ABSTRACT
The words abusive supervisor conjure up varying images such as former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight’s explosive outbursts toward his own players (as well as the media and officials) and Steve Jobs’s infamous temper tantrums. The term also brings to mind depictions of hostile organizational authorities in feature films. For example, at a pivotal moment in David Mamet’s Glengarry, Glen Ross, an abusive manager played by Alec Baldwin reproaches a struggling group of salespeople. Profanity, insults, and threats permeate his address, but he delivers it calmly and in the service of a well-defined goal: to motivate the underperforming group through fear. A nonfictional episode of supervisory abuse is depicted in the well-known film Patton, depicting the life and military exploits and contributions of the renowned General George S. Patton (played by the actor George C. Scott). During a visit to a field hospital, General Patton slaps and verbally derogates a soldier in an impulsive fit of rage toward what Patton perceives to be a “malingerer.”
