{"id":6495,"date":"2025-06-16T18:15:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T18:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=6495"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:48:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:48:37","slug":"a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/","title":{"rendered":"A Common Reason Some Managers Treat Employees Poorly"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

When managers worry about losing their jobs or face other problems that feel out of their control, some become abusive toward their employees, driven by insecurity and an urge to exercise what power they have. On the other hand, managers who are resilient and mindful tend to avoid such toxic behavior.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Jaqueline \u201cJackie\u201d Coyle-Shapiro<\/a> of California State University, San Bernardino, and the London School of Economics said that the job market is constantly shifting. This means lots of people, even top executives, have job-security doubts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we think about job security, we think about employees not being secure in their job, but I\u2019ve researched managers who feel insecure in their jobs and respond to that insecurity by being abusive towards their employees as a way of coping with the feelings of insecurity in their jobs,\u201d Coyle-Shapiro said.<\/p>\n

When managers worry that the ax may be dropping on them, it can lead them to behave abusively toward their team members in attempts to regain a sense of control by exerting power over others.<\/p>\n

\u201cExamples of abusive supervision, managers abusing employees and treating them badly, include yelling at them, ridiculing them in front of coworkers, perhaps even ignoring them, and various forms of exclusionary behavior,\u201d Coyle-Shapiro said. \u201cAnother example is giving them not-great tasks to do, putting someone on the graveyard shift, for example.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose would be some examples of managers abusing their employees because they\u2019re feeling insecure in their job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The good news is that managers who tend to be resilient during stressful times and mindful of others\u2019 thoughts, feelings, and situations are less likely to act in an abusive manner, even when they feel insecure about their job.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the best managers, engaging in mindfulness can act like a shield against the negative effects of job insecurity,\u201d Coyle-Shapiro said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher When managers worry about losing their jobs or face other problems that feel out of their control, some become abusive toward their employees, driven by insecurity and an urge to exercise what power they have. On the other hand, managers who are resilient and mindful tend to avoid such toxic behavior. Academy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,20,29,19],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-6495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c-suite","category-careers","category-emotions","category-leadership"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Common Reason Some Managers Treat Employees Poorly - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"A Common Reason Some Managers Treat Employees Poorly\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-16T18:15:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T15:48:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":318,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/rude-worker-img.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"C-SUITE\",\"CAREERS\",\"EMOTIONS\",\"LEADERSHIP\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Common Reason Some Managers Treat Employees Poorly - Academy of Management Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/rude-worker-img.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-16T18:15:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T15:48:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/rude-worker-img.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/rude-worker-img.webp\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":697,\"caption\":\"Source: Shutterstock\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Common Reason Some Managers Treat Employees Poorly\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Academy of Management Today\",\"description\":\"Smarter, faster business news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\",\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g559188980b254e0e0624aacb72ebc733\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Daniel Butcher\"},\"description\":\"Daniel Butcher is a writer and the Managing Editor of AOM Today at the Academy of Management (AOM). Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\\\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/danielbutcher\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/author\\\/daniel-butcher\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Common Reason Some Managers Treat Employees Poorly - Academy of Management Today","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daniel Butcher","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/"},"author":{"name":"Daniel Butcher","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"headline":"A Common Reason Some Managers Treat Employees Poorly","datePublished":"2025-06-16T18:15:16+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-09T15:48:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/"},"wordCount":318,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img.webp","articleSection":["C-SUITE","CAREERS","EMOTIONS","LEADERSHIP"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/","name":"A Common Reason Some Managers Treat Employees Poorly - Academy of Management Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img.webp","datePublished":"2025-06-16T18:15:16+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-09T15:48:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img.webp","width":1000,"height":697,"caption":"Source: Shutterstock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/a-common-reason-some-managers-treat-employees-poorly\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Common Reason Some Managers Treat Employees Poorly"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/","name":"Academy of Management Today","description":"Smarter, faster business news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c","name":"Daniel Butcher","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g559188980b254e0e0624aacb72ebc733","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Daniel Butcher"},"description":"Daniel Butcher is a writer and the Managing Editor of AOM Today at the Academy of Management (AOM). Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.","sameAs":["https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/danielbutcher\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"daniel-butcher","display_name":"Daniel Butcher","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img.webp",1000,697,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img.webp",1000,697,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img.webp",1000,697,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img-300x209.webp",300,209,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img.webp",800,558,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img.webp",1000,697,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img.webp",1000,697,false],"owl_elementor_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img-600x418.webp",600,418,true],"owl_elementor_team":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img-350x450.webp",350,450,true],"owl_elementor_testimonial":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rude-worker-img-100x100.webp",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Daniel Butcher","author_link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/c-suite\/\" rel=\"category tag\">C-SUITE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/careers\/\" rel=\"category tag\">CAREERS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/emotions\/\" rel=\"category tag\">EMOTIONS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/leadership\/\" rel=\"category tag\">LEADERSHIP<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Daniel Butcher When managers worry about losing their jobs or face other problems that feel out of their control, some become abusive toward their employees, driven by insecurity and an urge to exercise what power they have. On the other hand, managers who are resilient and mindful tend to avoid such toxic behavior. Academy…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6495"},{"taxonomy":"sp_smart_badges","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sp_smart_badges?post=6495"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}