Poll finds bosses seen as indecisive

LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly half of British employees, or 46 percent, think their bosses are poor decision makers, with incompetence and a lack of confidence key reasons why, according to a poll of almost 3,500 people by research firm YouGov published on Monday.

Of those who say the bosses don't know what they are doing, some 83 percent said they thought that management's poor decisions damaged morale, 51 percent said it hurt productivity and 19 percent said it handed rival firms an advantage.

Some 61 percent of those critical of their managers said they felt frustrated, angry or had lost respect for them after what they regarded as bad decisions.

"When questioned about the reasons behind their managers' indecision, half (51 percent) of employees who think their managers are indecisive point to lack of competence and a third (34 percent) to the lack of confidence," said the poll, which was done for Investors in People UK - an organisation which works with companies to improve performance.

"This is a worrying problem for UK organisations - Indecisive managers are a drain on the company and a major frustration for their teams, damaging employee motivation which can in turn undermine productivity and affect the organisation's progress," said Simon Jones, acting chief executive of Investors in People UK.

Asked why their bosses were getting it wrong, 26 percent of those who felt they were said it was because managers were given insufficient powers by senior management while 21 percent said their managers had received too little training.

As for what senior bosses thought of their managers' performance, 82 percent believed they were good decision makers.

While 51 percent of senior managers surveyed thought that managers sought the views of others in their firms before making decisions, just 22 percent of employees believed this was true.

Almost half of the employees, 47 percent, felt bosses made decisions and simply informed others afterwards, and 16 percent said bosses were secretive about the decisions they made.

The survey of 3,471 employees was conducted online in June and found more experienced workers had less faith in their managers, while views differed between job sectors, with retail and financial industry managers, for example, getting higher marks for decision making than those in local government.