It's Halloween, a time when ghouls and goblins and witches and warlocks abound. It's also a reminder of bad bosses who can haunt your days and wreak havoc on your nights, filling them with nightmares.

Nolan had worked in the firm for several years, slowly working his way up the ladder until he'd become one of the four most senior members of the firm, sitting on the executive team. He was responsible for several new initiatives and nearly half of the business, including the acquisition of another firm that now reported to him.

A few months later, he was called into the CEO's office to be told that the senior executives in the acquisition had registered complaints against him and that the CEO, without consulting Nolan, had decided to have the acquired group no longer report to him. Nolan was both shocked and angry - not only was he not told in advance of the change, he never had the chance to discuss the complaints, evaluate their validity and import, and present his side of the story. Furthermore, he was only told immediately before the announcement went out to the rest of the firm.

The CEO failed on several counts - he didn't call Nolan in to tell him about the complaints before making a decision and didn't explore the complaints in an open forum with Nolan and members of the new acquisition. More importantly, he undermined Nolan's credibility throughout the firm with his preemptive decision. He never gave Nolan the opportunity to know about and try to rectify any of the alleged concerns.

Sandra's career was noteworthy for several reasons. She made more money for the firm and earned more bonus money and promotions than anyone in the company could ever remember. She was the CEO's chosen successor, despite her youth, because of her consistently record-shattering accomplishments.

Then the damages she left in her wake came to the surface. Granted, she achieved sales that no one had ever done before, but at a cost. Her hard-driving style overwhelmed her staff. She interrupted them repeatedly during sales meetings, denigrated their ideas in front of others, and took personal credit for the team's achievements. With colleagues, she dominated conversations by talking at length and in great detail about her plans for the future, refused to listen to or accept any of their ideas, and repeatedly talked about how, if it weren't for her efforts, the company wouldn't be making money.

The CEO realized the danger Sandra presented to the company only when her colleagues and a few of her staff threatened to resign unless her behavior was addressed. But the damage was already done. Sandra's actions wreaked havoc on the firm's culture, causing widespread dissatisfaction among those she worked with.

Amber worked for her boss for several years, always hoping that things would change, but they never did. She was a hard worker, always staying late to work on last minute projects, working weekends to get the proposals submitted on time, and taking on those messy but necessary projects to improve the business's operations and efficiency.

Despite her hard work and effectiveness, she seldom got acknowledgement or approval from her boss, was often overlooked when it came time for promotions and bonuses, and was not given personal credit for her successes in making the business better. Instead, her boss consistently found fault with her work, ignored her suggestions for how to improve the department's operations, and shut the door to any opportunities for her to get access to and engage with senior executives.

It was only when she left that she realized the extent to which her career and her psychological welfare had been affected by her boss's behavior.

Bad bosses like those noted above create nightmares for many reasons. They influence your career and your future and they significantly affect your psychological well-being. If you are ever in the unfortunate situation of having a bad boss, there are a few questions for you to consider.

Should you go or should you stay? What are the effects on you and your career if you continue to work for a bad boss? Are these effects bearable or does it make more sense to move on? If you stay, how do you minimize the damage a bad boss can create for you?

Should you confront the boss or not? There is always risk when you consider confronting a bad boss. What will the boss's reaction be? Will the boss get angry? Will the boss even listen? Will the boss hold it against you and make it worse for you in the future?

Should you go over the boss's head to tell someone else what's going on? This can have even greater risk than talking to your boss directly. Will you be seen as jumping the chain of command? Will your concerns be given any credence at all or merely brushed aside?

Even if your concerns are heard, what is the likelihood that anything will be done about the situation? How will you be seen by the rest of the company - as a pariah who doesn't belong or as someone who stood up for the values of the firm?

Nobody wants a bad boss. However, when the situation is unavoidable, there are two primary considerations for you. The first one is self-preservation. What can and should you do to insulate yourself from the negative effects of a bad boss? And the second concern is the general welfare of the business. What can and should you do to address the issue and improve the values, culture, and integrity of the business?

In their book, Willpower, Roy Baumeister and John Tierney, suggest that it's possible to improve self-control by adding more habits and routines to your daily schedule.

The more orderly and systematized your day, the more likely you are to develop the discipline needed to succeed.

What can you begin to do, right now, to add a more orderly approach to what you do?

A recent column in the Toronto Globe and Mail identifies "the most difficult thing in government: eliminate or curtail existing programs." The problem applies to business, too.

How many times have you run up against those who insist that a project, program, or function cannot be cut or dropped because "we've always done that?"

Adding new initiatives, no matter how valuable, often serves to reduce the firm's ability to operate effectively because it's just one more thing, among the thousands, that needs to be done.

What can you cut or delete, now, to improve your work and your business?