A Boss Like You

I stumbled on this thought provoking post on 60 Second Science. I do find the claim all that convincing, but that’s just me.

Social psychologists from the University of Granada found that bosses who feel insecure or unqualified to hold their position often choose to hire and surround themselves with less competent people. On the contrary, bosses who feel qualified prefer to hire exceedingly competent people who can take on responsibility.

Researchers divided subjects into two groups, one was told they were qualified for their position of power, while the others were told they were not. All were instructed to choose between a very competent and sociable subordinate and a person with noticeably less competence and sociability.

“The illegitimate bosses preferred the less competent and sociable candidates in a higher proportion than did the legitimate bosses. In addition to this they requested more information about the candidate positively described than about the candidate described more negatively.”

But what about bosses with an unwarranted amount of self-confidence or who are just plain lazy? I suppose that’s why some of them “felt” qualified, whether or not they were is up for debate.