Being mean to your subordinates? Think again

Washington, Sept. 12: Here is a solid reason to be nice to your subordinates, turns out, showing compassion to your employees might actually lead to better productivity.

According to a latest research compassion to subordinates almost always pays off, especially when combined with the enforcement of clear goals and benchmarks.

Chou- Yu Tsai, one of the researchers said, “Being benevolent is important because it can change the perception your followers have of you. If you feel that your leader or boss actually cares about you, you may feel more serious about the work you do for them.”

To find out how both the presence and lack of benevolence affects the job performance of followers, the team of researchers surveyed nearly 1,000 members of the Taiwanese military and almost 200 adults working full- time in the United States, and looked at the subordinate performance that resulted from three different leadership styles:

Authoritarianism- dominant leadership: Leaders who assert absolute authority and control, focused mostly on completing tasks at all costs with little consideration of the well- being of subordinates. Benevolence- dominant leadership: Leaders whose primary concern is the personal or familial wellbeing of subordinates. These leaders want followers to feel supported and have strong social ties.

Classical paternalistic leadership: A leadership style that combines both authoritarianism and benevolence, with a strong focus on both task completion and the well- being of subordinates.

The researchers found that authoritarianism dominant leadership almost always had negative results on job performance, while benevolence-dominant leadership almost always had a positive impact on job performance.