My boss is bad

If we have a bad boss, our typical response is to blame the individual. However, Chetan Dhruve turns conventional logic on its head and explains how our workplaces have been unwittingly designed to mass produce dictator-bosses, and points out what we can do to change this.

When we have a bad boss, what's our typical response? We blame the boss and say: "My boss is bad". In short, we blame the individual. But why are there so many bad bosses around the world, cutting across organisational and national boundaries? The phenomenon of bad bosses simply begs the question: "Rather than individuals being bad, is something about our organisations actually creating bad bosses?"

Strange though it may sound, the answer to that question is yes. Our organisations have been unthinkingly designed to mass-produce dictator bosses. It's as normal to have a bad boss as it is to have a can of cola come out of a cola factory.