Formal research agrees with the findings of the survey by the Chartered Management Institute on which you report (Bad management has prompted one in three UK workers to quit, survey finds, 15 October). In a study of 35,000 employees, my co-authors and I have identified three main factors that influence employee job satisfaction and people’s intentions to leave.
The first, supported by the CMI survey’s findings, is the quality of an employee’s line manager. Bosses have the largest effect on employee job satisfaction. Research shows that happy workers are substantially more productive.
We identified that the effect of a boss on job satisfaction is double that of pay. This makes sense. Our bosses decide when we should go up for promotion, go on leadership training, and even when we take our vacations.
Second, who your boss is really matters. Line managers need to have a deep understanding about the work of those they manage, and to a high standard.
To motivate a team and be a mentor, to identify where someone may need help, and importantly, to assess the work of those being managed, a boss must know what good looks like and how to get there. In my experience, the UK fails in this area. Often in our country a generalist is put into line management or a key position of power. Our evidence suggests this is highly undesirable.
Finally, and this point is made clearly in your interesting article, managers and leaders need to be trained – particularly in the area of behaviour. We have also learned that tailored leadership development, compared with generic training, leads to better outcomes for companies and their employees.
Amanda Goodall
Professor of leadership, Bayes Business School
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