MANAGEMENT SPECIAL..Playing favourite pays well for bosses : Study

Playing favourite pays well for bosses :  Study

Mumbai: For long, a good boss was the one who treated everyone equally. But playing favourite, says a new study, pays. A study from the Sauder School of Business-University of British Columbia says bosses should pick favourites if they want top performing teams.

    Leadership methods vary across the world, more so from one organization to another. While the work culture in the United States leans toward showing preferential treatment to star employees, Canadian, Northern European and most Asian cultures take a more egalitarian approach, according to the findings of the study which were shared with TOI. “Conventional wisdom tells us that we should treat everyone the same to create a productive work atmosphere,” says Karl Aquino, a Sauder professor, who co-authored the forthcoming study. “However, our research shows this can be a disincentive for workers who would otherwise go above and beyond on behalf of the team with a little bit of extra attention,” he said.

    A series of experiments were carried out in different settings around the globe: In a behavioural lab in a British business school, at a consumer research panel in the UK, among employees at an American online consumer panel and with students at a Dutch university. The outcome was uniformly similar, the study pointed out. The four researchers found that people are more likely to experience heightened self-esteem, follow workplace norms and perform tasks that benefit a group if a leader treats them relatively better than other people in their group.

    “Bosses are in a tricky position,” says Aquino. There is a risk that treating some employees better than the rest can turn others off. The key is to find the right balance — treat everyone reasonably well, but treat those whose work counts most or who have been most productive just a little bit better, he adds.

    Some experts feel that bosses relish favourites mostly in promoter-run companies here in India. “In a feudal white collar culture, like we have here in India, it works wonderfully well. Bosses relish favourites. But when rubber hits the road, top performers truly override. Favourite is not the creation of bosses. It’s an entrepreneurial culture issue. Wherever you find promoters or owners, you will find a symbolic availability of favourites,” says Ganesh Shermon, partner & country head, people & change practice, KPMG Advisory.

    The research goes on to say that empirical findings show that the people’s quest for status and self-esteem enhancement is a universal phenomenon that arises from social comparison.

    “What matters more to group members is not the absolute level of leader treatment quality, but the comparative level of leader treatment. Treating everyone equally well should reduce the positive consequences of positive leader treatment,” the paper notes. For someone to derive high value from positive treatment or high selfworth, there must be others with less treatment quality, the study says.

THE BEST INCENTIVE?


• Extra attention pushes staffers to go above and beyond others on team, says study


• ‘Favourites’ also follow office rules and perform tasks better on average


• Since other staffers can be turned off, the trick is to find right balance

Hemali Chhapia & Samidha Sharma TOI130123