Why High-Performing Managers Who Lead by Example May Become a High-Risk Group for Workplace Bullying Claims

“I lead by example. I work harder than anyone else. I hold myself to the highest standards before I hold others accountable. I do not apply double standards. What did I do wrong?”

In our experience handling workplace bullying matters, one category of managers often presents particularly high risk precisely because they lack awareness of the problem.

These managers are often the backbone of the company. They are highly committed, hardworking, and deeply responsible. They arrive at the office early, leave late, work long hours, and hold themselves to demanding standards. They believe in leading from the front, setting an example, and requiring others to meet the same level of discipline.

However, in recent years, these highly self-disciplined, perfectionist, and results-driven mid- to senior-level managers have increasingly appeared on the list of individuals frequently named in workplace bullying complaints received by HR departments.

This reflects a difficult paradox in modern corporate management.

Many such managers feel confused and wronged. They may ask: “I do more than anyone else. I am harder on myself than on my team. Why am I now being described as a tyrant?”

From the perspective of labor law and modern management, the answer often lies in the excessive reliance on traditional virtues that were once highly praised. When those values are applied without regard to legal boundaries, individual differences, and workplace dignity, they may lead managers directly into legal risk.

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Below are seven common blind spots that may cause high-performing managers to cross the line.

1. Projection Creates an Empathy Gap

A common mindset among this type of manager is: “If I can do it, why can’t you?”

They often project their own physical endurance, stress tolerance, work ethic, and values onto all subordinates.

From a legal perspective, this may cause managers to ignore the physical and psychological differences among employees when exercising managerial authority. When an employee fails to meet expectations, the manager may immediately conclude that the employee lacks dedication and then apply unreasonable pressure.

In the modern workplace, this lack of empathy may easily be characterized as an abuse of managerial authority and may become a form of workplace bullying.

2. The Blind Spot of Moral Superiority

Some managers believe that because they have personally made sacrifices and led by example, they are morally justified in imposing strict criticism and excessive demands on employees.

They may think: “I have suffered too. Everything I do is for the good of the team and for the employee’s own development.”

This psychological defense mechanism often causes them to become disconnected from the pain, fear, or resistance expressed by their subordinates. In many cases, they do not realize that their high-pressure management style has already exceeded the boundary of reasonable workplace management until they receive formal notice from the company’s designated workplace bullying complaint-handling unit.

3. Harsh Communication May Create a Hostile Work Environment

Managers who hold themselves to strict standards often communicate in a direct, sharp, and efficiency-driven manner. In some cases, their language may cross the line into personal degradation.

For example, a manager may publicly reprimand an employee during a meeting by saying:

“I have already shown you how to do this several times. Did you even bring your brain to work today?”“Is this really the standard of someone who graduated from a top university?”

The manager may view this as tough coaching. However, repeated verbal humiliation, public isolation, or intentional harsh treatment may seriously undermine psychological safety within the team and may constitute verbal abuse or psychological harm.

4. Confusing Personal Choices with the Boundaries of the Employment Contract

A manager may personally choose to sacrifice family time, respond to senior executives’ messages 24 hours a day, or work through weekends. That is the manager’s own career choice.

However, when the manager converts that personal standard into a performance expectation for subordinates, it may become a form of emotional coercion.

Younger generations of employees generally place greater emphasis on work-life balance. If a manager gives an employee a poor performance rating simply because the employee cannot respond to work instructions outside normal working hours, the manager may have exceeded the proper scope of reasonable management.

5. Micromanagement May Become an Abuse of Power

The personality traits of strict self-discipline and strict discipline toward others can easily develop into excessive control.

Out of a pursuit of perfection, a manager may monitor every detail of a subordinate’s work in an unreasonable manner, or unnecessarily adjust the employee’s duties, reduce resources, or restrict opportunities.

When such micromanagement is carried out in the name of performance improvement but effectively causes psychological pressure or humiliation, it may be interpreted as improper interference with job duties and may fall within the scope of workplace bullying.

6. Ignoring Statutory Duties Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act

Many “workaholic” managers focus heavily on performance and output, but lack sufficient awareness of legal risk.

Under the workplace bullying framework of Taiwan’s Occupational Safety and Health Act, employers have strict duties to prevent and address workplace bullying.

When a manager adopts excessively harsh and unreasonable management methods, and senior management or HR fails to intervene in a timely manner, both the company and the individuals involved may face administrative penalties and legal liability.

Workplace bullying compliance is therefore not only an HR issue. It is also a management accountability issue.

7. Excessive Discipline May Harm Employees’ Physical and Mental Health

The most serious legal risk arises when a manager’s improper management intensity exceeds what an ordinary employee can reasonably endure.

If an employee develops depression, anxiety, or other mental health conditions due to prolonged public humiliation, excessive working hours, isolation, or deliberate pressure imposed by a supervisor, the matter may potentially be recognized as an occupational injury.

In such circumstances, the manager’s “iron discipline” may no longer be seen as a contribution to the company. Instead, it may expose the company to substantial compensation claims, labor disputes, regulatory scrutiny, and reputational harm.

A Reminder from Attorney Chen Yeh-Sin

Times have changed.

The hard-driving, self-sacrificing, and iron-disciplined manager who was once praised as a model leader may, in today’s workplace environment, become a legal risk if management methods are not adjusted.

In an era of heightened labor rights awareness and increasing emphasis on work-life balance, a manager who fails to adapt may shift from being a corporate asset to becoming a co-defendant who exposes the company to risk.

Management is an art of balance. Strict performance standards must be built on respect for human dignity and clear legal boundaries.

An excellent manager should not only know how to lead by example. They must also learn how to transform from an iron commander into a guiding coach.

Do not allow personal dedication, strong principles, and high standards to unintentionally become weapons that harm employees and damage the company’s reputation.

When managing a new generation of employees, every high-performing manager should ask a difficult but necessary question:

In pursuing performance, am I applying the steel standards of my own past in a way that may be pushing my team, myself, and the company toward an unbearable risk?

YesinLawTel: 02-25156822Website: https://www.yesinlaw.com