Employer-Employee Relationship and its Impact
Employers and managers significantly determine the type of environment in the workplace. A bad boss or a poor working relationship with a manager can bring severe problems to a person's work life and career development. The employer-employee relationship determines the length and success of an employment contract. Bosses decide the working-hours and influence the attitude, efficiency, and personal development of employees at the workstations. Therefore, having a bad boss may lead to critical problems such as developing bad habits, lack of career-growth, poor performance, and depression.
Developing Bad Habits
Employees who work for so long under bad bosses are forced to adapt to the working styles of the managers; these working techniques are usually unprofessional and harmful to the company. Every person wants to please their boss and, therefore, they have to work according to the mechanism of the manager to avoid the harassment and frustrations which come with failing to please the boss. However, this habit is dangerous, and people will find it hard to change to the usual ways of working professionally even after moving to new jobs (Longenecker " Fink, 2016). For instance, an employee who works under an aggressive and abusive manager who does not appreciate suggestions from his or her juniors will become dull at work. These individuals who become afraid to offer proposals to their bosses will be ineffective when they transfer to healthy workplaces; the employees will be silent when mistakes happen on their watch and, therefore, will be adding no value to the company.
Lack of Career Development and Personal Growth
A bad boss will hinder the personal career growth of his or her employees. A good manager acknowledges and appreciates the efforts of every worker. An effective boss will be proud of the results of employees and encourage them to keep working hard. However, a bad boss will always scold his or her juniors at work and, therefore, lower their self-esteem. The unethical manager will be ruining the reputation of every employee who works for the company by talking negative about them to clients and other employers. A person's career cannot grow when he or she is working under a pessimistic boss; a leader who is continually criticizing people without guiding them is a bad influence for professional growth. Lack of useful feedback may lead to career underdevelopment and early retirement.
Poor Performance at Work
Bad managers make their employees unproductive at the workplace. A boss who does not plan or set goals for his or her juniors is creating a crisis at the job. Good leaders set targets for their employees and guide them through the process without concentrating on the mistakes along the way (Longenecker " Fink, 2016). However, a bad manager lacks preparation for any project, and he or she ends up blaming people for the errors that they make instead of accepting and correcting the wrongs. For instance, a bad boss will blame the employees when the company profits reduce or they get losses instead. It is, however, the responsibility of the manager to formulate goals which every person in the project should work hard to achieve.
Therefore, it is difficult for persons working under bad bosses to effectively plan and work on their targets when their leaders are not predictable. Every organization has a vision and mission statement which sets out the objectives of the business; it is the responsibility of the boss to make every employee understand his or her role in fulfilling the aims of the company. There is constant frustration by the employees who are unable to predict the expectations of their managers. A frustrated person will perform poorly at work because of the fatigue which comes with the regular scolding and blaming by the employer.
Depression
Unemployment and lack of a happy working environment are some of the leading causes of depression in the 21 century (Abbasi, Hollman, " Hayes, 2008). Working under a bad boss is leading in the list of factors causing job dissatisfaction and voluntary resignation at the workplace. Multinationals always invest on their management boards because they understand that the key to maintaining a satisfactory work environment for employees is having professional and supportive managers at the top of the company.
A big organization like Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), for example, knows that the company will lose a lot of money and clients when its employees resign to go and work for a rival business entity. KFC will, in this case, ensure that its secrets do not leak to rival companies by having their managers professionally treat the employees. Financial incentives and a peaceful working environment are two significant features of job satisfaction (Abbasi et al., 2008). The existence of a bad boss at work will lead to the psychological torture of an employee because of the constant negative feedback. People who do not resign from unhealthy work conditions get depression because they are afraid of making mistakes.
Conclusion
It is very unhealthy to work under a bad boss because it will negatively affect an individual by stunting his or her career growth, developing bad work habits, under-performing at work, and suffering depression. The peaceful environment in a job determines the input of employees and their decision to continue working with the company. Therefore, it is essential that organizations make sure that the management has professional leaders who will help employees in their professional growth and job satisfaction. Similarly, people should take the initiative of walking away from unhealthy working conditions and bad boss to protect their reputation, career development, and good health.
References
Longenecker, C.O., " Fink, L.S. (2016). Managing your boss in the 21st century. Industrial
Management, 58(3), 10-15.
Abbasi, S. M., Hollman, K. W., " Hayes, R. D. (2008). Bad bosses and how not to be one.
Information Management Journal-Prairie Village-, 42(1), 52-56.
