Hate your boss? Own up to it, researchers say

If you hate your boss, you shouldn’t fake it. It might sound like a risky strategy to be open about the fact that you can’t stand the person in control of your pay cheque, but according to a new study from Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business, it’s better to face up to it.

They found that employers and employees being on the same page about how well they get along is actually more important than having a good relationship. Fadel Matta and his colleagues surveyed 280 employees in a range of industries and their bosses (separately) to find out about their relationship and how motivated they felt.

They discovered that people who were less motivated thought that they had a good relationship with their manager, but their boss thought otherwise. The same was also true when the boss liked their employee, but the employee wasn’t so keen.

Weirdly enough, employees were more motivated and more likely to go the extra mile when they and their boss were in tune about the fact that their relationship wasn’t great. No one’s suggesting that you start sending your boss hate mail, but it seems that honesty, rather than being liked, is what inspires us.

Matta points out that it’s natural for managers to not see eye-to-eye with every employee, but recognising and accepting those differences is a better strategy than feigning friendship. ‘At the end of the day, it’s better for everyone to know where they stand and how they feel about each other,’ he says. Does sound a bit un-British, though…

Image via Pixabay.

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