Bosses’ poor behaviour rubs off on staff

Posted on October 27, 2018 Updated on October 28, 2018

Nothing surprising there you might think but confirmation from an international study on bosses who procrastinate when carrying out tasks or making decisions showed that this led to less commitment from staff.

This is because staff feel less committed. “If the boss can’t be bothered why should I” is probably how they feel.

Employees are also more likely to display abnormal and unpleasant behaviour such as taking unnecessary sick days, being abusive to colleagues or stealing office supplies.

Dr Alan Lee, senior lecturer in Organisation studies and management at the University of Exeter’s business school who led the study said “We have found that procrastination from managers can be detrimental to their staff and companies need to take action to ensure that there are better relationships between bosses and employees” 

Previous research showed that bosses who had mood swings had the worst impact on anxiety levels of employees. Staff like consistency.

I’ve always believed that toxic work places are a combination of poor leadership, bad recruitment and organisation culture.

Other research suggests that having positive goals can increase your well-being. Of course that depends on your relationship with the boss too. But it can offset intensive working if you believe that you are working to a goal that is positive or helps other people e.g. in the voluntary sector.