If the tone becomes harsher, this has a negative impact on employee motivation and performance - at least in the medium and long term. You learn this in every good management seminar. And yet employees often do not experience appreciative interaction characterized by mutual respect in their day-to-day work. Worse still, even the simplest rules of etiquette are often forgotten, reports management consultant Dr. Albrecht Müllerschön.

For example, a long-serving employee retires without a supervisor stopping by to shake his hand and say a word of thanks. A highly qualified and committed specialist who expresses objective reservations about their manager's plans in a meeting is then snapped at by the manager in front of the entire team: 'Don't you want to or can't you? In either case, you're out of place here. A controller receives an email from her boss, who is sitting two rooms away, ten minutes before the end of the working day telling her that she has to prepare a presentation by the next morning, even though he knows that she has to pick up her child from daycare on time.

To put it bluntly, everyone is preoccupied with their own survival

As a trainer, the consultant reports that he often hears from participants in seminars: 'The climate in our company has deteriorated. The tone is getting rougher and rougher. This starts with middle managers. Müllerschön: "Their 'sandwich position' as mediators between the 'bosses' at the top and the 'workers' at the bottom is not to be envied. This is because they are usually directly affected by the hectic pace of operations that prevails on the executive floors of many companies. And because they themselves are under enormous pressure, they often pass this on to their subordinates unfiltered."

In most (large) companies, there has long been no sense of togetherness like the Siemens or Bosch family used to be. "And in which companies do employees still proudly call themselves 'Opel employees', for example? Only in very few companies is this still the case! In many more companies today - although cross-divisional and cross-functional team and project work is propagated - lone wolf mentality reigns. To put it bluntly, everyone is concerned with their own survival."

Müllerschön finds this surprising, in part. After all, the German economy is booming and the figures of almost all companies are correct. Therefore, those at the top could actually approach the challenges that their companies are undoubtedly facing in the digital age in a relaxed and systematic manner. But no, "they don't do that. Instead, the pressure on the 'cauldron', driven in part by the increasingly insatiable financial markets, is being further increased, with the result that the working atmosphere is becoming ever harsher," explains Müllerschön.

At the same time, however, it is emphasized that the company wants intrinsically motivated employees who are committed to achieving the company's goals on their own initiative and responsibility. Müllerschön: "But where are they supposed to come from if the employees only feel like human capital that is built up and reduced as required? When employees sense this contradiction, they rightly distance themselves emotionally from the company and their maxim for action is the same as for investors: How do I make the most profit from the relationship?"

Employees must feel valued

Müllerschön: "If companies' official announcements repeatedly talk about a spirit of partnership and mutual respect, then employees need to feel this in their day-to-day work. Then it is simply a no-go for a long-serving employee to be released into retirement without a word of thanks. Because then all remaining employees will think: "I'm going to suffer the same fate one day."

It is also a no-go for a manager to reprimand a specialist who articulates well-founded objections in front of the entire team. Because then everyone present thinks: "I'd better keep my mouth shut in future." And then it is also a no-go for a manager not to tell an employee personally if they expect them to work more. Otherwise, all employees who hear about it will think: "Nobody here is interested in my or our personal interests, goals and obligations. So why should I commit myself to the company - more than it benefits me?"

Employees react accordingly when their manager suddenly appeals to the 'we' because they want something. Müllerschön is familiar with this: "We should..., we want..., we must... . Then everyone says "yes" with their lips and feigns the desired commitment, but in reality they think: "And what's in it for me? Fuck them."

Pay attention to the seemingly small details

"As a manager, remember this in your management work: how much respect and appreciation you show your employees can be seen in many (seemingly) small things," says Müllerschön.

For example

• how much time you take for your employees and how attentively you listen to them,
• how willing they are to compromise in the event of conflicting interests,
• how you react as a boss to omissions and mistakes,
• and, and, and....

Those who do not make this effort run the risk of being surrounded by opportunists at some point, "who feign commitment to the departmental and company goals, but do not show it".

Dr. Albrecht Müllerschön is the owner of Müllerschön Managementberatung, Starzeln (Germany). The business psychologist is the author of several HR books and was a teaching coach at the University of Tübingen.