A Survival Guide for Working with Bad Bosses: Dealing with Bullies, Idiots, Back-Stabbers, and Other Managers from Hell

Chapter 2. The Pass-the-Buck Boss

Another type of bad boss is the “pass-the-buck” boss. This boss is in over his head but has one or more competent employees to take up the slack. The employees don’t get the credit and often feel resentful. Yet they continue to protect the boss because they feel that’s the best way to keep the organization running productively and later get good recommendations when they are ready to move on. Perhaps the more honest or ethical approach might be to protest and show up the boss’s lack of organizational and task knowledge. But the codependent or facilitator approach may be more productive, at least in the short-term, for everyone in the organization. The employees who are knowledgeable get the work done, and they ...