The PI failed to use the most common technique for influencing the lab tech's working practices: Explaining how to satisfy requirements and reporting when the expectations change. "She usually did not communicate changes until months after she decided on them," says the former technician, who is now a graduate student. "Occasionally she would attend the lab meetings she called and discuss expectations then."
Such a toxic relationship between PI and lab tech may represent an extreme. But many respondents to The Scientist's recent survey "Laboratory Relations: Working for a Supervising Scientist," say their bosses speak only rarely, and then only to criticize or humiliate, often in a public setting. While many of the 282 people who participated in our unscientific poll reported peaceful relations with their bosses, many complained of hostility and communication problems.
Those who report working in a productive environment credit frequent conversations with their PIs for their ...
