Breaking finance and business news, tax information, jobs and more for finance directors and senior finance professionals.

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.

The report, published by the Chartered Management Institute and Simplyhealth, assessed the impact of differing managerial styles on motivation, health and productivity.

The most widely experienced management styles in UK organisations are bureaucratic (40 per cent), reactive (37 per cent) and authoritarian (30 per cent). Worryingly, all three have become increasingly common. The top two have increased by 6 per cent since 2004, with authoritarian leadership also rising 5 per cent

Growing businesses

The research shows empowering managerial styles are most associated with growing businesses.

More than one in three (37 per cent) of organisations performing well are cited as having ‘accessible’ management teams, whereas 56 per cent of declining companies exhibit bureaucracy and 25 per cent create a ‘secretive’ environment.

Only one in ten respondents said absence increased in organisations with ‘innovative’ and ‘trusting’ cultures. This was in contrast to 45 per cent suggesting sickness rates have gone up where employers were ‘suspicious’.

Jo Causon, director of marketing and corporate affairs at the Chartered Management Institute, says that 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,” she adds.

Impact on job satisfaction 

The findings show that the majority (69 per cent) are motivated by ‘a sense of achievement from reaching organisational goals’.

It is clear from the research, however, 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 per cent.

Confidence in senior management teams also declines from 60 to 27 per cent, where the dominant style is bureaucratic.

Des Benjamin, chief executive of Simplyhealth, says that there is increasing pressure to improve competiveness and efficiency, but that this does not have to be about reducing costs.

“You can improve competitiveness and enhance performance by creating a healthy environment rather than reacting to an unhealthy one,” he adds.

The report was developed by Professor Les Worrall of the University of Wolverhampton Business School and Professor Cary Cooper of Lancaster University Business School.

Professor Cooper says, “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.”

Related articles

• CEOs focus on authentic communication
• Growing HR role for line managers
• UK managers fail to engage workforce

Related links

• Chartered Institute of Management