On the Job by Anita Bruzzese New Test Identifies Arrogant Bosses

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese New Test Identifies Arrogant Bosses Do you have a boss who discredits the ideas of others while claiming to have superior ideas? Does your boss blame other people and refuse to take personal responsibility for anything? Does your boss reject feedback? If so, you have all the makings of an arrogant boss, someone who can drag down an organization with his or her sense ofsuperiorityin all things. Researchers at the University of Akron and Michigan State University have developed what they call the Workplace Arrogance Scale, which they claim can identify an arrogant boss. The 22-point scale will be introduced next week at the American Psychological Association convention by industrial and organizational psychologist and professorStanley Silverman, dean of UAs Summit College and University College. The scale seeks to establish a way to measure managers so arrogance can be spotted early and stopped before it has bottom-line consequences, researchers say. Such an assessment may be necessary for many companies, as thearroganceof many corporate leaders in the last several years has led to billion-dollar losses and in some cases sent the executives to jail for illegal activities. In a recent issue of the Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, Silverman, along with researchers Russell E. Johnson, Nicole McConnell and Alison Carr,writethat arrogance has run amock lately. They write that their research shows that arrogant employees have poorer performances, create greater stress for others and their behavior is likely to create a poisonous atmosphere. Such problems, they write, can lead to poorer customer satisfaction and loyalty, adversely affect a teams ability to work together and eventually hurt the bottom line. The problem becomes even worse when the arrogant employee is a supervisor or manager. For example, an arrogant manager is less likely(read more here)