The Power of Positive Management on Employee Productivity

Nicholas Esposito, Verrazano Class of 2018, earned a degree in Accounting

I was given the opportunity to conduct research on a topic of my choice, with guidance from my mentor, Patricia Galletta. Since I was able to choose any topic, I decided to research the effects that management has on employee productivity, and how management can improve it. I was very interested in researching this idea because of how horrible the management is at my job. I have been working retail for my entire college career, and anyone who knows me knows I always complain about my job, especially the management, feeling like they impacting how productive I could be, so I felt that I could truly relate to my research topic. Thus, I decided that for my research, I would determine the primary causes of decreased productivity in the workplace, and the responses management can make for each situation in order to increase their workers’ productiveness.

Writing my paper and doing research

Through my research, I was able to find information on four prominent reasons for what hinders productivity for employees, those being: poor management, employee dissatisfaction, social media usage, and usage of outdated technology. Poor management stands out especially, due to a style of managing known as micromanaging. This is when managers look at every little detail and are right on top of their employees, and unfortunately, it has a massive negative impact on employees’ productiveness. One of the studies I researched displayed how under micromanaging, a large percentage of employees they surveyed actually felt that being micromanaged interfered with their job performance, while an even larger percent felt their morale was negatively impacted. I realized that this is an issue occurring in my workplace, and I have actually felt the same way as the respondents on multiple occasions.

Using my phone while on the clock, not being productive

In regards to how management can improve productivity, I was able to determine through my research, that there were four ways management can increase it, those being: keeping a positive atmosphere in the workplace, keeping employees proactive and encouraging communication, installing policies for social media usage, and updating technology systems. Positivity especially correlates with productivity. One study I researched focused on the effects of positive to negative encounters in the workplace, and discovered that when positive encounters outweigh negative encounters by a ratio of 3:1 or more, productivity increased exponentially. This increase capped out at 12:1, as too much positivity can also do more harm than good. Thus, I learned it’s best for management to keep a positive work atmosphere for its employees to allow them to be more productive.

I felt accomplished when I completed this project. The primary reason why I wanted to explore this topic was to have a better understanding of what has been occurring all these years at my job, and what routes management can take to make the workplace more productive, not just for my job, but in any field of work. I feel this topic is vital for management to acknowledge, since it will allow for not just their overall productivity to grow, but also their profitability, allowing their business to expand and stay competitive. Overall, I enjoyed doing research on this issue, and I would like to be able to share my findings, as it would allow more companies to understand how they can prosper under good management.