The Era of Authoritarian Bosses and Submissive Workers is Over

New generations of employees are increasingly educated and eager to prove themselves at work. They want managers to inform them about everything related to their specific job, to ask for their opinions, and to involve them in the decision-making process.

Written by: Marija Čekada
Recorded by: Dražen Lapić

Domestic research shows that most employees intend to stay with their current employer for no longer than five years. They are dissatisfied with conditions, salaries, and the lack of professional development, poor employer relationships, and disrupted interpersonal relations. At the same time, bosses, managers, and employers complain that they are not getting the best from their employees, and well-off financial and IT companies, where employee status is good, are increasingly seeking professional help to overcome the communication gap and improve work productivity and motivation. Tanja Pureta, owner of the consulting firm Ramiro, which has been helping domestic companies improve communication and interpersonal relationships between bosses and employees and within teams for five years, and is currently preparing a master’s thesis in organizational psychology, believes that communication barriers most often occur at the vertical level, as authoritarian types of managers still prevail in Croatia.

They mainly just assign tasks, want to control everything, and bear all the responsibility while giving their employees small segments of work, expecting them to do exactly what they want. On the other hand, employees are becoming more educated and eager to prove themselves at work. They want managers to inform them about everything related to their specific job, to ask for their opinions, and to involve them in the decision-making process.

– Employees demand to be treated with business respect. Otherwise, when they see that communication is one-sided and that the manager only issues demands without providing them the opportunity to point out some problems, suggest how to improve the job, or their opinions are ignored, they will eventually fall silent. In fact, they reconcile themselves with such poor treatment from their managers because their job is important to them, and they take the path of least resistance: I will do the minimum, I will have a salary, and I do not want to be truly responsible for anything – emphasizes Pureta.

Managerial Blindness

In such a situation, it is essential for managers or bosses to learn to show business respect towards employees, which, she says, consists literally of three simple rules: provide information, ask employees for their opinions, and involve them in decision-making processes.

– Without that, employees will only give the minimum, and such a situation is not good for either side because it increases the number of dissatisfied employees who cannot and do not want to meet the expectations of their managers. Managers are responsible for the survival and good operation of the company, and within that, their most important task and responsibility is to encourage communication and listen to their employees – emphasizes Pureta. Additionally, she says, there is a phenomenon of managerial blindness among managers, which prevents them from recognizing what the real problem is.

– Managers and bosses believe they provide everything to their employees, while employees lack energy and genuine interest and commitment to their work. There is indeed a difference between merely doing a job and someone being truly dedicated to their work. Because a dedicated employee will use every moment to deepen their knowledge and skills, study new literature, and generally seek ways to become a better expert – explains Pureta. Therefore, to improve their relationship with superiors, employees themselves should truly dedicate themselves to their work instead of adhering to the approach of ‘I will do my work from eight to four, and then I will plant flowers, paint, or make ikebana in my free time.’

– Research shows that a person feels best and most useful when they truly dedicate themselves to their work and achieve personal progress through it, which in turn benefits the company in achieving its goals – emphasizes Pureta.

Diagnosis Before Treatment

Solutions for communication difficulties within the team and in the employee-boss relationship exist. Communication training, team building, or management skills training are some of the proven methods, and sometimes it is necessary to apply all three tools because often neither team relationships function well, nor do managers possess good leadership communication skills.

– Often, a company approaches a consultant with a specific request, for example, wanting team building or management training. But that is like going to a doctor and asking for a specific medicine, and they take you a few steps back and ask what actually hurts you. The first step in establishing the correct diagnosis is to examine the organizational climate. The process of examining the organizational climate lasts from about fifteen days to a month, involving employees in focus groups, and finally, a report is written that presents suggestions. Then, concrete activities such as workshops or team building are applied, and afterwards, it is checked whether and how much improvement has occurred – explains Pureta. However, after establishing a diagnosis, management is often not ready to actively change their relationships with employees and work processes.

– I have noticed that management in Croatia expects us, psychologists, to improve interpersonal relationships and processes while they themselves do not change at all. They expect us to solve problems, not realizing that a vital part of this is that they themselves change some of their habits. If the key problem between managers and employees is the lack of individual conversation and a mentoring approach to developing people, then we recommend that managers must conduct individual conversations with employees at least twice a month. If a manager does not find time for that, they will face the same problems again – says Pureta.

Cosmetic Interventions of Large Companies

There are also differences between small and large companies. Small companies want to improve the organizational climate and set things right from the start, while the biggest problem is large domestic companies that prefer to cosmetically implement procedures to improve the organizational climate.

– Large companies invest a lot in various training or team buildings thinking that they are solving things, but they are not very inclined to address the deep-rooted causes of problems and solve things at the root – believes Pureta. Nevertheless, many entrepreneurs, managers, and bosses will respond that the company must primarily focus on fighting and surviving in the market, while addressing the issue of poor work atmosphere is still a secondary matter. However, the question arises as to how much a poor work atmosphere within a company can affect the company’s reputation externally.

– It can be freely said that employees who contact clients, suppliers, and business partners carry the image of the company. Every employee is actually an ambassador of their organization, and therefore it would be better to invest in ensuring that people believe in their organization, that they know its goals so that they can present them properly in their daily quality work – says Pureta.

A satisfied employee speaks positively about their company. It is important that every person within the organization knows their place and how to work effectively to convey a good image to colleagues and clients, who will judge the company’s image and culture more based on daily contacts with employees, and much less on advertisements.