If your boss is absolutely horrible and there’s no hope of getting out from under him or her, is it better to simply take your lumps quietly, or throw that negative energy right back at them?
An intriguing study by researchers at Ohio State University found that there are important psychological benefits to dishing it back to bad bosses — and that doing so doesn’t seem to backfire against employees. People who reciprocate the aggression they get from their higher ups feel less like victims, and thus feel more job satisfaction and commitment to the work than if they stay silent about their unfair treatment.
–
So what does this all mean? Tepper hopes that his study results don’t give employees license to respond to bad behavior with more bad behavior automatically. Instead, he thinks the results are more a reflection of how important it is for an employee’s well-being if they try to avoid taking on a “victim identity.”
“Our work suggests that employees have a personally effective method of avoiding a victim identity — performing acts of upward hostility,” Tepper wrote in his study. But the best way for employees to avoid victimhood is still a topic that needs to be investigated. For instance, Tepper’s research isn’t able to prove that upward hostility is the best way to deal with a bad boss, he cautioned. An embattled employee’s other options, like forgiveness and acceptance of a bad boss’ behavior, or seeking support from other co-workers, were not examined in this study.
