Do Managers Care?

Abstract

Addicts of reality television who are also interested in labour, employment and work will no doubt have watched “Undercover Boss” in a combination of stunned disbelief and awe as formerly unconnected managers are exposed to a taste of workplace reality when they take on the role of an entry level worker in their own organisation. What the best of these undercover bosses discover is a measure of empathy with the circumstances of their workers and other stakeholders in their businesses. Surprisingly empathy is a factor which has received relatively little attention in business and workplace research. In recent research we conducted in New Zealand SMEs on another topic we identified fascinating examples of managerial empathy impacting the organisation’s business practices, strategy and behaviour towards workers, customers, suppliers and others. In this paper we report these examples of managerial empathy and discuss their implications for managers, workplaces and future research.