6 Types of Bad Bosses

Everyone may has had some bad bosses over the course of their career, from the first job to the present. In some cases, these bosses are aware they are "bad." In other cases, bosses may think they are great and don't have a clue what others think of them.

You have hard-driving tyrants who measure success on the employee's productivity and don't give a fig if employees like them or are happy; for them the bottom line is all that matters.

On the extreme contrary, bosses can be bad because they are so concerned with being liked, with being one of the gang, that they have problems with authority and control. When they spend all that time schmoozing with their employees, little gets done. They may be well-liked as a sympathetic, understanding, but that alone doesn't make a good boss.

So what is a "bad" boss? Essentially, any boss who is difficult and hard to deal with or who has trouble directing and guiding employees to effectively do the work can qualify as a bad boss.

1. The No-boss Boss

• One of the most frustrating kinds of bad bosses is the boss who isn't really there.
• The opposite of the overly aggressive, controlling, or micromanaging boss.
• The boss who manage by not managing; the leader who leads by not leading.
• Often does not make decisions and lets things ride until someone else has to make the decision.
• Often does not know what is going on and depends on subordinates to know.
• This boss may have the title, but in fact has left the ship rudderless or without a captain.

2. The Pass-the-Buck-Boss

• This boss lacks organizational and task knowledge.

• This boss is in over his head but has one or more competent employees to take up the slack.
• The employees don't get the credit and often feel resentful.

3. Clueless but Connected

• Often, this boss has been put in charge by his family who owns the business, but he is totally clueless about how to run the things ans doesn't know it.
• Because of the boss's family connections, employees may be afraid to clue the boss in, afraid the boss is untouchable and immune to any criticism because of the family ties.

4. Scatterboss

• This boss doesn't follow up enough, or gives an enthusiastic go-ahead but loses track of or interest in the project, resulting in unnecessary work for employees.
• This too-casual attitude of a boss can result in a last-minute flurry of activity to complete an assignment when a deadline suddenly looms and employees haven't been working on the right project.
• This haphazard approach of a boss can leave employees confused, uncertain, and lacking direction.
• Even more so, productivity and morale of this boss can be seriously damaged, and employees will start to flounder.
• This boss may think she/he is empowering the employees, many of them may feel they need more clarity and guidance, and less empowerment.

• Some bosses have the best of intentions, yet clueless about why their plans aren't working, and they don't want to hear why.
• This boss is in a state of denial.
• This boss don't want to admit that she/he is doing anything wrong, so she/he can continue doing what she/he feel comfortable doing. It's her/his way of protecting themselves from having to make changes they don't want to make.

• The top management of the organization think this boss is a genius, but the subordinates know better. 
• This boss is deceptive and dishonest, yet the subordinates are demoralized and unorganized themselves, so they don't say anything. This situation is more likely to occur in a rigidly hierarchical organization, where the boss is the only one who has contact with higher management.
• Employees have little power to press for change, particularly when the quality of the resulting works seems fine. To top management's view, it seems the boss and his team is doing well. Yet the team wishes if only the top management really knew that their boss was actually a liar and cheat who is not only taking for the employees' work, but is also on the take.
• You're never sure what this kind of boss is going to do to you.

In today's highly competitive, high-stress environment where growing number of jobs are being outsourced and loyalty to a particular job or company is a thing of the past, the pressure and stresses that contribute to bad "bosshood" and difficult employer-employee relationships are more difficult then ever.

The assessment of "badness" can be made more subjectively by the boss's own boss, for employees, the subjective measure --what they think of the boss--is what counts. On one way or another, a lot of us may have to deal with bad bosses while we get hold of our careers. The book, "A Survival Guide for Working with BAD BOSSES" written by Gini Graham Scott, Pd.D. can help you in dealing with Bullies, Idiots, Back-stabbers, and other Managers from Hell.