For employees who experience negative emotions due to a bad relationship with their boss, a recent article (Game, 2008) provides an interesting explanation of what is occurring. Interestingly, the author proposes that the employee’s attachment style plays an important role.
The researcher found some support for an exploratory model. It suggests that various emotional reactions in employees may be attributed to differences in how supervisory behavior is interpreted by employees. Such interpretations may be affected by employees’ long history of attachment relationships over their lifetime or their attachment style in relation to their supervisor.
Although the study’s model wasn’t entirely supported, the findings can only lead us to conclude that further research on this topic is necessary. This will help us learn more about the nature of employees’ negative emotions, and help us prevent unfavorable outcomes, such as employee turnover, lack of motivation, or workplace deviance. Ultimately, the author suggests that using HR’s resources to help develop secure, supportive, and trusting employee-supervisor relationships may be worth the time and money.
Game, A. M. (2008). Negative emotions in supervisory relationships: the role of relational models. Human Relations, 61(3), 355-393.
Image credit: Unsplash+