Managers, take note: your excessive rah-rah leadership may be harming your team in the long run, making them sicker and more prone to absences, a new workplace study suggests.
Study after study has already shown that workplace stress can be deadly, but while we can blame it on many factors such as racism or gender discrimination, we might have overlooked a contributing reason: your very own motivational boss.
A three-year longitudinal study conducted by researchers from the Norwich Business School of University of East Anglia tries to establish the relationship between transformational leadership and the health of workers, primarily their rate of sickness and absenteeism. They also analyzed presenteeism, a condition wherein employees continue to report to work even if they're sick.
The researchers worked with 155 employees of a Danish postal office, who were then asked about their attendance and assess their managers' leadership style.
The data they obtained then reveal that although transformational leadership, which is oozing with inspiration and charisma, can motivate employees to do well in the short term, it may make them sicker in the long term.
"The assumption that 'more transformational leadership is better' does not hold over time," said Kevin Daniels, university organizational behavior professor and one of the authors. He is working alongside work and organizational psychology professor Karina Nielsen.
This could be because such style of leadership may compel sick employees to continue reporting to work while ignoring their symptoms or delaying treatment. This attitude may also reduce the recovery period of the sick employees or lengthen their sickness time, as well as boost the risk of absenteeism. To make things even worse, the longer the sickness lingers, the higher the chances the infection will spread.
The study doesn't diminish the benefits of transformational leadership or the importance of having inspirational managers in the organization. Besides, the relationship of these components is more complex. However, it stresses that too much of it may backfire.
As a recommendation, corporate leaders should maintain balance in their managerial strategies.
"They should monitor and check them, and encourage workers to look after their own health. Managers need to strike a balance, they can still encourage staff to perform well, but in a way that is not at the expense of their health and well-being," Daniels said.
Simply put, achieving visions should be combined with concern about the overall health of the workers.
