The first thing a worker typically asks about a new job is: “What is the boss like?” A good boss can make a difficult job bearable and a bad one can make otherwise good work a nightmare. In small firms, the organization and flow of work is often determined entirely by the whims of the owner or manager. Even in larger firms, supervisors have a great deal of latitude in staffing and assignments and these decisions can have a tremendous influence on the quality of work life. Supervisors also evaluate employees' performances and set the tone for a supportive or hostile atmosphere. Direct supervisors thus have tremendous power over workers. Their management styles can evoke either loyalty and extra effort from workers or resentment and resistance. The first hurdle in the quest for dignity at work is thus the possibility of mismanagement and abuse.

In this chapter we examine the influence of direct personal supervision on resistance and citizenship. We also develop and analyze the effects of more direct measures of mismanagement and abuse. We find that mismanagement and abuse have a central role in generating resistance and undermining citizenship in the workplace.

A History of Mismanagement and Abuse

Both Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim saw the power of owners and managers as the key to understanding the dire working conditions of the early industrial revolution. Marx believed these conditions arose from capitalists' exploitation of workers and that the solution to these problems depended on workers overthrowing capitalism.