

7.Does your boss pile on the work?

If you answered yes to one or two questions, you have a
stressful boss the odd time. If you answered yes to three to
six questions, you have a bad boss and need to take action.
If you confront the boss, make sure you can substantiate
your claims. If you answered yes to all seven questions, you
have the boss from hell and should leave the workplace.
Jack Welsh, named the toughest boss ever, built General
Electric (GE) into a $400 billion powerhouse. He likens the
boss’s role to that of a gardener: “But some of the garden
has weeds, and you have to cut those weeds out.” He cut
100 000 of those weeds out of GE in massive layoffs in the
1980s, and every year he pruned by cutting out the bot-
tom 10 percent of his workforce. His approach has been
controversial, but Welsh makes no apologies. He adds that
a boss is only as good as the number of employees he or she

has helped develop. A unit will sink if the boss does not

build up great people.

Can you train a boss to be better? Robert Lemieux is the

director of sales at the Delta Chelsea in Toronto. He has

goals of reaching vice-president or president of the hotel,

and knows he has to be a great boss to achieve that success.

So, Lemieux is going to Boss Boot Camp. His drill sergeant,

Lindsay Sukornyk, runs a coaching company on how to be

a better manager. She meets with Lemieux’s employees to

hear about his leadership style.

Employees see Lemieux as extremely professional, self-

contained, caring, and very intuitive in his leadership style.

On the other hand, he sometimes appears standoffish and

too busy to speak with employees. He also has a tendency

to over-promise and under-deliver because of time con-

straints and competing demands. Lemieux should try to

relinquish control, Sukornyk suggests.

Can Lemieux change his ways? He has owned up to his

weaknesses and promises to do less talking and more lis-

tening. Lemieux feels the first team meeting with the

new agenda was very powerful. It allowed employees to

communicate how he could be a more effective leader—

and they are committed to keeping him on task.

Questions

1. Would you identify Jack Welsh as a charismatic

leader? Explain.

2. Is Robert Lemieux a manager or a leader? Explain.


3. If you were speaking in front of a room of top execu-
   tives, what advice would you offer about why being
   a bad boss does not make good business sense?

Sources:“How Bad Is Your Boss?” CBC Venture, January 17, 2006,

14763; S. MacNaull, “Coping With an Employee Crunch,” Daily

Courier(Kelowna), January 21, 2006, p. B1; and G. Lowe, “Trust Is

Tops,” Canadian Business,April 10/23, 2006, pp. 85–86.