In my book, one of the toughest things for a manager to do is to let someone go. Taking away a person’s job—their livelihood—is one of those things you never, ever want to do, but it is also one of those things that all managers must face if they are to successfully do their jobs.

By the same token, no serious manager ever makes light of having to fire, cut or “downsize.” Not only is it poor form and can bring on bad karma, it’s just not right.

Any executive who publicly seems to delight in getting rid of people deserves to walk the plank or get tossed into Dante’s lowest level of hell. And that’s where Randy Michaels comes in.

Michaels is COO of Chicago-based Tribune Co. Tribune is a media company owned by wild man Sam Zell, a guy known for outrageous outbursts and idiotic statements that only serve to demoralize his workforce and make him look crazy.

Tribune owns big newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun. Zell bought the company late last year and not only seems to have made a bad purchase, but also seems to be in way over his head.

Tribune has been cutting employees left and right, and everyone thinks there are more firings to come. Many of the cuts are being executed by a bunch of executives Zell brought in from radio giant Clear Channel, the company that has essentially destroyed local radio in this country. One of them is a former DJ, the aforementioned Randy Michaels.

According to the TellZell blog (written by an unnamed journalist at the Los Angeles Times), Michaels popped into the newsroom of the Chicago Tribune one evening recently, leading a group of people on a tour. Apparently wishing to amuse the unidentified gawkers,” the blog post notes, “the ex radio deejay decided to crack some jokes about his reporters and editors.”

This was all too much for one copy editor. “She stood up and confronted Michaels. … She brought up that a) we were working and b) 100 of us were going to be jobless next month. He made some crack about how it wouldn’t be so bad.

When she continued to press the issue, bringing up such obscure facts as how it sucks to live without income and insurance, he basically made an exaggerated sad face and told her to cheer up.”

Later, COO Michaels got into an e-mail exchange with a Tribune reader where he made light of all the layoffs. “Who cares, he says, if the Tribune fires a couple of hundred journalists: ‘The fact is that we can hire as many great journalists as we like because almost all papers are letting them go. Pointing out problems is not helpful,’ ” the blog post said.

I don’t know Randy Michaels, but from everything I have read and heard, he’s a pompous and arrogant ass. And in my book, this exchange only goes to prove it. No serious executive boasts that he can fire as many people as he wants because there is a ready supply of fresh meat available. Doing so invites bad karma and all sorts of other terrible things that I am sure are in Randy Michaels’ future.

This over-the-top performance by an idiotic executive gives Michaels a good shot at next year’s Stupidus Maximus Award, an “honor” I bestow on “the most ignorant, shortsighted and dumb workforce management practice of the year.”

Think you have a better candidate? Think Randy Michaels, Sam Zell and the management team at Tribune already have wrapped it up? Let me know with either a comment here or an e-mail to jhollon@workforce.com.