Fear and love in the workplace

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1. Compare and contrast leading with fear or leading with love in the workplace? How can love be used positively in the workplace? (The written response under this heading contains 240 words).

Five hundred years ago, Niccolō Machiavelli stated that if a leader cannot be both loved and feared at the same time, it is better to be feared (Snook, 2008). During the 50s and 60s it was a common leadership role to gain employee performance through rewards and punishment, and defend this action by defining it as challenging their employees. Employees will acknowledge though that threats of punishment and withholding of reward makes them fearful, anxious and less engage, miserable and less loyal (Snook, 2008; Prefontaine, 2012).
Snook (2008) asserts that some environments like factories or nuclear plants need a stern and autocratic leader that can lay down strict rules based on simple and clear productivity metrics. With that in perspective, knowledge workers resist rigidity, fearful service employees pass their mood onto customers, and employees that work in advertising experience become less creative and committed (Snook, 2008).

Love in the workplace is can be defined as a replacing an uncivil environment with a positive environment where management and employees work together (Ramjee, 2013). Rewards in the case are based on the satisfaction empowered employees feel when meeting the challenges of the job. They are acknowledged for the quality of their performance, and trusted for the feedback at office meetings and decisions made at the workplace. Love in the workplace breaks down the bureaucracy between management and employees and unleashes employee skill expertise and ...