That true top managers have to be tough and should take sweeping measures is a picture which some executives from major companies not only can fully identify with, but which may also be more easily conveyed by the media than that of the careful and circumspect executive. However, Mr. Norbert Copray who is director of the German Fairness Foundation based in Frankfurt warns that in the long run executives intimidating employees will not be successful.
Says Copray: „Anyone forcing employees to do something against their will and opinion by means of fear, pressure, threat or blackmailing will only obtain 50% of staff´s potential.» Copray presumes that this type of boss has copied this special type of winner´s behaviour often praised by the media in order to cope with the pressure they face by their own superiors. Such type of behaviour is a sign for bosses being unable to cope with their own fears. Furthermore many believe that the tough, uncompromising and rather unfair executive is more successful which is clearly not true.
„What is important is to gain kind of natural authority and therefore power. And as a lot of research and many studies demonstrate this power is gained by acting and deciding in a fair manner», says Copray. Therefore it is more intelligent to use one´s power in order to fill others with enthusiasm about something. Then employees will identify with their superiors and their company and work motivatedly and independently, recommends the director of the Fairness Foundation in an interview with Verlag für die Deutsche Wirtschaft. 