Kiss up kick down

Kiss up kick down is a neologism, believed to have originated in the United States, which describes the situation where employees in an organisation are polite superiors to the point of sycophancy but abusive and unpleasant to subordinates. The people who do this are often those who do not have the ability to progress further and try to take out their frustrations on others as they lack the courage to try something new. They are usually bullies who are scared of competition, change and anything else that they see as a threat.