Stu Barnes

World's Best Boss?

Michael Scott is a co-manager of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company on NBC’s comedy “The Office.” Currently in its sixth season, over seven million viewers tune in every week because they simply cannot wait to watch Michael flirt with disaster. He is a single, middle-aged man who desperately tries to get along with his employees and to be the office comedian.

“I’m a friend first and a boss second... and probably an entertainer third,” Michael has said. However, he is unaware that most of his attempts at humor are offensive, awkward, inappropriate or just plain mean. Since his employees do not always appreciate him as much as he would hope, on his desk sits a coffee mug labeled “World’s Best Boss,” a gift Michael bought for himself.

“Michael-centric”

In order to understand the psychology of Michael Scott, one needs to know what he desires. Michael not only wants to be thought of as a funny and cool friend, but he also wants the love and support of his employees. And frankly, he needs it. If his employees were not always propping him up and keeping him out of harm’s way, he would finally cross into that disastrous territory that he so closely avoids. His employees have helped keep him in a position of power that he would be unlikely to hold on his own.

Yet, Michael does not return the same kind acts to his employees. He is self-absorbed and puts himself ahead of others even when it comes to safety. When there was a fire in the office, Michael was the first outside by a long shot.

“Yes, I was the first one out. And yes, I’ve heard ‘women and children first.’ But, we do not employ children. We are not a sweatshop, thankfully. And women are equal in the workplace by law. So if I let them out first, I have a lawsuit on my hands,” Michael said.

Ben Rubin

Relationships

Whether he is greeting receptionist Pam Halpert as “Spamster” (a combination of Pam, spam and hamster) on his way into the office or showing off his Chris Rock impression, most of Michael’s interactions are with his employees.

One notable relationship is the one between Michael and Dwight Shrute, assistant to the regional manager. Dwight is Michael’s lapdog, the one character who thinks most of his ideas are great and always tries to take part in his jokes and plans. It is surprising to think that anybody wants to be like Michael, but Dwight is odd enough to desire this. While Michael often lets Dwight tag along, he would much rather it be a cool employee like salesmen Jim Halpert or Ryan Howard that wanted to walk in his shadow.

Another person who is often on Michael’s good side is Pam, previously a receptionist but recently promoted to sales. Pam could be considered Michael’s “buffer.” She is often the one to keep him from saying the wrong things or scraping him out of the difficult situations he gets himself into. Pam once explained how she helps Michael with his phone calls.

“Sometimes I don’t put Michael through until he’s already said something. I look at it as a practice run for him. He usually does better on the second attempt,” Pam said.

A Psychologist’s Perspective

Michael Miran, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and an adjunct psychology professor at RIT. He found the character of Michael Scott to be interesting and had some insightful points to make about his personality.

“He is an equal opportunity offender,” Miran said. While the term equal opportunity typically means that people are not excluded from important activities such as education, employment and health care, in Michael’s case it means everyone is fair game when it comes to making jokes.

Miran also noted his lack of social empathy. Michael Scott does not understand how his employees feel when he makes negative comments about them. However, Miran added that he is not malicious in his behavior or delusional. He is simply pre-occupied (often by his own ego) and does not think things through before speaking or acting.

Jamie Douglas

Proudest Moments

Despite most of Michael’s actions and behavior, Miran points out that he does have human moments and his heart is in the right place. This is what makes his employees care about and show loyalty toward him.

Michael shows a genuine desire to engage and connect with his employees but is unable to do so. This often causes him to become frustrated, depressed and lonely. If he was unable to provide comedic relief, Michael would be a pretty pathetic person.

Also, despite numerous calls from corporate about his questionable behavior, Michael is actually successful in his current position in regards to company profit. He even manages to be modest about it.

Michael said, “My proudest moment here wasn’t when I increased profits by 17 percent, or cut expenditure without losing a single member of staff. No, no, no. It was a young Guatemalan guy, first job in the country, barely spoke a word of English, but he came to me and said ‘Mr. Scott, will you be the godfather to my child?’ [long pause] Didn’t work out in the end. We had to let him go. He sucked.”

This is the writer’s impression of the personality and character of Michael Scott. It does not have any specific reference to a real person but is only a hypothetical description of the character as portrayed by Steve Carell on “The Office.”