In the recent film comedy Horrible Bosses, three truly dreadful managers make their employees’ lives miserable. The first is a cruel executive who dangles a promotion in front of a subordinate as bait, only to snatch it away once his stupid demands have been met. The second is a mean cokehead who inherits the family business from his kindly deceased father. The third is an orthodontist who sexually harasses her assistant, threatening to tell his fiancée that it’s his fault.

A version of this article appeared in the October 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review.