If the tough economic times have given you cause to become angry and you feel justified in taking that anger out on your employees, I've dug out a great article for you from the very depths of Google that will help you reach the pinnacle of "bad boss-ness."
"The worst boss: Five ways to claim the title" has some great tips for all those wannabe jerks out there. The first, according to author John Grubbs, is to become the "punisher." Basically, whenever someone does anything wrong, seek out a way to humiliate them and punish them for it rather than talking with them and trying to improve things.
Second, and going hand-in-hand with being the "punisher" is to punish everyone in your department even when it's just a few people doing things wrong. This will save you time in having to actually search and find the people causing the problems.
Third, try to lose control. As Grubbs puts it, be a "poor leadership guru." When you are confronted with your lack of control and leadership, try using anger as your first weapon. Make sure you hide your expectations from your employees as well.
Fourth, try to intimidate your department when things go wrong and forget whatever instructions you may have given just that morning. Make yourself as unclear as possible to make sure your employees are frightened and unsure about their jobs.
Fifth, make sure you ignore the employees on your team who are performing poorly. This goes along with punishing everyone for the mistakes of the few. Make sure you reward the poor performers with bonuses and the choice assignments as well.
So, if the economy or life in general has you down, you can achieve success by channeling that negative energy into negative management. Or, you can try to avoid those things and maybe turn the entire path of your department around. The choice is yours.
