Can a bully be a good boss?
By John Welford
@indexer (4852)
Leicester, England
March 3, 2020 6:30am CST
This is Priti Patel, the UK Home Secretary and thus one of the senior members of Boris Johnson's government.
She has not been in this job long, but she has already caused ructions within her department by falling out "big time" with her senior civil servants, who have accused her of bullying and shouting at people who disagree with her. She also - it is said - makes unreasonable demands of people and gets very angry when her instructions are not followed to the letter - which is often because they were impossible to fulfill in the first place.
Things have come to a head because the Permanent Secretary - the top civil servant - has resigned and threatened to sue the Government on the grounds of Ms Patel's unfair treatment of him.
One thing to bear in mind is that, in the UK system, civil servants are not appointed by politicians but are career professionals who serve whoever their political masters might be - hence the term "Permanent". They must always be politically neutral and work towards making policies work whether or not they agree with them personally. They should also, however, point out potential difficulties that they foresee arising when the policies are enacted.
I have always taken the view that a manager who resorts to bullying and unfair treatment of their staff is a poor manager. I have had a few such people over me in my time, and I have been very careful not to behave like that to people whom I have managed.
If you have to resort to such tactics you should look at yourself and consider that maybe you are getting it wrong, not the people under you. Such behavior is always going to be counter-productive because it is not the way to get results.
Do you agree?
5 people like this
5 responses

@sh2ker (503)
• Bury, England
3 Mar 20
I agree that if those claims are true it would definitely show poor leadership skills. Though an old manager of mine always said there are three versions of every story. Her story,their story and the truth. She must be able to work with others to get to her position.
1 person likes this
@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
3 Mar 20
She has a history of this sort of behavior in other departments, and it hasn't stopped her from getting where she is. Bullies can certainly rise to the top - Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and Donald Trump come to mind!

@RebeccasFarm (91297)
• United States
3 Mar 20
I do agree and she is a disgrace to say the very least about her.
@TheHorse (238349)
• Walnut Creek, California
11 Apr 20
I do agree. My best bosses (and this includes band mates who led bands) have always been people who solicited feedback from their "workers," saw us as a "team" working toward "common goals," and did not bully. I try to be that way when I am the "boss" or professor" or whatever. The bullies I've worked with have lost their best workers (or band mates) and wound up...on the sidelines. It can take time, though.






