Pet Peeve

Pet Peeves

How many of us have busted our butts to earn a promotion or receive added responsibility only to find out that the person who was given the job was the bosses “Best Friend” aka the Brown Noser. These suck ups are running rampant in the military, more specifically in my military unit. This has got to be one character flaw that really sets me off. So that we all understand who I am referring I will address the brown noser as the “Best Friend”. During the course of this paper, you will see that nothing good can come from being a leader who keeps “Best Friends”.

Best Friends are a cunning person; they have developed the art of “liking” and are good at what they do. ‘Liking’ is a method of influence which was defined by Cialdini as simply “prefer(ing) to say yes to the requests of people we know and like” (Cialdini, P.142, 2000). Bosses often inadvertently develop Best Friends who they keep around them which is perceived by unit members as unprofessional and negative to the production of the unit. The bosses enjoy so much of the attention and the warm feeling of always being right that the Best Friend gives on a daily basis. I believe it builds the ego of the boss and that is one of the reasons he keeps Best Friends around. For example, if the Best Friend constantly answers yes to every request, every question, and laughs at every joke, this will build the bosses ego and they will feel as though they have a common connection. Therefore, the boss lets the relationship mature into Best Friend status. The boss now takes this Best Friend with them everywhere and gives them opportunities that are otherwise earned my more qualified members. The bosses actions eventually tear down the morale of the working force. This is what I have a problem with, the bosses condoning of the Best Friend relationship to a point that they destroy a valuable workers career progression in order to hook up their Best Friend. Often the Best friend is given numerous...