The Importance of a Good Working Relationship

Believe it or not, your boss is one person that you need to have a healthy working relationship with in order to survive and prosper on the job front. For those planning a career with the organization of their dreams, a healthy boss-worker relationship is very essential indeed for their career dreams to be realized.

Another thing to note is that your work life and family life are invariably related to each other, so stress in managing one aspect can affect the smooth working of the other. A good understanding with your boss can make work life a cozy heaven, while a souring of the relationship can turn it into a living hell. In a recent survey taken across the Middle East, 72% of the UAE’s working professionals considered a healthy relationship with their direct manager to be a very important factor in the workplace. 14% of respondents considered this important to a certain extent while 10% believed that it really depends on the nature of the position you are working in.

The survey was taken in order to assess the significance of employee-manager relationships in the Middle East and the level of satisfaction with managers in the region. The survey also looked at the effects of an unhealthy working relationship between employees and managers and examined what could be done to reduce dissatisfaction in the workplace in the future.

The value of this report lies in the fact that it has given an interesting insight into professionals’ attitudes and experiences in the Middle East from the point of view of the employee-manager relationship. And the fact that the vast majority consider a healthy working relationship with their boss to be vital illustrates the importance of the survey.

Surprisingly, just 27% of the surveyed professionals stated that they rate their relationship with their direct manager as excellent in the workplace, citing their manager as not only a boss but a mentor while 31% consider their relationship with the boss to be quite good, with a mutual respect and smooth communication between each other. However, 24% of those questioned stated that their relationship with their manager is not stable and usually depends on the boss's mood, while as much as 17% stated that the work relationship is bad and they are not on the same wave length with their boss at most times. This indicates that there is still some headway to be made in improving the employee-manager relationships in the UAE.

The survey wisely also asked the respondents what they thought would comprise the effects of an unhealthy manager-employee relationship in the workplace would be. 17% said that low employee motivation could be a result, 13% expected a stressful work environment for both manager and employee, 12% felt it would lead to unfinished job tasks and 54% mentioned all of these as possible outcomes of an unhealthy relationship with their boss.

In order to find out how workplace relationships could be improved, the survey asked which qualities in a manager would make it easiest to maintain a strong manager-employee relationship. Almost a quarter of respondents or 24% said that the key lies in effective communication; 23% felt it required good leadership skills; 22% thought mutual respect was important, 10% cited trust in employees and 14% mentioned leading by example as a good management quality. This brings out the fact that employees value managers with good communication and leadership skills, and also gives some indication on how to improve relationships in the workplace.

Asked what their company does to promote healthy manager-employee relationships at work, 37% affirmed that their company tried to do so on every possible occasion, 18% said efforts were made from time to time, while 32% stated that they did not think their company did anything to promote good working relationships between managers and employees. This clearly shows that while companies in the UAE do take an interest in developing healthy working relationships, more work needs to be done along this front.

Finally, the respondents were asked how they thought their company could best intervene to promote a healthier manager-employee relationship. In this context 38% thought more frequent appraisals would have a positive impact, 11% said more emphasis on communication was needed, 7% suggested more management training was required while 5% suggested more outdoor activities to help see the other side of the boss. But 31% regarded that a combination of all these factors would contribute to a healthier working relationship between managers and employees.