How key is a good boss ? A new study suggests a decline in qualified managers is detectable in productivity figures. Using "a bit of theory and a bit of data," Dartmouth economics professor James Feyrer looked anew at the drop in productivity growth from the 1970s to the mid-1990s-a time when U.S. output per hour grew roughly 1.5% a year, vs. 3% in the 1960s (and now). One idea about the falloff is that it coincided with a flood of novice employees, as baby boomers went to work. Believing this alone wouldn't explain it, Feyrer searched for a "spillover effect"-and found it in management.
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