Identifying the arrogant boss

New test can help reduce the threat to organizations

2012-07-26

(Press-News.org) VIDEO: Are all bosses arrogant?
Click here for more information.

Akron, Ohio, July 25, 2012 – Arrogant bosses can drain the bottom line because they are typically poor performers who cover up their insecurities by disparaging subordinates, leading to organizational dysfunction and employee turnover.

A new measure of arrogance, developed by researchers at The University of Akron and Michigan State University, can help organizations identify arrogant managers before they have a costly and damaging impact. The Workplace Arrogance Scale (WARS) will be presented at the American Psychological Association convention in Orlando on August 2 by industrial and organizational psychologist and professor Stanley Silverman, dean of UA's Summit College and University College.

Arrogance is characterized by a pattern of behavior that demeans others in an attempt to prove competence and superiority. Silverman says this behavior is correlated with lower intelligence scores and lower self-esteem when compared to managers who are not arrogant.

"Does your boss demonstrate different behaviors with subordinates and supervisors?" Silverman asks. He says a "yes" answer could mean trouble. Silverman warns that "yes" replies to these other questions raise red flags and signal arrogance.

Does your boss put his/her personal agenda ahead of the organization's agenda? Does the boss discredit others' ideas during meetings and often make them look bad? Does your boss reject constructive feedback? Does the boss exaggerate his/her superiority and make others feel inferior?

Silverman and his colleagues Russell Johnson, assistant professor of management at the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, and Nicole McConnell and Alison Carr, both Ph.D. students in The University of Akron's Industrial and Organizational Psychology Program, published details of the Workplace Arrogance Scale in the July 2012 issue of The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist.

Left unchecked, arrogant leaders can be a destructive force within an organization, notes Silverman. With power over their employees' work assignments, promotion opportunities and performance reviews, arrogant bosses put subordinates in a helpless position. They do not mentor junior colleagues nor do they motivate a team to benefit the organization as a whole, contributing to a negative social workplace atmosphere.

Silverman says that arrogance is less a personality trait than a series of behaviors, which can be addressed through coaching if the arrogant boss is willing to change. He recommends that organizations incorporate an assessment of arrogance into the employee review and performance management process.

Silverman emphasizes that cultivating humility among leaders and promoting a learning-oriented work climate go far in reducing arrogance and increasing productive leadership and employee social interaction.

### About The University of Akron

The University of Akron offers more than 300 associate, bachelor's, master's, doctorate and law degree programs – with accreditations by 35 professional agencies. With nearly 30,000 students and $46.7 million in sponsored research awards, UA is among the nation's strongest public universities focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, and investment in community and economic growth. Listed by Princeton Review as among the "Best in the Midwest" in Best Colleges: Region-by-Region, programs are targeted to diverse groups of learners, including full-time, part-time and on-line students, veterans, and adults returning to the classroom. The distinctive Akron Experience enhances post-graduate success through internships and co-ops, academic research (both undergraduate and graduate), study abroad, on-campus student employment, and service projects.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Protected areas face threats in sustaining biodiversity, Penn's Daniel Janzen and colleagues report

2012-07-26

PHILADELPHIA — Establishing protection over a swath of land seems like a good way to conserve its species and its ecosystems. But in a new study, University of Pennsylvania biologist Daniel Janzen joins more than 200 colleagues to report that protected areas are still vulnerable to damaging encroachment, and many are suffering from biodiversity loss. "If you put a boundary around a piece of land and install some bored park guards and that's all you do, the park will eventually die," said Janzen, DiMaura Professor of Conservation Biology in Penn's Department of Biology. ...

Citizen science helps unlock European genetic heritage

2012-07-26

A University of Sheffield academic is helping a team of citizen scientists to carry out crucial research into European genetic heritage. Citizen Scientists are not required to have a scientific background or training, but instead they possess a passion for the subject and are increasingly being empowered by the scientific community to get involved in research. Dr Andy Grierson, from the University of Sheffield's Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), has helped a team of citizen scientists from Europe and North America to identify vital new clues to tell ...

Medical follow-up in celiac disease is less than optimal

2012-07-26

Follow-up exams for patients with celiac disease are often inadequate and highly variable, according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). "In the group of celiac disease patients that we observed, we found that very few of them had medical follow-up that would be in keeping with even the most lax interpretation of current guidelines," said Joseph A. Murray, MD, AGAF, of Mayo Clinic and lead author of this study. "Doctors and patients need to be aware of ...

Global expansion all about give and take, study finds

2012-07-26

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The key to successful global business expansion is spreading operations across multiple countries, rather than trying to dominate a region or market, according to a new study led by Michigan State University researchers. In addition, since global expansion is costly for service industries, manufacturing industries will profit most, said Tomas Hult, director of MSU's International Business Center. Led by Hult and Ahmet Kirca, associate professor of marketing, the study is the largest ever conducted to examine the effect of multinationality on firm ...

Spatial skills may be improved through training, new review finds

2012-07-26

Spatial skills--those involved with reading maps and assembling furniture--can be improved if you work at it, that's according to a new look at the studies on this topic by researchers at Northwestern University and Temple. The research published this month in Psychological Bulletin, the journal of the American Psychological Association, is the first comprehensive analysis of credible studies on such interventions. Improving spatial skills is important because children who do well at spatial tasks such as putting together puzzles are likely to achieve highly in science, ...

Contaminant transport in the fungal pipeline

2012-07-26

This press release is available in German. Leipzig. Fungi are found throughout the soil with giant braiding of fine threads. However, these networks have surprising functions. Only a few years ago researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) discovered that bacteria travel over the fungal threads through the labyrinth of soil pores, much the same as on a highway. Now, together with British colleagues from the University of Lancaster, the UFZ researchers have come upon another phenomenon. Accordingly, the fungal networks also transports contaminants ...

Miriam researchers urge physicians to ask younger men about erectile dysfunction symptoms

2012-07-26

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Although erectile dysfunction (ED) has been shown to be an early warning sign for heart disease, some physicians – and patients – still think of it as just as a natural part of "old age." But now an international team of researchers, led by physicians at The Miriam Hospital, say it's time to expand ED symptom screening to include younger and middle-aged men. In an article appearing in the July issue of the American Heart Journal, they encourage physicians to inquire about ED symptoms in men over the age of 30 who have cardiovascular risk factors, such ...

In muscular dystrophy, what matters to patients and doctors can differ

2012-07-26

Complex, multi-system diseases like myotonic dystrophy – the most common adult form of muscular dystrophy – require physicians and patients to identify which symptoms impact quality of life and, consequently, what treatments should take priority. However, a new study out this month in the journal Neurology reveals that there is often a disconnect between the two groups over which symptoms are more important, a phenomenon that not only impacts care but also the direction of research into new therapies. "In order to design better therapies we must first develop a clear ...

New gene therapy strategy boosts levels of deficient protein in Friedreich's ataxia

2012-07-26

New Rochelle, NY, July 25, 2012—A novel approach to gene therapy that instructs a person's own cells to produce more of a natural disease-fighting protein could offer a solution to treating many genetic disorders. The method was used to achieve a 2- to 3-fold increase in production of a protein deficient in patients with Friedreich's ataxia, as described in an article published Instant Online in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (http://www.liebertpub.com) The article is available free online at the Human Gene Therapy website (http://www.liebertpub.com/hum). The ...

ONR-funded research takes flight in Popular Science article

2012-07-26

ARLINGTON, Va.—The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is looking at birds' perceptual and maneuvering abilities as inspiration for small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) autonomy, and Popular Science is featuring this effort in its August issue, posted online July 25. An ONR-funded, five-year Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program is examining the control and behavioral processes of birds and other small animals when flying at high speeds through complex environments, such as forests or urban settings. Researchers are trying to understand why birds make ...

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Identifying the arrogant boss

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: