How employees cope with toxic managers

Stellenbosch University has studied coping mechanisms adopted by employees when dealing with “managers from hell”.

Positive ways of caring for themselves included exercising‚ while negative ways include overeating‚ according to the study by consulting psychologist Dr Beatrix Brink.

“People use different coping strategies that vary in degree of effectiveness and range from healthy coping with positive outcomes to unhealthy coping with negative outcomes‚” Brink said.

She interviewed employees‚ mostly women‚ in the manufacturing‚ retail‚ financial services‚ community services and public sector.

Brink found employees working in toxic environments tried to find solace in religion or spirituality,  sought social and family support‚ which included confiding in friends and family or consulting professional services‚ such as seeing a psychologist.

They also asked for assistance from their organisation’s human resource teams‚ mentoring and wellness services.

Looking at the impact of a destructive manager‚ Brink said employees “became fearful and demotivated‚ experiencing emotions ranging from feeling stupid‚ to being tearful and angry”.

“They became preoccupied with the experience and struggled to concentrate”.

Signals of destructive leadership constituted a lack of integrity‚ self-centredness‚ “acting out” on emotionality‚ inconsistency‚ aggression‚ anxiety‚ low self-awareness and  the tendency to belittle and break down participants.

There is also  blaming and bullying‚ introducing negative competition into the work unit‚ being unsupportive of participants and sabotaging the ability of the participant to perform by lack of action-taking.

“Playing team members off against one another‚ a type of attempt at a divide and rule strategy‚ favouritism and the uncertainty of whose turn it might be next‚ were described as some of the effects on other team members‚”  Brink said.

The study sounded a warning to managers who conducted themselves in this way.

“Participants described how these managers’ own careers were derailed by their roles being eroded‚ being demoted‚ ‘let go’ from employment or experiencing psychological and emotional consequences‚ resulting in time off work‚ rumoured to be from depression and nervous breakdown.

“These adverse effects resulted in reputational damage for the destructive leader.

“The manager’s perceived disruptive‚ passive‚ avoidant and obstructionist behaviour prevented the authorisation of tasks and decision-making‚ which impeded the swift and effective execution of tasks and the attainment of goals‚” Brink said. — TimesLIVE