Police must serve warrants and make arrests to uphold the law. Therapists must purposefully expose patients to their greatest fears (e.g., spiders, heights) to treat anxiety disorders. Bill collectors must demand money from debtors so that companies are remunerated. And doctors must tell patients to put their affairs in order because they have a terminal illness. Researchers refer to this kind of work as “necessary evils,” because it requires a person to harm others in the service of some perceived greater good. There are relatively few occupations that don’t involve carrying out necessary evils, and managers are certainly not immune.
Coping with the Effects of Emotionally Difficult Work
What to do if you have to deliver bad news.
August 16, 2016