Arrogant bosses are more than just jerks.
They’re toxic for the workplace, prompting valuable employees to quit, draining the bottom line.
So says University of Akron researcher Stanley Silverman, who along with collaborators developed what is called a Workplace Arrogance Scale — to identify the know-it-all bosses and then help them change.
It’s for their own good, Silverman says.
“Using the scale, we looked at job performance and arrogance,” Silverman said. “What we found was the higher the arrogance, the poorer their job performance.”
The arrogance measure — consisting of 26 questions — is drawing international attention, and this week Silverman, a UA professor of social science, presented the arrogance scale at the American Psychological Association convention in Orlando, Fla.
Silverman said that the bossy bosses can change; they’re not hard-wired for arrogance.
“Arrogance is a not a personality trait,” he said. “It’s a cluster of behaviors. The earlier you can get to arrogant bosses, the better off you’ll be at changing their job performance,” benefiting the entire company.
He said the scale’s questions are designed to gauge behavior such as “to what degree does this individual shoot down others’ ideas in public? To what degree does this individual welcome constructive feedback?”
Silverman and colleagues, including Russell Johnson, assistant professor of management at Michigan State University, who looked at bossy bosses over four years, found that arrogance also is tied to lower cognitive abilities and self-esteem.
The researchers began with focus groups to develop the scale. They went on to collect data from roughly 200 people from companies across the country.
Other findings
Silverman said this research confirmed other findings: “The higher the arrogance, the lower the cognitive ability.”
Putting down subordinates, he said, “is probably a cover for low self-esteem ... a cover for certain inadequacies.”
Silverman and colleagues want the scale to be more than an academic exercise. They’d like it to be part of what Silverman calls the “performance management process” — in which bosses meet with others in their organizations to discuss a host of job-related issues and set goals.
“Typically employees don’t leave organizations — they leave their manager,” Silverman said. “Organizations really need to take arrogance seriously because arrogant bosses have a very negative impact on the work environment.”
Area business consultant/executive coach Ned Parks said he wants to learn more about what is called WARS. “Arrogance is huge” in the workplace, he said.
“It might show itself frankly as bullyness,” said Parks, owner of the Bath Township business development firm called New Directions Learning & Development. “It can show itself with lack of respect, which then can translate into a diversity issue. It can squash creativity and innovation.
“If I come up with ideas and you say they’re not good, I’m not going to keep coming up with ideas.”
Parks said the challenge is what happens after a boss is identified as arrogant. “Do people actually make changes? I will tell you the opportunity is there, but it really falls back to the individual.”
Companies can help by offering ongoing training, he said.
Arrogance arises in competent managers who fall out of touch with their staff or customers, said Kurt Minson, chief engagement officer for his Akron branding and marketing company, called M Group.
“When leaders lose touch with what’s really going on, they can force their own ego-driven initiatives” that don’t benefit employees or do much to help the company’s business, Minson said.
April Hamey, founder/owner of business development firm Fresh Prospective, in New Franklin, said micromanaging is a big symptom of arrogance.
Arrogant bosses can “end up having their nose into too much because they think they know better. It causes a depletion in morale for employees. They’re saying ‘OK, what am I doing wrong? I’m constantly being monitored.’”
Silverman said he got the idea to look into arrogance after he kept hearing about arrogant bosses while researching other workplace issues. He said he would talk to focus groups, in the early stages of his research, and ask who had worked with an arrogant boss. Nearly everyone in the room would raise a hand.
Now, he noted, with the Workplace Arrogance Scale receiving attention from blogs and newspapers in other countries, he’d like to explore the subject from an international angle, asking whether American leaders are more or less arrogant than those in other countries.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.