Xi Xi Jia Stöhr and Charles Henry compare leaders’ power struggles with entitled employees to those of caregivers with defiant children, explaining how empathic responses may worsen destructive patterns of behavior. They apply the behavioral principles used to treat disruptive children to performance discussions with overbearing employees, emphasizing the proper balance between empathy and accountability.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
MussCarolineet al., “Empathy in Leadership: A Systematic Literature Review on the Effects of Empathetic Leaders in Organizations,” Management Review Quarterly (2025).
2.
KatesAmyet al., Networked, Scaled, and Agile: A Design Strategy for Complex Organizations (Kogan Page Limited, 2021).
3.
ChristensenClayton M., The Innovator’s Dilemma (Harvard Business School Press, 1997); Alan M. Saks, “Translating Employee Engagement Research into Practice,” Organizational Science 46, no. 2 (2017): 76-86; Bruce K. Berger, “Power Over, Power With, and Power to relations: Critical Reflections on Public Relations, the Dominant Coalition, and Activism,” Journal of Public Relations Research17, no. 1 (2005): 5-28.
4.
GreenleafRobert K., Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1977); James MacGregor Burns, Transforming Leadership: The Pursuit of Happiness (Grover Press, 2004); Martha S. Feldman and Anne M. Khademian, “The Role of the Public Manager in Inclusion: Creating Communities of Participation,” Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions 20, no. 2 (2007): 305-324; GardnerWilliamet al. eds., Authentic Leadership Theory and , Effects, and Development (Elsevier, 2005).
5.
GreeneRoss W.et al., “Psychiatric Comorbidity, Family Dysfunction, and Social Impairment in Referred Youth with Oppositional Defiant Disorder,” The American Journal of Psychiatry159, no. 7 (2002): 1214-1224.
6.
MensiMartina Mariaet al., “Effectiveness of Short-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in Preadolescents and Adolescents Affected by Psychiatric Disorders,” Psychiatry Investigation 18, no. 10 (2021): 923-927; Peter Fonagy and Mary Target, “The Efficacy of Psychoanalysis of Children with Disruptive Disorders,” Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 33, no. 1 (1994): 45-55.
7.
PattersonGerald R., Coercive Family Process (Castalia, 1982); Eleanor E. Maccoby and John A. Martin, “Socialization in the Context of the Family: Parent-Child Interaction,” in Socialization, Personality, and Social Development, ed. E. Mavis Hetherington, vol. 4, Handbook of Child Psychology, ed. Paul Mussen (Wiley, 1983), 1-101; Alan E. Kazdin, Parent Management Training: Treatment for Oppositional, Aggressive, and Antisocial Behavior in Children and Adolescents (Oxford University Press, 2005).
8.
SteinerHanset al., “Practice Parameter for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Oppositional Defiance Disorder,” Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry46, no. 1 (2007): 126-141.
9.
ConnorDaniel F., Aggression and Antisocial Behavior in Children and Adolescents: Research and Treatment (The Guilford Press, 2002); Tanja Mingebach et al., “Meta-Meta-Analysis on the Effectiveness of Parent-Based Interventions for the Treatment of Child Externalizing Behavior Problems,” PLoS One13, no. 9 (2018).
10.
BranchSaraet al., “Exploring Upwards Bullying to Learn More About Workplace Bullying,” in Pathways of Job-Related Negative Behaviour, eds. CruzPremilla D’et al. (Springer, 2021), 263-293.
11.
PraslovaLudmila N.et al., “What to Do When a Direct Report Is Bullying You,” Harvard Business Review, December 8, 2022.
12.
TepperBennett J., “Abusive Supervision in Work Organizations: Review, Synthesis, and Research Agenda,” Journal of Management33, no. 3 (2007): 261-289.
13.
SmithWendy K.LewisMarianne W., Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022).
14.
PulakosElaine D.et al., “The Evolution of Performance Management: Searching for Value,” Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior6, (2019): 249-271.
15.
PattersonEileenet al., “Playing with Power: Examinations of Types of Power Used by Staff Members in Workplace Bullying - A Qualitative Interview Study,” Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management13, no. 1 (2018): 32-52.
16.
ZengerJackFolkmanJoseph, “Why Do Some Managers Avoid Giving Praise?” Harvard Business Review, May 2, 2017.
17.
GolemanDanielBoyatzisRichard E., “Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership,” Harvard Business Review, September 2008.
18.
KnightRebecca, “Managing a Top Performer Who Alienates Their Colleagues,” Harvard Business Review, April 13, 2021.