Welcome to "www.destruktiv-ledelse.dk"

The title of the site refers to a new concept, "Destructive Management". It has been developed by Anne-Grete Jelstrup and Hans-Otto Loldrup in a book about workplace bullying. With 14 stories based on interviews they focus on bullying activities, in which the boss plays an active role.

The book
One major issue of the book is to characterize common elements of destructive management from experiences of the interviewed persons.There seems to be two poles on a scale, where all the destructive managers fit in somewhere: "The evil and the stupid [persons]", which therefore makes up the title of the book [in Danish: "De onde og de dumme"].

The evil manager turns his frustration and hate against the employee and makes that person's life a hell. He might well be very intelligent in some areas, but he has little sense of human feelings and suffering - and what he knows he seems to use to humiliate other persons.

The stupid manager has been promoted far beyond his mental capacity. It looks as if he makes his strange decisions and regulations to turn away the attention from his lack of skills. He has no intentions of hurting anyone's life, but nevertheless that is the result of his incompetant behaviour.

The book gives some advice on how to recognize symptoms resulting from destructive management, and how to react. It also contains an analysis on the Danish legislation on working environment.:This has been rated among the best in the world, and that is true with regard to physical and chemical hazards - but it applies only vaguely to workplace bullying and destructive management. The book describes how the employees have been betrayed in this field, not only by the employers, but also by their own organizations.

Finally the book concludes that there are some strange differences between the rules at your work and elsewhere. If you were intimidated in the street, you would not hesitate to call the police. If you are intimidated on your job, there is likely nobody to call for assistance; you have to shut up or leave on your own expense.

The obvious solution is that the trade unions stop trying to please the employers and instead recognize their own responsibility.They should be the guarantee of proper working conditions to their members and provide means to defend their rights.

The site
Many victims of destructive management feel isolated and desturbed in their minds. One effect of this kind of psychological mistreatment is the feeling of being guilty yourself.When this manager keeps on telling you that you are no good, you will certainly end up with that feeling.

This site offers a "first aid" [only in Danish, unfortunately], if you are troubled by destructive management]. It has some primary advice on how to react, references to useful litterature and links to i.e. the working environment authorities.

Besides the site introduces our book, which includes all the information we have gathered on destructive management.