Regulación Internacional de los derechos inherentes a la personalidad en la

Participants had to manage conflicting relationships with the boss when a) they had

different working styles, b) they had a boss who did not understand the participants’

role, c) they had more than one boss with different interests, or d) they felt superior to

the boss.

a) Different working styles: Research suggests that differences between supervisor

and subordinate have consequences on issues such as perceptions of psychological

negotiation latitude (McClane, 1991), subordinates’ absence to work (Hope Pelled

and Xin, 1997), amount of communication, and subordinates’ performance ratings

(Turban and Jones, 1988). These differences can be visible differences such as

gender and race or perceived differences such as cognitive styles. In this study,

visual differences in terms of age had an impact on the quality of the supervisor-

subordinate. Differences in cognitive styles also affected the emergence of

conflicting relationships. Cognitive styles refer to “individual differences in how

we perceive, think, solve problems, learn, and relate to others” (Witkin et al.,

1977, p.15) or to “consistent individual differences in preferred ways of organizing

and processing information and experience” (Messick, 1976, p.5, cited in Allison,

Armstrong and Hayes, 2001). A mismatch between the participant’s and the boss’

working styles usually provoked problems in the relationship and encouraged

participants’ to reflect a lot on this. For instance, Participant 13 who had a

conflictual boss, complained that he was very demanding and obsessive, was

controlling him all the time and did not interact socially with him, as he would

expect. He commented:

“It is like his psychology works very differently from mine.”

(Participant 13, Diary)

Participant 6 had a boss with whom she had a strong conflicting relationship, and

she also mentioned the difference in their working styles:

“I feel that my way of working is not his way of working. I mean,

clearly. So that makes it difficult for us to get along, or to generate

Apart from cognitive styles, a related difference which had great impact on the

quality of the relationship was the mismatch between what supervisor and

subordinate believed the supervisor’s role to be. For instance, this was the case of

Participant 6.

“He has some theories about work, kind of: ‘you have to take care of it.

And my work is only to pressure you’. And I think a boss has to...

That’s why; we have different views of the boss-employee relationship.

So, it is hard for me, I don’t agree. […] His way of achieving things is

by being rude, and he thinks it is fine. Maybe for him treating me that

way means nothing. And it bothers me, I don’t like, it is hard…”

(Participant 6, Follow-up interview)

b) The boss not understanding the individual’s role or situation: Participants also had

to manage a conflicting relationship with a supervisor when he or she did not

understand the participant’s work and hence demanded results that were not

feasible. For instance, Participant 11 had this problem with her regional boss.

“They ask me for things... They ask me to support my ideas on market

information and we don’t buy market information because we have no

budget for that. And I’ve told him that three times and he keeps telling

me the same, so I can’t talk to that person, it is ridiculous.” (Participant

11, Follow-up interview)

c) Having more than one boss with different interests: In today’s companies, it is

usual for individuals to have more than one boss as firms’ structures require it.

contradicting interests. For instance, Participant 11 had a local and a regional boss

with different interests.

“At a first sight everything is fine, but then there are conflicting

interests between what people here want and what regional people

want. When you take a job, everyone seems very harmonious, that they

all want the same, but then they don’t want the same. And it is hard

because I have to take a position, and I always try to make everyone

happy but in general this is not possible in this life…” (Participant 11,

First interview)

“In the current context I feel pulled apart and with difficulties to

achieve the contradictory goals that both bosses ask me to achieve.”

(Participant 11, Diary)

d) Feeling superior to the boss: People like to admire and look up to their bosses, so,

when this does not happen it can be quite frustrating. Participant 4 felt this way as

he thought he was superior to his boss and devoted much reflection to this issue

and to trying to manage the relationship.

“The person, to whom I would supposedly report to, has five or six

years less than me of AGE. She has five or six years less of experience;

she started working in 2003 I think. She is much younger. But that

much younger, she is 28/29 years old; she has her degree, and… six

years of experience. And at the end in the structure she is my boss. And

I say: stop, I have more academic credentials, more professional

credentials and more years of experience, and at the end I have to ask

way…?’.” (Participant 4, First interview)

Newcomers also complained about their supervisors when they did not provide

guidelines for work because they were either overwhelmed or not much

knowledgeable of the role - although not to the point of having conflicting

relationships. For example, Participant 17 had a boss who was overwhelmed.

Being new to the role and to the organisation, and not being part of a work team

with colleagues doing similar tasks, he would have needed more support from his

supervisor but he did not get it.

“She is overwhelmed with work; it is not that she... She is

overwhelmed with work and well, she expects from me that I do things

right, and not to seat with me to look at issues. From others yes, but

from me she does not expect: ‘please, how do I do this thing? How do I

do this other thing?’ She told me ‘I prefer you to make mistakes’. […]

It would be good to have a little bit more guidance, but no, today I

don’t have it.” (Participant 17, First interview)