Reader comments
Is there a 'workplace princess' at your firm?

I've been in Human Resources Management for over 20 years and have worked for Fortune 100 companies and small privately held organizations. Your article nailed it! A large part of my time is spent in dealing with unrealistic expectations of employees. This seems to be fed by academia, who have limited experience operating in the real world. The political correctness practiced in the political arena has spread to the business world and few seem prepared, or are willing to address, unacceptable/unrealistic behavior. Here's hoping others read your reasearch and step back and ask, "Is this the environment that will make us successful?" Keep the faith!

Do you mean to tell most workplaces only have one!

Every time one leaves, another steps up to fill his/her shoes.

Mr Koehler,

The workplace is NOT the place for politics of ANY nature other than that you are right on target!

The article fails to mentions that sometimes the princess holds a supervisory position and lard knows there are some owners who can be difficult to work for as well....

Wow, I'm glad to know I'm not alone! But I am genuinely sorry for us as well! One problem you did not mention, is that the 'princess' attitude can also be divisive in a smaller company, especially if the 'regal' personage is in a supervisory position. If they don't take responsibility, and blame others, it can rapidly demoralize the work environment.

Often the workplace "princess" is the child of the owner/king. Royal birthright ruins a workplace.

I'm assuming we talking only about females? In my experience there are plenty of male princesses also.

"And 16 percent said that workplace princess was a man."

Which means that 84 percent said it was a woman. Yet the men get emphasized, to the point that the end of the article talks about the workplace princess seeing "the error of his (or her) ways." So with 84% of the "princesses" actually being women, it's still "his (or her)", huh?

Thatonetallguy must live in a different world than the rest of us. There are definitely workplace politics wherever you go. I have been in the workforce for 40 years and have yet to see one company that has no politics.

Hi Mom!!

You're absolutely right about THOSE human interactional dramas. I was referring to the conservative/liberal R vs. D discussions. I apologize I did not clarify that better...

What about the work place princess that will stab everyone in the back to get what they want. I work with someone that people can't talk to on any level (personal or business) without fear of him using the information to get ahead somehow. He seems to be intitled to what he gets so he thinks

Intitled?

Our Office Princess is a guy and a VP. I am certain that not a person in our office would be able to explain what job functions he actually performs. We really don't know. It is common knowledge that it is best to not have him involved with making financial decisions, talking to customers, strategic planning or any situation that requires any type of meeting. HR calls him a harassment lawsuit waiting to happen based on how poorly he treats people. Maybe we should start a support group?

How do the princesses learn this behavior? It is very difficult to deal with an office princess/prince when your manager will do nothing about him/her because of lack of courage. Maybe there should be a management class in every degree program on how to spot and deal with a princess or someone who has a false sense of entitlement!

What's with the "princess" label? I work in a largely male profession; regardless, with few exceptions, the "princess" is male. The women in the workplace are the hardest workers, the reluctant complainers, the secure contributers. They don't need their fragile ego stroked every two minutes, and they use constructive critiques to improve their work instead of crumble into abusive egomaniacs. As a manager, one of my responsibilities is to motivate, but, with rare exception, men require mountains more ego-stroking than women. The male-female narcissist ratio is more like 16:84 with women at 16% at most.

Our princess is truly a hard worker but will stab a coworker in the back to make herself look better. Especially if they are prettier or thinner than herself. The saddest part is she makes these people think she is their friend and then bad mouths them to everyone else. It also doesn't help that she has the manager (a woman) thinking she is perfect because she can be very sweet.

Maybe there is simply an "invisible slot" for a prince or princess in every office, church, sorority or family. The trick is to have them shine and be stars due to their results, and have them be useful in spite of themselves. No use complaining. If you get rid of your prince/princess you will soon be blessed with another.

I used to work with a man from New York that used sarcasam to constantly put down other people, especially others that were on his same level. What a trial! Everyone was so relieved when he left.
Another princess was female, and Italian! She constantly used intimidation to get her way.

Too bad that managers can't/won't see how demoralizing it is to the rest of us!

We have several "royals" in our organization. The ones with marginal to mediocre performance and yet they party with the right people. They are the ones that get the higher salaries on the backs of those that really do the work. My manager is so afaid of our princess that he ignores the nine people who have complained because he is more worried that her friend (his boss) will hear about the problems in the office. Why don't companies realize how this is affecting their bottom line?