8 Signs You're an Unethical Manager

A 2018 research showed that 76% of employees think that their boss’ way of management is unethical. And that’s a pretty big number if you ask me. So, as a manager who wants to be a good and productive leader for their team, check for these eight signs that your management is unethical.

1. Lying to your subordinates

Lying is to deliberately distort or hide information important to the person. This can be a temptation for many managers, who may believe that their subordinates don’t need to know everything about their workflow. But the truth is, the more they understand the working process, the more they care about it and are motivated to contribute to its success. Needless to say, being transparent is a baseline for productive teamwork.

2. Not admitting your mistakes

All people make mistakes and leaders are not immune to this either. The difference between a good leader and an unethical one though is whether they admit their failures to their employees. Many are afraid to do this because admitting a mistake makes you vulnerable to whoever you admit it to. And bosses tend to take a position of invulnerability to their subordinates.

And, oh, how counterproductive that is! Every employee is a grown-up person who understands that any workflow is accompanied by errors. If you don’t discuss your mistakes with your team when you make them you exclude an entire area of your overall workflow from them. Not only does it damage the working process, but it also sets a bad example. Employees will think that their own mistakes are taboo as well, so their creativity will be stifled. And eventually, any project in such an atmosphere comes to a dead-end or a heated conflict.

There’s a rule in psychology that says, that when you make a mistake in front of another person, they begin to like you more, because they themselves are prone to mistakes and this common trait brings you closer. So, it goes without saying that admitting your mistakes is one of the healthiest principles to use in your management.

3. Not taking feedback

In some cases, a manager may admit their failures but nevertheless be unwilling to accept any kind of feedback. This shouldn’t be so. Feedback is a priceless source of information and your employees are the first people who can provide the steps for improvement. Sometimes they know where your boat leaks even better than you do. So, set aside some time and opportunity for your employees to express their concerns about the workflow and you personally. Otherwise, you’re losing an important source of information on how to get better.

4. Trespassing on people’s non-working hours

Managers have a lot of tasks that usually go beyond their working day. But we should be cautious to not treat other people’s time like that just because we’re in the same workflow. Allowing your subordinates to have their free time is as important for productive work as the actual work they do. Check yourself - how often do you call your subordinates on weekends or text them after working hours? If it happens regularly, try to limit working communication within the time comfortable for your employees.

5. Criticism over encouragement

Let’s be honest, there are more things that are going right at your workplace than the things that need corrections. Otherwise, the work wouldn’t be moving at all. And yet managers tend to express more criticism than encouragement. Sometimes the last part is even completely dropped.

People tend to bloom as flowers when you give them a simple ‘thank you’ or ‘good work’. And if you need to correct someone, put your critiques in a sandwich of kind words. Start with a compliment, gently move on to the problem and finally soften it with encouragement. Make this extra step for your subordinates and you’ll get ten times more from your grateful team.

6. Toxic optimism

This one might be a surprising point but this kind of behavior is also considered unethical. So what does it mean to express toxic optimism? This is when someone disregards the boundaries of another person and discounts their problems with poorly based phrases of encouragement that don’t carry any actual support. It may sound too complicated to be true, but toxic optimism is indeed a problem in management that hinders productivity and puts away your employees.

Imagine someone who’s overwhelmed by their current tasks. A toxic optimist may say, ‘stay cool and do your job, it’s no big deal!’ While the person might need some actual help and directions.

7. Too much micromanagement

We all want for business to do well. But being a manager also means trusting your subordinates to do their part of the job. Controlling every step seems beneficial only on the surface. In reality, any employee feels uncomfortable when their boss is watching them. There’s no room for maneuvering or creativity in this scenario. Make sure you’re giving your subordinates the space they need to be productive.

8. Emotional outbursts

Conflicts are a part of any human activity. But a line between an unethical manager and a good one is in how they behave during a conflict. We live in the age of character when charisma is considered one of the most important traits of the leader. Notwithstanding that a study by Harvard makes an interesting conclusion - the most effective managers are boring. In a sense, that their behavior is predictable, their mood is not swayed by the situation and they don’t throw insults at their employees.

An ethical manager should understand the value of emotional intelligence. And the main point of it is to understand and control your emotions. If the employees are scared of their boss and do not know when to expect your next explosion, then there will be no trust nor flexibility in such relationships.

Final thoughts

By reading up to this point, you’ve shown that you are already a good leader who is looking for ways to improve. Pay heed to these eight signs you’ll make your team happy, productive and engaged.