Abusive supervision and the silence of trainees

This article aimed to identify the different types of abusive supervision that trainees suffer from within organizations and how this affects their willingness to remain silent, failing to share information, opinions and suggestions for improvement. The in-depth interview method was used, and ten trainees, students of the Administration course and residents of the city of Franca, State of São Paulo, were interviewed. After pondering the results obtained in the interviews, it was concluded that there are several ways of abusive supervision that trainees suffer in their work environment, such as supervisor shouts, attribution of inadequate guilt, public criticism and public joking. The most common reactions to these situations were feelings of humiliation and frustration, feelings of discomfort and embarrassment, feeling of being coerced, wronged and offended, demotivation and, in some situations, feeling of not being able and abandoning, that is, abusive supervision affects the emotional state of students. It is important to note that it is not only trainees who are adversely affected by abusive supervision but also the organization. Through the interviews conducted, it has been found that when the trainee supervisor behaves abusively, students opt for silence, which means that they choose not to share important information, suggestions and ideas.