Overbearing bosses are bad for business

A boss who takes over meetings and scares employees into silence is probably costing your company money.

According to a paper published in the latest Academy of Management Journal, people with strong and overbearing leaders are far less likely to speak their minds at work and in meetings.

The researchers watched over several meetings during the study and discovered strong leaders tended to do all the talking - not letting other staff have their say, MarketWatch reported.

“These types of performance problems are most likely to emerge when leaders let their power go to their heads,” Leigh Plunkett Tost, an assistant professor of management and organisation at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, said. “They end up dominating the conversation, the teams don’t work as collectively and they aren’t able to perform as well.”

In comparison, the study found when someone who wasn't a "formal leader" tried to dominate the meeting, other team members were less likely to accept their decisions and input.

Researchers said what organisations can learn from this is that some companies might improve their communication by structuring teams in a format that encourages fair and balanced participation. They also stated workers could try harder to have their ideas heard by their overpowering bosses.