When leaders and managers are lenient with employee misconduct, they may face unexpected backlash from employees, according to a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
Allowing misconduct to slide can lead to negative reactions, especially among employees who believe leniency is unfair and harmful to the work environment, they found.
“Leniency should come with a warning label for leaders: Use carefully and when compassion is warranted,” Marie Mitchell, a professor of organizational behavior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in a statement.
Although leaders may believe that leniency is easy or empathetic, there’s a “social cost” among onlooking employees, Mitchell said. Across three experiments, Mitchell and colleagues found that employees expect leaders to address misconduct, whether ethical violations or task-based errors, and hold people accountable.
Leader leniency is prevalent across organizations, the researchers found, but employees tend to have negative reactions and view it as unfair.
However, leaders can mitigate these negative reactions if onlookers believe there’s a moral justification, such as the offender being in personal distress. This evokes compassion among others and reduces feelings of unfairness if a leader decides to be lenient.
Without a moral reason for the misconduct, though, other employees experience contempt, the researchers found. This tends to fuel beliefs about unfairness and a desire for punishment.
The research may offer interesting insights in a time when managers are having a hard time yet receive little feedback on their performance, according to a Gallup survey. In general, managers’ top weaknesses included providing meaningful feedback, motivating outstanding performance, removing performance barriers and discussing strengths, which were all highly correlated with employee engagement.
Generally, managers are facing intense pressure and heavier workloads in 2024, with increased demands from both leadership and direct reports, according to a Perceptyx report. Most managers said they could use more coaching, which has “cascading benefits” through higher engagement and lower stress levels, Perceptyx said.
Workers with highly effective managers are more likely to feel valued at work and have a deep sense of commitment to their employer, according to a Society for Human Resource Management report. To become more effective, managers need support through training, coaching and upskilling opportunities for both them and their teams, SHRM said.