1 Oct 2011

"Emperor, Sir!"


Managers over-believe; knowing about it might be the answer

An old tale

Flowergyrl, a blogger, talks of a boss who, every time he made a sale, would blow a vuvuzela in the office and shout "Who's the man?!".

One of the 12 things good bosses believe, according to Robert Sutton Professor at Stanford University is that they have a flawed and incomplete understanding of what it feels like to work for them. A new study by the Boston Research Group suggests these good bosses might very well be right.

Asked if they believed their employees are inspired by their company, 27% of bosses said yes; only 4% of employees agreed. Asked whether their company manages performance based on values (rather than on financial results) 41% of bosses said yes; only 14% of employees concurred. Bosses as well think they are less authoritative and more of a coach to their employees than what these will agree to.

Perhaps acknowledging it is, to Mr Sutton's point, as much as managers can do about it. It would be dissapointing, however, to think a healthy laugh at it would be taking it a step too far.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would be interesting to hear if there are any studies that calibrate the employee survey with previous jobs
I.e., bosses and companies may get more positive ratings from employees evaluating them from some distance

Elei said...

Thank you for your comment.
Maybe internet sites such as glassdoor might end up hosting such data and help provide the insight.
However if the old adage that people leave bosses, not organisations holds true the sample might be rather biased as it relates to this particular topic.
Elei