An abusive boss today might mean a better boss tomorrow.

When your boss yells at you, your day can be ruined. But as a new study shows it can also ruin theirs and lead to major behavioral changes that flip their attitudes at work.   The new research published in Journal of Applied Psychology focused on how the bosses respond to their own abusive behavior.   “Based on prior research, it wasn’t clear whether supervisors even realized when they were abusive toward others,” said the lead author of the study. “However, some bosses realize when they have been abusive toward their subordinates and feel guilty about it. This motivates them to repair the relationship by engaging in more appropriate and effective leader behaviors.”   

\What the researchers say: The research was built around the theory of moral cleansing (how people keep their moral compass, or their conscience, clean).   “People often act as though they have a moral ledger or bank account, such that doing good deeds adds credit whereas bad deeds withdraws credit. When there is a shortfall of credits, they are motivated to engage in good deeds to restore a balance,” the researchers said. “Abusive behavior weakens leaders’ moral credit. To try to compensate for their wrongdoings, they show behavior to make reparations and amends toward abused staff.”   

To collect data on workplace dynamics and moral cleansing, the team conducted separate surveys of supervisors and direct reports. The surveys asked bosses to evaluate their own abusive behavior, and then asked employees about their bosses’ willingness and determination to make reparations.   “In addition to feeling guilty after engaging in abusive behavior, the supervisors felt as though they lost ‘moral credit.’ To build that credit back up, they showed types of sympathetic, supportive and reparative behaviors toward their employees,” said the lead author.   

Additionally, he explained that leaders who worked in a place where moral and ethical values were salient or top-of-mind would be more attentive to their own behavior and experience guilt when they act abusively. This is because supervisors who work in such ethical environments would be more aware of their own bad behavior and more likely to engage in cleansing behaviors following abusive acts.  

 The researchers added that if a goal is to create healthy workplaces and to reduce the abusive supervisory behavior, then the focus should be on supervisors and understanding why they engage in such acts and how it affects them. Only then can we start to create contexts that discourage such abuse from happening.   To help combat abusive bosses, the researchers concluded that engaging employees and their supervisors in constructive conversations could open to doors to a more empathetic environment where bosses would be more aware of their actions, and subsequently feel the guilt that elicits a moral cleansing.   

So, what? This is an interesting, if incomplete, piece of research. As a number of studies reported in TR have shown, in terms of neurochemistry abusive behavior is often due to having a low level of glutamate in the brain. We can only be ethical for as long as we have the energy from glutamate to sustain that “good” behavior. Once we lose that energy we find it harder to maintain an ethical stance. Overwork or stress can drain our glutamate supply, which leads to bad behavior.   

Other studies have shown that we self-justify abuse when we’re under stress, making it unlikely that we would feel guilt after the fact.   Also, abuse often occurs and goes unremarked if it happens to a person or group within the workforce who are considered part of “them” rather than “us.”   I believe that an “ethical” workplace or society can only be created if the stress level is reduced and the demands put upon people are in line with their individual level of stress tolerance. Another necessary condition for creating an ethical workplace is that the people within it share enough in common to regard their fellow workers or other members of the community as part of their “tribe.” In that situation, approbation and guilt can work.   

What now? We can create ethical workplaces, just as we can create ethical societies. There are several rules to follow for this to be done:

• Stress commonality above all else
• Take steps to reduce workplace stress
• Have a clear list of behavioral rules which everyone in the workplace must adhere to

Don’t make exceptions for “star” performers