Survey: Bad bosses common, problematic

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

"They say that employees don't leave their job or company, they leave their boss," said Wayne Hochwarter, an associate professor of management in the College of Business at Florida State University, who joined with two doctoral students at the school to survey more than 700 people working in a variety of jobs about how their bosses treat them.

"No abuse should be taken lightly, especially in situations where it becomes a criminal act," said Hochwarter.

Employees stuck in an abusive relationship experienced more exhaustion, job tension, nervousness, depressed moods and mistrust, the researchers found. They found that a good working environment is often more important than pay, and that it's no coincidence that poor morale leads to lower production.

"They (employees) were less likely to take on additional tasks, such as working longer or on weekends, and were generally less satisfied with their job," the study found. "Also, employees were more likely to leave if involved in an abusive relationship than if dissatisfied with pay."

Click here for the rest.

This fits in very nicely with my own personal experience. I've had some pretty shitty jobs over the years, but the ones with good management were always better than the relatively less grueling jobs with shitty management. Treating your workers well is pretty much always good business, which is why it is, at first glance, somewhat surprising that such Dickensian management techniques continues to be so prevalent. But when you consider the fact that our public school system literally instills such behavior into Americans, it isn't so surprising at all. That is, our educational system is structurally based on the 19th century Prussian system, which was sold by reformers here in the US as being perfect for creating good, obedient industrial workers. A big part of that, of course, is getting people used to giving commands, in Prussian military style, as well as taking them. I've written at great length here at Real Art about how such an approach to education is utterly counter to most of the goals most people cite for American learning, such as critical thinking or active participation in our democracy. I've spent very little time, however, writing about how our educational system hurts commerce and business. Take this post as my first attempt to do so.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$