True in most situations, particularly in middle class jobs that are clear cut. Most of those employees are responsible and just want to make a living and work in decent conditions. However, there are very different situations that do require alternate management styles.

It usually involves either the lower pay scale and least skilled employees who begrudge the boss, the system and work in general and do all they can to do as little as possible at all times or the other extreme of the high energy “producers’, sales and dealmaker types who will walk all over you if they can. Either bunch can eat you alive if you let them.

In line with your comments, I have found sometimes that it is important for employees to not only know WHAT their job is but also WHY their job is. If you tell a guy his job is to stand in one spot and turn a crank all day he may not be too motivated. But, if you explain that turning the crank is important because it pumps the oil that runs the machines that make the product that the company sells to be able to pay the employees it sometimes helps a little.