Occasional dissatisfaction with management is not uncommon in working life. However, when poor leadership style becomes the norm, it also affects employees, as a recent study shows.
Chain reaction of unproductivity
It is well known that leaders have a huge impact on how well a team functions. A study by the Stevens Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois in the USA examined exactly how bad leadership styles affect employees. The researchers particularly identified a leadership culture without empowering behavior as poor leadership: the manager does not involve his employees at all or hardly at all in decisions or new processes. It also does not recognize and promote the individual strengths of the team members. According to the researchers, this form of leadership leads to a “chain reaction of unproductivity”: With a bad boss, employees become less committed to the company – and thus become bad employees.
Not all employees are affected equally
As a result, employees who care about their own careers suffer more from poor leadership than employees who primarily care about job security, according to “Die Welt”. While employees who want a promotion are more likely to withdraw from a bad boss, employees who simply want to keep their job continue to do their jobs unchanged.
Consequences of poor leadership
Bernhard Bachmann also comes to very clear results in his research on the topic of “Ethical Leadership in Organizations” that show the influence of poor and unethical leadership on the working atmosphere and motivation. Among other things, according to his results, the sense of unity and cooperation decrease significantly in these cases. The influence of poor leadership can even go so far that employees call in sick to avoid the pressure. Absences due to short-term illnesses and poor leadership were shown to be significantly related in the individual departments. At the same time, Bachmann was able to demonstrate the enormous importance of trust and integrity for good leadership.
Marina Schausbreitner, editorial team at finanzen.net
