Study: Why Bosses are Hated by Employees
Posted on January 4, 2007
A new study by FSU professor Wayne Hochwarter, an associate professor of management in FSU's College of Business, and his two doctoral students reveals a few of the reasons why people hate their bosses. Hochwarter worked with Paul Harvey and Jason Stoner. They surveyed over 700 people who work in a variety of jobs to find out how they were treated by supervisors. It turns out a lot of people have experience bad behavior by their boss.
31% reported that their supervisor gave them the "silent treatment" in the past year and 39% said their supervisor made negative comments about them to other employees or managers. 34% say their supervisor invaded their privacy at some point. 33% said their supervisor blamed them or others to cover up mistakes.
The researchers say, "Employees stuck in an abusive relationship experienced more exhaustion, job tension, nervousness, depressed mood and mistrust. They also were less likely to take on additional tasks, such as working longer or on weekends, and were generally less satisfied with their job. Also, employees were more likely to leave if involved in an abusive relationship than if dissatisfied with pay."
It looks like quite a few people feel their bosses were picking on them, ignoring them or using them. The study didn't say how many employees were not annoyed at all by their supervisors. It would be interesting to know how much overlap there was between the different grievances.
