Chapter 7: Making Sense of Abusive Leadership: The Experiences of Young Workers

Olson, Nelson, and Parayitam (2006) propose a sensemaking (Weick, 1995) framework to better understand and manage aggression in the workplace. They suggest several interruptions (e.g., downsizing, overworking employees, “stretch” goals) that might trigger sensemaking processes and, in turn aggressive workplace behavior. They argue that organizations need to be aware of these triggers and the resulting sensemaking so as to prevent and manage aggression at work. We too believe that a sensemaking lens can help organizations manage the “dark” side of organizational life. Our interest, however, is not on the aggressor, rather the “victim” of workplace abuse, specifically abusive leadership. Through a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006) and drawing upon interviews with thirty young workers, sensemaking emerges as a critical part of young workers’ experiences of abusive leadership. Here we interpret the subordinate’s experience of abusive leadership (e.g., yelling, criticism) as a trigger for sensemaking. In this paper, we draw upon Weick’s (1995) work on sensemaking to understand how these young workers make sense of their negative occurrences with supervisors at work.