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Blaming Bullies

Whenever our manager makes a mistake, he blames one of us and is verbally abusive if we challenge him. He is in a very senior position in the company, and there is no one to go to if we want to complain. Is there anything we can do to get him to admit his mistakes and stop blaming us?



The biggest mistake that your manager is making is his refusal to admit his mistakes. His behavior is alienating the staff and generating high levels of dissatisfaction, distrust, and unrest.

While your manager wants to convince you that he did not make the mistake, he is even more interested in convincing himself that he was not wrong. When he starts to get abusive, it simply means that his mistakes are coming closer to the surface, so he is going to fight harder to bury them, and perhaps bury you in the process.

One strategy is to document more of your work and his role in it. In some cases, when bullies like him unequivocally see that an error is theirs, they might not openly admit it, but at least they refrain from blaming someone else. The caveat that accompanies this approach is that placing your manager in the spotlight may just as easily cause him to attack even harder.

One strategy that might help avert this outcome is to team up with some of your associates when dealing with him. If you try these approaches and still find that he is blaming you, no one would blame you for leaving.




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