Published on: June 16, 2025 at 6:15 pm
When managers worry about losing their jobs or face other problems that feel out of their control, some become abusive toward their employees, driven by insecurity and an urge to exercise what power they have. On the other hand, managers who are resilient and mindful tend to avoid such toxic behavior.
Academy of Management Scholar Jaqueline “Jackie” Coyle-Shapiro of California State University, San Bernardino, and the London School of Economics said that the job market is constantly shifting. This means lots of people, even top executives, have job-security doubts.
“When we think about job security, we think about employees not being secure in their job, but I’ve researched managers who feel insecure in their jobs and respond to that insecurity by being abusive towards their employees as a way of coping with the feelings of insecurity in their jobs,” Coyle-Shapiro said.
When managers worry that the ax may be dropping on them, it can lead them to behave abusively toward their team members in attempts to regain a sense of control by exerting power over others.
“Examples of abusive supervision, managers abusing employees and treating them badly, include yelling at them, ridiculing them in front of coworkers, perhaps even ignoring them, and various forms of exclusionary behavior,” Coyle-Shapiro said. “Another example is giving them not-great tasks to do, putting someone on the graveyard shift, for example.
“Those would be some examples of managers abusing their employees because they’re feeling insecure in their job,” she said.
The good news is that managers who tend to be resilient during stressful times and mindful of others’ thoughts, feelings, and situations are less likely to act in an abusive manner, even when they feel insecure about their job.
“For the best managers, engaging in mindfulness can act like a shield against the negative effects of job insecurity,” Coyle-Shapiro said.
