January 26, 2018
If you are flourishing under a psychopath boss, it may be because you are a psychopath too
It’s still perfectly possible to flourish under a psychopath boss, provided you are one too, according to new research that found the people best placed to cope with a psychopathic manager are those who are psychopaths too; largely because they are not as upset at the bad treatment. In the workplace, employees respond differently to abusive management styles, in part due to their varying levels of psychopathy, according to a new study from the University of Notre Dame. Certain types of psychopaths actually benefit and flourish under abusive bosses, according to Are ‘Bad’ Employees Happier Under Bad Bosses? Differing Effects of Abusive Supervision on Low and High Primary Psychopathy Employees. The study is published in the Journal of Business Ethics by Charlice Hurst, assistant professor of management in Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.
















December 12, 2017
A 300 year old idea explains some of the enduring appeal of the open plan
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design
In the 18th Century the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham came up with his idea of the Panopticon, a prison building with a central tower encircled by cells so that each person in the cells knew they could be watched at all times. Whether they were observed or not was actually immaterial. Bentham called it ‘a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind’ and while he focused on its use as a prison, he was also aware of the idea’s usefulness for schools, asylums and hospitals. Bentham got the original idea following a visit to Belarus to see his brother who was managing sites there and had used the idea of a circular building at the centre of an industrial compound to allow a small number of managers to oversee the activities of a large workforce. This is something of a precursor of the scientific management theories of Frederick Taylor that continue to influence the way we work and manage people.
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