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News Release from: Chartered Management Institute
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 14 December 2007
Report examines 'Quality of Working
Life'
The report, published by the Chartered Management Institute and Simply health, assessed the impact of differing managerial styles on motivation, health and productivity.
Figures published today show that performance levels in workplaces across organisations in the manufacturing sector are suffering as overbearing and dogmatic management practices top the list of management styles The 'Quality of Working Life' report, which questioned 1,511 managers, also found a high rate of sickness and absence levels in organisations exhibiting 'negative' management styles
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 25 Nov 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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The report, published by the Chartered Management Institute and Simplyhealth, assessed the impact of differing managerial styles on motivation, health and productivity.
Key findings include: Tight reins: the most widely experienced management styles in the manufacturing sector are reactive (38%), bureaucratic (32%) and authoritarian (31%).
Worryingly, all three have become increasingly common; the top two have increased by 6% since 2004, with authoritarian leadership also rising 5% Index linked: the research shows empowering managerial styles are most associated with growing businesses.
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More than 1 in 3 (37%) of organisations performing well are cited as having 'accessible' management teams, whereas 56% of declining companies exhibit bureaucracy and 25% create a 'secretive' environment Sicknote culture: only 1 in 10 respondents said absence increased in organisations with 'innovative' and 'trusting' cultures.
This was in contrast to 45 % suggesting sickness rates have gone up where employers were 'suspicious'.
Jo Causon, director, marketing and corporate affairs, at the Chartered Management Institute, said: "The effect of management styles on performance can be marked and has a direct bearing on the levels of health, motivation and commitment linking employers and staff.
Of course, improving the sense of wellbeing, determination and productivity, is no easy task but one that cannot be ignored.
Left alone, it will only serve to reduce morale and lower the quality of working life." The findings show that the majority in the manufacturing sector (70%) are motivated by 'a sense of achievement from reaching organisational goals'.
However, it is clear from the research that management style also has a dramatic impact on job satisfaction.
For example, the presence of an authoritarian approach depresses enjoyment of work by 27 points, from 71% to 44%.
Confidence in senior management teams also declines from 60% to 27%, where the dominant style is bureaucratic.
Des Benjamin, chief executive of Simplyhealth, said: "There is increasing pressure to improve competitiveness and efficiency, but this doesn't have to be about reducing costs.
At Simplyhealth we have focused on creating the right environment and the right management behaviours.
The result, compared to other organisations surveyed, is that our prevalent management styles are ranked as accessible, empowering and trusting and we've been able to cope with more change, with less detrimental effect on our health.
Hence you can improve competitiveness and enhance performance by creating a healthy environment rather than reacting to an unhealthy one".
The report was developed by Professor Les Worrall (University of Wolverhampton Business School) and Professor Cary Cooper (Lancaster University Business School).
It is the sixth in a series of reports exploring the quality of working life in the UK.
Commenting on the findings, Professor Cooper said: "Against a backdrop of constant change, the relationship between good management practice and the reality of the workplace is intriguing.
In an environment dominated by the need to retain the best talent, it is also extremely disappointing to see negative styles prevail in the UK.".
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