Managers who procrastinate are more likely to display abnormal and unpleasant behaviour, a study has revealed.
Turns out, work-shy bosses can promote a contemptuous attitude amongst their staff -- leading to anger, frustration and abuse in the workplace.
A team of researchers, led by Dr Alison Legood and Dr Allan Lee from the University of Exeter, have looked at how bad habits displayed by those in charge can affect the mentality and productivity of the workforce.
They found that managers who procrastinate when making decisions and carrying out tasks not only leave employees feeling less committed to the business, but also more likely to display abnormal and unpleasant behaviour.
Most alarmingly, this can escalate beyond taking unnecessary sick days to becoming abusive to colleagues, and stealing office supplies.
"We have found procrastination from managers can be really detrimental to their staff and companies need to take action to ensure there are better relationships between bosses and employees," said study researcher Dr Lee.
"When bosses fail to do their work, knowing this will cause problems for others, it causes their staff to become frustrated and leaves them less committed to their employer," Lee added.
For the research, the team collected data from 290 employees on the impact of their leaders procrastinating, and measured how much managers procrastinated using a scale, based on questions such as: "my manager delays making decisions until it's too late."
The researchers also collected further information from 250 workers, and their 23 supervisors, in a Chinese textile manufacturing company located in Zhejiang Province.
Staff were asked to rate their relationships with their bosses, and managers were asked to rate whether staff were deviant, and how committed they seemed to the company.
The results showed when leaders procrastinate, it leads to "deviant behaviour" from their staff.
The researchers suggested that staff should try to discover why their managers are prone to procrastination, and also take part in any decision making, to help combat the issue. Companies could also deliver training to encourage better relationships between staff and managers.
"We found employees are less likely to be frustrated by their leader's procrastination if they had a good relationship with that leader. Encouraging feedback sessions, such as 360-degree feedback, may help leaders to become more aware of their own behaviour, and sharing leadership could reduce the effect of a procrastinating leader," added Lee.
The study appeared in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.
Lead image -- a still from Bewakoofiyaan -- used for representational purposes only.
