Let’s face it, most CEO’s are rich.  Now a Harvard Study shows that the richer they are, the meaner CEO’s can be.

The abused workers don’t have all the answers, but I queried a few to ask if they thought this was true and why. Here are some of what the respondents said:

-   The use of technology has diminished the human aspect of corporate life. 

-   Employees are no longer viewed as people, but as numbers, especially in 

    comparison with profits.  

-   People fear and hate how CEO’s make decisions.

-   CEO’s have been chosen to lead because they are separatists who think 

    about the rich vs. everyone else.

-   The investors make bosses meaner.

The formal research entitled, "When Executives Rake in Millions: Meanness in Organizations," was conducted by Sreedhari Desai of Harvard University, Arthur Brief of the University of Utah and Jennifer George of Rice University.  The abstract for the paper cites:

“Specifically, we claim that higher income inequality between executives and ordinary workers results in executives perceiving themselves as being all-powerful and this perception of power leads them to maltreat rank and file workers. 

“We present findings from two studies - an archival study and a laboratory experiment – that show that increasing executive compensation results in executives behaving meanly toward those lower down the hierarchy. We discuss the implications of our findings for organizations and offer some solutions to the problem."

The Harvard paper can be purchased here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1612486"

Solutions are listed in the study.  In the meantime, the best advice is to shut up and do what you’re told.  If you have any other suggestions, please comment.