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Goodbye friends :) 

Well, friends, I believe I answered all your questions about why your coworker/supervisor acts a certain way in your organization. I hope you understand your coworker does not act a certain way because they dislike you. But they are stressed by the particular uncertainty of critical incidents at work that threaten the employee's idealized self-image. The individual uses a specific psychological defensive to cope with the stress and anxiety in the work environment. Now that we have gone through the primary and common psychological defensives types, you should be able to identify the different types in the work environment so you can truly understand why your coworker acts like that. If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out and ask me!

It is essential to note that an executive who practices this defensive practice threatens the organization. If the organization leader is missing, this leaves a significant leadership gap for employees. Also, if executives are scared to confront employees and can’t resolve problems, leave the staff to fend for themselves. If the executive is distant with their employees, this will lead to mistrust and suspicion among employees developing in a leadership void. In addition to suppressing the conflict and denying that conflict exists produce higher levels of anxiety in the workplace, which is not suitable for the public sector.

can be nonadoptive, rebellious, and seldom offers any type of leadership 

A great meme example of the resigned defensive practice in the organization. 

This defensive mechanism happens when an unable experience an idealized expansive or resigned in a dependent way. The person withdraws themselves from consistent participation in operations and workplace relationships by physically and emotionally distancing from painful aspects of the organizational life when they encounter distressing organizational events. This forces them to take flight from stressful circumstances. The individual runs away to seek emotional shelter and hide from the coercive intentions of others. The employee represses the self and psychologically withdraws from themselves, others, stressful workplace events, and work-life in general.  

Also, a supervisor who uses the narcissistic defensive depletes the staff of energy to feel good. Since they are pouring their energy into their supervisor to make sure they feel excellent and excessive demands of self-aggrandizement. It also brings additional stress in the work environment because the staff is anxious about being the narcissistic scapegoat when things go wrong. Working in the public sector can be rigid and stressful, so adding an individual does not help anyone and hurts the public since the employees are depleted from their supervisor. This is why it is important to know to point out these defensive mechanisms in the workforce.

can be manipulative autocratic and scapegoat others when problems occur  

Anonymous

This behavior can originate from childhood when approval may be withheld or manipulated to control the child from not developing healthy good self feelings and good self-esteem. He or she can become dependent on what others think of them. The narcissistic defensive behavior comes from wanting to feel as the universe revolves around him or her. The stress can cause by the uncertainty of critical incidents at work experience is a threat to the employee self-image. Also, change and problems in well-established roles in the work environment can cause stress to the individual as well.

If you haven’t guessed it yet, the next defensive practice that will talk through is the narcissistic practice.

paralyzes others with a fear by being intimidating 

I hope you do not have coworkers who behave like this in the public sector. Still, if you do, it is essential to know, especially in a bureaucratic organization, that an arrogant individual's behavior can be misperceived. Instead, the behavior can be seen as dynamic and taken charge by the top management, and they can reward the individual with a promotion. This can ultimately be problematic by giving this individual more power and responsibility. It is essential to know about the difference between having a person whose personality is dynamic and benefits the work environment instead of an individual using this defensive practice to put people down and adds anxiety in the workforce.

What it probably feels like when you when interact with your coworker who uses a arrogant-vindictive defensive practice in your organization. 

The behavior originally stems from the individual feeling that he or she is not likeable which can be originate from their childhood being view as an unlovable child. There now they have nothing to lose by bullying, intimidating and alienating others. The person normally acts in this behavior because they are in an executive position in a bureaucratic organization and are intimidated. Their staff will evaluate them against the perfect standards and then use their job and the organization's resources to advance to get ahead, even or better. In the workforce, it would like an individual manipulating and aggressive information to achieve and maintain power. The arrogant-vindictive perceives coworkers as adversaries who must be defeated, creating a hostile and competitive work setting. This ultimately encourages coworkers to view each other with mistrust and suspicion, which can turn to paranoia that someone ascends over them and provokes new anxiety and arrogant-vindictive behavior. 

Seth Allcorn and Michael A. Diamond  

It’s important to know that with the perfectionist defensive practice, the pursuit of perfection and the denial of imperfection (covering it up) promotes defensiveness between the management and staff and the avoidance of learning needed to improve the organizational performance. In the public sector, having an effective performance review in the organization is important, especially with the performance reviews used more frequently as a promotion tool. Also, employees have a boss expecting perfection, which is unobtainable, and this results in employees being severely frustrated with their supervisor for putting unrealistic expectations on employees.