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Nothing is more insidious than a noxious boss. He undermines the morale and motivation of his teams, by taking credit for the work of his subordinates or by blaming them for his own mistakes. But at times, the toxic manager is friendly with his subordinates. A permanent hot-cold which would be particularly destructive.
A research team from the Stevens Institute of Technology found evidence of this after surveying more than 650 American and European employees about what it calls “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde management.” Leaders of this type are known for their very ambivalent attitude. They are contemptuous one day and saccharine the next, even going so far as to offer treats to their colleagues to make up for the “blowing” of the day before. An eminently confusing and harmful behavior.
In a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, researchers affirm that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde management causes particularly significant human damage. “If you constantly have to guess which boss you will have today – the good guy or the bad guy – you end up emotionally exhausted, demoralized and unable to perform at your best.,” explains Dr. Haoying Xu, lead author of the study, in a press release.
This kind of unpredictable attitude has cascading repercussions throughout the company. A manager, who is himself confronted with the inconsistency of his boss, can lose the respect and trust of his teams. This generates a feeling of instability among employees, compromising cohesion and collective effectiveness. “In today’s work environments, employees pay close attention to the relationships between their supervisors and their company’s leaders. If this relationship becomes unpredictable or is marked by repeated alternations of good and bad behavior, this can cause serious problems for the entire team.“, emphasizes Dr Haoying Xu.
Organizations therefore have every interest in fighting against toxic management, by adopting a leadership model based on kindness and respect. They must be attentive to weak signals that may come from employees, and take any report seriously. This approach is not always easy, as the subject is taboo in business. But it deserves our attention. Toxic management can lead to serious consequences similar to those of “classic” moral harassment (low atmosphere and productivity, excessive turnover, or even burn-out). “Employers tend to intervene when bosses are abusive all the time, but they are more tolerant of those whose abusive behavior only manifests itself from time to time. This study, however, shows that intermittent bad behavior may actually be more toxic for businesses“, says Dr Haoying Xu.
At a time when mental health at work is becoming a priority, it seems crucial to reinvent the codes of leadership. And to no longer take the mood swings of bosses lightly.