PTBosses value in others what they learned to be
Why do some managers promote, and others violate, the dignity of the people who work with them? The thesis listened to 93 workers and 12 managers in accounting, finance and auditing and found a mirror relationship: managers tend to value those who resemble what they learned to be, often in childhood, and may hurt those who are different. Explained in 12 screens.
In many offices, dignity is still hurt every day
The thesis starts from a list of problems that earlier studies found in accounting, finance and auditing. Tap the ones you have seen or lived through at work:
For the research, the one who weighs most here is the manager: it is in dealings with the boss that a worker's dignity is promoted or violated. The question is why a manager acts one way or the other.
Problems and consequences from the thesis introduction, based on earlier studies and on the categories of researcher Nora Jacobson (2009).
On one side those who are managed, on the other those who manage
The author heard both sides of the relationship, in separate groups: the workers who answered the questionnaire have no link to the managers interviewed. Tap a group:
Figures from section 3.4. A questionnaire with 13 questions, 4 of them open questions about situations people lived through; long interviews, recorded and transcribed. Interpretive content analysis: the categories came out of the answers.
For workers, what hurts most is moral harassment
The questionnaire asked for a situation in which dignity was violated at work. The 58 statements formed five large groups, organized according to Brazil's 2023 harassment law and its labour code (CLT). Tap a column:
Counts from section 4.1.1 and Figure 7. Each statement comes from one respondent, identified only by the thesis code (P, T or G and a number). Quotes translated by us.
What makes people feel most dignified is being recognized
Another question asked for a situation in which dignity was promoted. Before you look, take a guess: which of these groups came up most?
Counts from section 4.1.2 and Figure 8. The thesis speaks of 84 statements; added up, the numbers it gives per group come to 86. We show the numbers as they appear in the text.
Managers and workers see dignity from different places
In the interviews, the 12 managers also said what, for them, violates and promotes dignity. Some ideas appear on both sides; others, on only one. Choose the theme and tap an item:
Figures 11 and 12 and sections 4.3 and 4.4. The explanations for the differences are the author's and are offered as possibilities, not as something measured.
Hardly any manager talked about discrimination
Workers reported 12 situations of discrimination, of six different kinds. How many of the 12 managers interviewed do you think raised the subject?
Sections 4.1.1 and 4.3. For the author, this may mean managers are not recognizing discrimination, which calls for awareness and training. The kinds "school attended" and "social status" are added together in the thesis (4 statements).
We learn by watching the people around us
To explain each manager's ways, the author used the social learning theory of psychologist Albert Bandura: we learn by observing and imitating role models such as parents, grandparents and teachers. Go through the steps with examples from the managers:
Model in Figure 20 (section 4.6), adapted from Bandura. The examples come from the six managers heard in depth.
What each manager learned comes back as what they demand
Six interviews went deep into life stories. In each, the author linked from whom and what the manager learned to what they value or devalue in the team and to how they promote or violate dignity. Choose a manager:
Figures 13 to 18 and sections 4.5.1 to 4.5.6. The central figure is the thesis's own: two faces in profile or a vase, depending on how you look (figure and ground); what is valued always has a background, what is devalued. Managers appear only by their thesis code. Quotes translated by us.
The same management promotes some and hurts others
The thesis calls this a mirror relationship: managers value in others what they learned to be. Those who resemble them tend to gain recognition and room to grow; those who are different are more at risk of being watched, ignored or dismissed. That is why, the author says, management is not only promoting or only violating: it is both. Build a manager with up to three values:
Our illustration: the team is made up. The values and reactions come from the thesis's summary model (Figure 19) and the six stories; the thesis does not measure how many employees are promoted or harmed.
What was learned in childhood weighs, but does not decide everything
The managers heard learned mostly from parents and grandparents, people now over 70, raised in the middle of the last century. From them come values such as loyalty, hard work, dedication, obedience and sacrifice. But the thesis shows a way out: reflecting on one's own history. One of the people interviewed, E10, was humiliated by authority figures in the family as a child and says that therapy, study and conversations with their son helped them not to repeat this with the team.
Sections 4.5.5, 4.5.7 and 4.6 (historical context and self-regulation in the Figure 20 model). The floors are our illustration based on the case of E10.
Changing management starts with looking at managers' own histories
For the author, many managers repeat without noticing what they learned at home. She asks for an empathetic view of them, but also for concrete action, because those who pay for violations are the workers.
Train managers
- Courses on what violates and what promotes dignity, focused on accounting, finance and auditing.
- Attention to what managers barely see: discrimination, sexual harassment, rights.
Listen to workers
- Confidential, safe reporting channels, with awareness campaigns.
- Make sure every report leads to action.
Look at one's own history
- Therapeutic interventions for managers to revisit what they learned and what they value.
- The author suggests considering candidates' life learning when selecting managers.
What this research does not say
- How managers actually behave. There was no observation in the workplace; everything comes from what people said. · according to the author
- What childhood was like, measured. Learning was reconstructed from the interviewees' memories; some were no longer managers. · according to the author
- Whether it holds for other groups. All the managers interviewed are white, from Brazil's Southeast, in accounting, finance and auditing. · according to the author
- Whether it is the same manager and team. Workers and managers came from different groups, and there are six life stories; the mirror is a proposed reading, not a test. · our note
Credits
OTSURU, Carolina Moreira. A dignidade na gestão dos trabalhadores: uma visão a partir da teoria da aprendizagem social [Dignity in worker management: a perspective from social learning theory]. Doctoral thesis (Business Administration) · Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, 2024. Advisor: Prof. Dr. Maria Luisa Mendes Teixeira.
Doctorate with a full tuition waiver from Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie. The research was approved by the university's Research Ethics Committee. This version simplifies the work for a general audience.