Do we really need bosses? If you’ve ever worked for a difficult boss (and who hasn’t?), you might be inclined to think that bosses are an unnecessary impediment to getting the job done. And indeed, some companies claim to operate successfully without bosses, although these are few and far between.
Leaving aside the question of their necessity, most of us would agree that bosses have an important influence on workplace morale. Bad bosses are the top reason British workers think of leaving their jobs, according to a recent survey by Crunch Accounting. Nearly half (45 per cent) of those planning to leave their current jobs said that “lousy leadership” was the key factor. Indecisiveness, micromanaging and “shouting” were major complaints from dissatisfied employees.
“Our research highlights the role strong leadership plays in retaining quality staff, with employees ranking it as more impactful to their workplace happiness than factors like pay and stress,” Crunch CEO Darren Fell says. Fell adds that bad bosses have a negative effect on productivity and on employee health.
Sometimes, let’s admit it, the fault is not all with the boss. If you’re someone who prefers to work alone and who hates receiving guidance from an authority figure, you will have trouble working for anyone. But there are certain management styles that workers can adapt to — or at least learn to live with — and that bosses can attempt to control.
The micromanager is one of these. Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has admitted that she is a micromanager. Yahoo employees, who reported that Mayer was always over-scheduled and late for meetings, would not disagree.
Micromanagers worry about giving up control, often fearing that their staff will not complete projects to their satisfaction. Marie G. McIntyre, author of Secrets to Winning at Office Politics, says that micromanagers are driven by anxiety. As an employee, you might think that the best move is simply to avoid them.
This is a mistake, McIntyre told the BBC. “That’s the worst thing you can do because it makes the micromanager more anxious,” she explains. “They not only don’t know what’s going on, but they start to think you might not tell them things, so they tend to push harder and hover more.”
Rather than staying out of your boss’s way, give her more information about what you’re working on, McIntyre advises. “You want them to develop a sense of trust in you because the more the micromanager feels that you’re not going to surprise them, the more comfortable they’ll be in letting go.”
Narcissistic bosses
Another classic boss type is the narcissist. Narcissistic bosses have received a lot of (bad) press in recent months, not least because of Donald Trump. The US president’s management style is typical of the narcissistic boss, a personality type that lacks empathy because he (or she) is completely self-involved. Yet, like micromanagers, narcissistic bosses are often insecure, according to psychologist Wendy T. Behary, author of Disarming the Narcissist.
“Underneath all the bluster, boasting, bullying and controlling is someone who has a lot of insecurity and, ironically, a great sense of inadequacy that they are trying desperately to not expose,” Behary told the BBC. Trump, whose political inexperience was meant to be an advantage, is perhaps the most famous example of a leader displaying this sort of behaviour.
Narcissists often reach high levels in corporations, because they can be charming and persuasive. People who work for them sometimes think that they will be able to take advantage of their boss’s connections and move with them up the corporate ladder. But Behary advises caution. “There’s this myth that if you just follow them along, they’ll lead you to the spotlight, but you have to be wary of the promises made by narcissists that seem to be in your favour, and you have to be careful when working with them never to get too attached to the outcomes.”
Even without access to nuclear codes, some bosses are dangerous, according to Professor Clive Boddy of Middlesex University Business School in London. Bullying, manipulative and narcissistic bosses are often strong, self-confident and convincing individuals who are drawn to positions of power. These personality traits can make them very successful, but at worst, their ambition can lead to business failure.
Boddy told the BBC that psychopathic behaviour on the part of business leaders led to the global financial crisis of 2009: “I believe they influence the whole ethics of an organization in a downward spiral and influence the people around them,” he says.
What can you do if you work for a psychotic boss? Boddy recommends that you should keep a record of confrontations or examples of instances where your boss takes advantage of you or treats you unfairly. Try not to meet with the boss alone — you need somebody to witness his behaviour. Be prepared for the possibility that upper management may not believe your accusations against a high-status, high-performing manager — and if your health is at risk, leaving the company may be your best option.
Question boss decisions
Perhaps workers should question authority more often. That’s at least what a Rotterdam School of Management study suggests. The research team found that opinionated bosses whose decisions are not questioned often fail because their staff are afraid to give them negative but possibly necessary feedback. Balazs Szatmari, lead author of the study, told the BBC: “The surprising thing in our findings is that high-status project leaders fail more often. I believe that this happens not despite the unconditional support they get, but actually because of it.”
Sarah Biggerstaff of the Yale School of Management says that companies need to encourage employees to ask questions without being worried that this will cost them their jobs. “It can be challenging to give feedback if there is a culture of fear around the office. In that kind of organization, if you don’t go with the flow, you won’t get promoted,” Biggerstaff explains. “Or what’s happened historically is that people pay lip service to executives instead of giving them constructive feedback, in order to toe the line.”
While no one outside of Volkswagen can say for sure, paying lip service rather than giving constructive feedback may have contributed to the Dieselgate fiasco. In contrast, some corporate bosses are being seen as providing ethical guidance, especially in the US. In a New York Times article headlined “Executives Exercise Moral Authority”, David Gelles writes of “a broad recasting of the voice of business in the nation’s political and social dialogue, a transformation that has gained momentum in recent years”.
Gelles quotes the CEOs of General Motors, JPMorgan and Walmart, all of whom called for racial and religious tolerance after the Charlottesville, Virginia, riots in August this year. Other business leaders, including Kenneth Frazier, an African American who is the CEO of Merck pharmaceuticals, responded to those events by resigning from President Trump’s business advisory councils.
Pressure from within
Gelles writes that the CEOs’ actions were at least partly in response to fears of consumer backlash. “But,” he adds, “they also faced notable and new kinds of pressure from within — from employees who expect or encourage their company to stake out positions on numerous controversial social or economic causes, and from board members concerned with reputational issues.”
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has also spoken out about human rights and racial inequality, as well as criticizing the Trump administration’s policies on both immigration and the Paris climate agreement. Cook, 57, took over as the head of Apple in 2011, six weeks before legendary Apple boss Steve Jobs died. Formerly low-profile and very private, in 2014, Cook came out as gay, making him the only openly gay CEO in the Fortune 500 at the time.
Apple continues to be financially successful. Cook is also well regarded by his employees, despite lacking his predecessor’s charisma. “He never tried to be Steve,” says Apple executive Eddy Cue. “He tried to always be himself. He has been very good at letting us do our thing. He’s aware and involved at the high end, and he gets involved as needed. Steve got involved at the pixel level,” Cue told Fortune magazine.
Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, is another example of a boss who places more value on substance than on show. The first woman to lead a major auto company, Barra “demonstrates a mix of discipline and vision”, writes auto journalist Joann Muller in Forbes magazine. “She has made decisions other GM leaders never dared, like pulling out of Europe to focus on higher-margin operations in North America and China, while investing heavily in new mobility services like shared, autonomous electric vehicles. Gone are the empty promises and arrogant bluster. With Barra at the helm, there’s a quiet confidence that if GM just sticks to its plan, good will eventually come. It’s a classic case of under-promising and over-delivering…”
Military model
Of course, there are alternatives to the hierarchical structure of most companies. One management model, copied from the US military, is the concept of autonomous teams. Under this model, soldiers are told what problem needs solving, but not how to solve it, explains General Stanley McChrystal in his book Team of Teams.
President Trump is not alone in seeking support from generals. Their advice and leadership skills are valued in the corporate world, too, according to The Wall Street Journal. Retired military officers are joining the boards of a variety of companies. Major General Suzanne Vautrinot, for example, former head of cyber operations for the U.S. Air Force, is on the board of Wells Fargo bank. “You’re looking at the future and connecting the dots, and you’re looking at the risks,” Vautrinot says of her role.
Flat hierarchies have been adopted by several major companies, including Google, but they are often rejected rather quickly. In 2015, the online retailer Zappos adopted a system called holacracy, which removed all managers. About 15 per cent of the company’s staff decided the model was not for them and left.
So, is it realistic to imagine a world without bosses? Probably not. In business, as in the rest of our lives, at some point, someone has to take decisions. Duties can be shared, but especially in difficult situations, it can be comforting for workers to know that their managers must accept the ultimate responsibility. And if they are honest, competent and open — all the better for everyone concerned.