The Snitch

A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology determined that not all bosses are actually competent enough at what they do to deserve that position in the first place.

Social psychologists say that one way to come across as a leader is actually to simply act like one. This means speak up, speak well and offer a lot of ideas. In time, you’ll realise that people will start doing what you say. Nevertheless, this can only work well when leaders know what they’re doing. But what if you act like a boss and give out crap instructions?

Researchers at the University of California carried out a test and found that people who spoke up the most were rated by their teammates for qualities such as “general intelligence”, “dependable” and “self-disciplined”. On the other hand, people who kept silent were rated higher for less desirable qualities which included “conventional” and “uncreative”.

Worryingly, the test also found that any kind of speaking up would be enough to put people into the position of a leader. Providing any kind of information related to solving the problem is also counted, especially if they did so confidently and repeatedly.

“Dominant individuals behaved in ways that made them appear competent,” the researchers added, “above and beyond their actual competence.” More often than not, the members were willing to listen to and take directions issued by these underqualified bosses. Teams tend to use the first answer issued by anyone, without giving or only briefly considering to the other answers that were shouted out. This happened an overwhelming 94% of the time.

So maybe people are only looking for leaders based on how quickly they are able to provide answers, regardless of the quality of solutions offered.

What do you think?

via TIME