Taxonomy of bad bosses

We've talked a little about how a good boss acts, now let's look at the kinds of bad bosses.  The list below, sadly, is not exhaustive.  If you know of other types, please add them in the comments section.

• Everybody's Friend - If you've seen Michael Scott from 'The Office', you know this type.  Totally avoids conflict and making unpopular decisions.  This is a deeply insecure person who desperately needs to be liked.  Workplaces with EF managers are usually chaotic (like The Office) because the manager won't hold people accountable and will tolerate just about any bad behavior.  The people with the strongest personalities in these workplaces will take over, and may become the de facto managers if they are willing to make decisions.  
• The MicroManager - On my daughter's first day of work, she was summoned into her boss's office who told her "We never use binder clips on the weekly meeting minutes."  And then threw the minutes at her.  That's a micromanager.  The boss for whom no detail is too small, no decision too trivial, no activity too mundane.  Micromanagement also stems from insecurity and the belief that the manager is the only one who can do a job correctly.  It shows a deep distrust of the skills and decision-making abilities of the employees.  It is frequently a pathology of new managers, particularly people with technical skills who have recently been promoted to manager.  In their quest to succeed (and their fear of failure), they have to oversee all the details of the project - if not do all the work themselves.  Micromanagers rarely end up managing large projects - they become quickly overwhelmed as the size of the job increases.
• The Seagull Manager - The Seagull flies into a project, makes a lot of noise, craps over everything, and flies off.  This is the opposite from the MicroManger, because the Seagull pays no attention to the project for the most part.  They may be there at the beginning, providing some vague direction and then disappear.  Sometime later they'll show up (probably unannounced) at a project meeting, scream about how everybody is doing everything wrong, disparage all the work done to date, tell you what you should have done and then fly off to another meeting.  These guys (and gals) are usually terrible communicators and expect that everyone else can read their minds.  It may be that they have doubts about the success of the project under any circumstances, so they want to distance themselves from the fallout.  When Seagull Manager's projects do succeed, it is usually because of heroic efforts on the part of the project team after a lot of rework and wasted time.
• The Mushroom Manager - The Mushroom Manager keeps you in the dark and buries you in horse turds.  And if you stick your head up, it gets lopped off.  The MM is a control freak who only divulges information on a 'need-to-know' basis.  Project goals will be sketchy and the budget will be a state secret.  Any questions you ask will be answered evasively - or you'll hear "Why do you want to know?"  The MM considers any questioning of the project goals, tasks, or timelines as treason and you'll pay dearly if you try to second-guess them.  The MM fears that if anyone else has the whole picture, he or she could be replaced.
• The Absentee Manager - Who the heck is that?  If you don't recognize your boss when she shows up, she's an Absentee Manager.  Absentee Managers depend on the project team to manage itself.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  AM's projects can succeed if the team is skilled and members step up to do to things a manager usually would. Of course, if there are problems on the team that can't be resolved internally, then the lack of management is going to be apparent and the project is going to crater.
• The Hysterical Toddler - To the Hysterical Toddler, whenever anything - ANYTHING - goes wrong, it's a disaster.  Not being able to find a sharp pencil is in the same category as losing a major client.  The HT can find blame everywhere, except with herself.  And if the HT's assistant is in a accident and has to miss work for several days, the HT will wonder "Why does everything happen to me?"  You, being the adult, will always have to remain calm.  "I KNOW it's absolutely horrible that they got your lunch order wrong!  Those guys are idiots.  Do you think you can still eat it?  Thank you for being so flexible."  Try to keep the sarcasm out of your voice, but the HT, thinking only of herself, probably won't hear it anyway.
• The Honey Badger - "Honey Badger don't care." The HB figures to be the smartest person in the world.  You're in his office to learn and as long as you do what he says and stay at your desk everything will be fine.  A funny story: my friend Carl runs a workshop for scientists who want to learn to be better managers - which mostly involves learning to listen, be empathetic and be collaborative.  An HB signed up for the workshop thinking that it would be about how to get other people to shut up and do what you say.  Needless to say, he was disappointed.  Unless you are very meek and happy to be dominated by an overbearing person, having an HB as a boss is a nightmare.  There are no easy answers because you are never going to change the HB's behavior.  My advice: find ways to cope and get out asap.
• The Narcissist - The Narcissist is such a special case and so prevalent that I'm going to devote a whole page to her. Check out the next page...