2: Enter the Tyrant
The historical figure of a tyrant is an awful leader who, through means of force, seeks to gain power and wealth and leaves a wake of destruction and misery. In the modern corporate environment, the consequences are the same, but the methods are usually more subtle and difficult to detect.
In a work setting, the tyrant uses direct and indirect behaviors to manipulate people, generally with the positive goal of improving corporate performance - but often with the goal of appearing to be successful to curry favor of those who are in a position to reward him for his success, with blind indifference to those whom he must rely upon to achieve success. And such a person may attain success if those who consider his performance also have the same attitude, or are unaware of the means by which his "success" was achieved.
In a highly competitive environment, such as today's global marketplace, companies are laser-focused on measurable financial goals, to the abandonment of ethics. Leaders are encouraged, directly or indirectly, to squeeze more profit from fewer resources, and included in those resources are the employees under their command.
Way of the Tyrant
The tyrant is a manager whose motives are to achieve success - sometimes for the organization, sometimes for himself - by means that are ultimately destructive. He will insist on doing the wrong things, in an inefficient and/or ineffective manner, reacting sternly against subordinates who point out the problems with his tactics. The tyrant maintains that a good manager has complete control over his people, and only by blind obedience to his will can success be achieved.
The tyrant manager rejects the notion that subordinates have expertise - they are tools that perform tasks as instructed. He also rejects the notion that fair treatment of his employees will lead to a stronger and more productive work environment. Being supportive of and collaborative with his subordinates are, to his mind-set, completely pointless and counterproductive.
In doing so, the tyrant might achieve short-term and unsustainable results, and it will take quite some time for those who have authority over a tyrant to recognize this - only after employees have been burned out and demoralized. As such, it's in the interest of the employee, and ultimately the company, to deal with tyrants effectively - though the company is less capable and inclined to do so.
(EN: Something worth noting is that managers and executives who change jobs often are generally running from the consequences of their own actions. They seek to be promoted or transferred based on their short-term success and hope to make a convenient escape from the situation they created when the damage they have done becomes apparent. And it very often works.)
Tyrant Methods
Tyrants are motivated to consolidate and magnify their personal power. Any benefit they achieve for their organizations is secondary to this goal. The consequences to their subordinates are beneath consideration.
As such, some tyrants are overt: they are openly hostile to and abusive of their subordinates, using threat and pressure to gain their submission. Others prefer covert manipulation and subtle threat to achieve the same end.
The "direct approach" of the overt tyrant is easy to recognize: they want to make it clear to their subordinates that they are "in charge" of things and the subordinate has no power, no choice but to obey their commands. They micro-manage employees, demean or humiliate them, threatens them outright, and generally bullies them. It is a powerful and effective tactic, but one frowned upon by organizations who are fearful of lawsuits from harassed employees. One researcher suggests that as many as 20 million American employees "suffer some form of daily abuse from their bosses."
The "indirect approach" of the covert tyrant is more difficult to identify because it is intentionally concealed. The covert tyrant does the same things, but through more subtle means: they may use vague or ambiguous statements that imply a threat, but which they can later claim to have been misinterpreted. Some of their tactics include back-stabbing (Rather than brutality), ignoring (rather than openly dismissing), and passive-aggressive actions (rather than open intimidation). They particularly enjoy an opportunity to provide a subordinate with a false choice, or putting themselves in a position to take credit for success or let the blame for failure fall on someone else.
Interpreting Tyrant Motivation
In general, Motivation is a personal drive to achieve a goal of some kind, and every person takes action in pursuit of their goals. It is not inherently negative, and motivation varies from person to person because they seek to achieve goals that are specific to them, by means they expect (by virtue of past success, or by virtue of reasoning) will be effective.
Conflict arises when they seek to achieve mutually-exclusive goals, or they may be in conflict when seeking to achieve the same goal by different means. And conflict is regarded as an obstacle to a achieving a goal, and as such it must be dealt with in some manner.
The goal of the tyrant is personal power, and his method of resolving conflict is to overpower others. He does not believe in cooperation or collaboration, merely with "winning" competitively, by making others "lose." He sometimes becomes so focused on making others lose that he acts in ways that are contrary to achieving his own goals.
A tyrant may seek to undermine others simply by threatening them into getting out of his way, using them to achieve his own ends, ignoring their suggestions, and ultimately running them off if they fail to "get with the program" - specifically, his program.
Because most tyrants are skilled at manipulation, it may be difficult or even impossible to attempt to interpret their specific motivation. It compounds the frustration of a subordinate to now know what to do to make their boss happy - and ultimately, it may be counterproductive to seek to serve these goals, because the tyrant does not care about what anyone else wants, only what he wants of them.
In other words, it is ultimately a waste of time to attempt to form a better relationship with a tyrant by appeasing them. Their words and actions send false signals, and if you interpret them and act accordingly, you will likely be misdirected and achieve the wrong results. And even if you get it right, it will not serve your own goal, which is top have a productive and respectful working relationship.
Environmental Motivators
While motivation and personal values play a strong role in behavior, its simply to easy to accept that your boss is a jerk because it's a personality trait. In addition to internal factors, there are also environmental factors that encourage and support tyrannical behavior.
In some instances, it's simply pressure: a new person is promoted or hired into a management position and, overwhelmed by the duties and responsibilities, turns to tyrant behaviors. Over time, this may become a pattern of behavior that becomes their "usual" style.
It may be worth calling to mind that your boss is an employee too - he may be pressed to achieve unrealistic results, receive little feedback and coaching, modeling the behavior of his own superior, or is unclear on his role and responsibilities.
(EN: The author seems to be touching, but not quite diving into, the notion of corporate culture. My own sense is that few people come into the workforce as tyrants, but are trained in that direction, often by indirect means by companies whose values encourage and even require those in management positions to behave autocratically.)