Abandoning Ship is a close relative of rejecting blame but it has a different set of dynamics and insidiousness.
Picture a lively meeting between a manager and staff. Collectively they have a challenging problem to solve and are discussing various alternative solutions. Two approaches emerge as having the most solution potential. The boss favors option one, while the staff is strongly inclined toward option two. The discussion continues for a while but it becomes clear the two sides are to remain apart. What next?
The manager, as boss, can simple say “we are going to do it my way”. The staff may feel disgruntled but they did have their say. However, suppose our manager throws up their hands and says something like this” “OK, I’m tired of all this arguing. Enough! Have it your way. We’ll go with option two but I know it isn’t going to work and just remember, I told you so”. End of meeting and end of discussion.
What just happened here? Does our staff of subordinates feel empowered? Or do they feel abandoned ? Does our staff believe their boss will join them in making a full effort to make option two succeed? Or do they most likely suspect that their boss will silently remain on the side lines, rooting for the entire effort to fail? In the long run — for the sake of group cohesiveness — would it have been better for the boss to simply have insisted on option one?
This hypothetical situation is an example of what I call Abandoning Ship.
When a manager invites subordinates to join them in discussing how to address a problem, a partnership is implied. Although the manager may choose a course of action not universally supported by the entire staff, they — in exchange for having been consulted — expect a best staff effort to make that decision work . Our manager will not appreciate sabotage or slow rolling.
Subordinates similarly expect the same total commitment from the boss when they have given the blessing of their authority to a course of action. Luke warm, passive, indifferent, or non-existent involvement mocks the notion of a partnership.
Subordinates intuitively know when they are on their own and when they alone will need to bear the full burden of making something succeed. If that something fails, they know the boss will point the accusing finger squarely in their direction.
Few subordinates will put up with — or work with — an abandoning manager for longer than necessary. And even fewer competent senior executives will view such behavior by a junior manager as qualifying them for senior management responsibility.
UPDATED May 2026
Categories: Managing & Leading, Self-Management
What Best Mnagers Know & Do 
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