-From the McKinsey Quarterly Management expert Robert Sutton shares lessons on handling layoffs and teams in crisis.
The Quarterly: We’re here today with Bob Sutton from the Stanford Graduate School of Engineering, noted author and specialist on management and organizations. You did an article recently for the Harvard Business Review, “How to be a good boss in a bad economy.” Frame the challenge for us.
Robert Sutton: First of all, the article started because it seemed like every executive I know at almost every level was involved in layoffs, pay cuts, the threat of it. So, I was hearing from people everywhere. But the reason it matters and why it’s hard to be a good boss in tough times starts with a [principle] I call the “toxic tandem,” which I’ve stolen from a lot of good social psychologists who do experiments.
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Good_boss_bad_times_2365
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