Workers fare better with a consistent boss

Better a consistent jerk than an unpredictable one.

That’s the conclusion that researchers at Michigan State University reached in a study last year that tried to recreate the situation so many have experienced: the boss who is relatively courteous and consistent much of the time, only to abruptly let loose with a cutting remark or to unfairly assign a key task.

It’s enough to send the heart rate up.

Common wisdom urges that employees be treated fairly as much as possible, said Fadel Matta, now an assistant professor at the University of Georgia and formerly a researcher in Michigan State’s business college.

Well, sure. But that seemed too easy.

“We believed that oftentimes it may be better to have a ‘consistent jerk’ and know what to expect than to have a ‘loose cannon’ that is sometimes fair and sometimes not, leaving you wondering what is coming,” Matta said.

First in an experiment with about 160 college students and later in a field study with bosses and workers in almost 100 organizations ranging from retail to health care to tech, they monitored participants’ heart rates as well as job dissatisfaction and emotional exhaustion as employees dealt with fair, unfair and inconsistent interactions with their supervisors.

Fairness can be, Matta noted, perceived differently by different people.

He and his fellow researchers — Brent Scott, Michigan State associate professor of management; Liana Passantini, a Michigan State doctoral candidate; Jason Colquitt, a professor at the University of Georgia; and Joel Koopman, an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati — looked at things like whether supervisors followed generally accepted rules, such as applying a procedure consistently and using accurate information without bias.

If information was shared, was it justified and truthful? Were discussions respectful and free from improper remarks?

The best-case scenario, Scott said in the initial announcement of the study last year, involves supervisors who are reliably fair.

If that doesn’t work, try being reliably unfair.

“We know that uncertainty is stressful,” Matta said.

Middle managers and upper-level managers who strive to do better can learn from the research, he said. Sometimes managers may try to “spread the love” — giving one employee a fair outcome in one situation and someone else the next time. That just makes things worse.

Better to explain why decisions are being made and how employees will be treated in a certain situation.

One interesting factor the researchers noted was that supervisors who had more self-control were able to be more consistent in their treatment of their staff.

Companies might do well to focus the tests often used in hiring and in promotions on selfdiscipline and careful thinking, the researchers said.

As for the workers stuck dealing with the quirks of a boss, Matta advised seeking more information from management about decisions that appear to be unfair. Maybe ask, “Why do you think this situation occurred?” he said.

That information could allow for a better sense of what might happen next time — and maybe help employees to go about their jobs with a little less stress.