More than anything‚ employees want to feel the love‚ a psychology conference in the United Kingdom has been told.
“In the drive for performance management the human touch gets overlooked‚” said Fiona Beddoes-Jones of The Cognitive Fitness Consultancy.
“People want to feel that a manager and the organisation genuinely care about them‚ and that is often what is missing.
“And as they say‚ people don't care how much you know‚ until they know how much you care."
A study presented at the British Psychological Society conference in Liverpool found most respondents were dissatisfied with the level of warmth and care displayed at work and believed their wellbeing would be improved if there was more “love”.
A total of 70% of respondents said they would prefer a “collaborative and supportive” working environment‚ yet only 26% said that they wanted a manager who was “nurturing and kind” or “unconditionally supportive”.
Said Beddoes Jones: “People want clarity from a logical and pragmatic manager.”
Another study unveiled at the conference found that employees of bullying bosses tended to be more depressed and likely to engage in counterproductive behaviour.
“Leaders high in dark traits can be bad news for organisations‚” said lead researcher Abigail Phillips‚ of the University of Manchester Business School.
“Those high in psychopathy and narcissism have a strong desire for power and often lack empathy.
“This toxic combination can result in these individuals taking advantage of others‚ taking credit for their work‚ being overly critical and generally behaving aggressively.
“In other words‚ leaders high in psychopathy and narcissism are more likely to be bullies.”
She added that these dissatisfied employees often seek to “get their own back” on the company.
A total of 1 200 participants completed questionnaires about their psychological wellbeing‚ prevalence of workplace bullying in their organisation and their manager's personality.
The data showed that those who work for bullies had lower job satisfaction and scored higher on a clinical measure of depression.
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