Abstract
In the latest 30 years, managerial research has largely investigated the figure of managers, recognising them a key role inside organisations. Moreover, several recent international studies on engagement have demonstrated that one of the most significant reasons of employees' disengagement and discontent is bad management. Actually, in lights of the dramatical changes of the business world in the latest ten years, managers are expected to menage their employees differently from what it was used in the past. Starting from a new definition of management that is allowing employees to do their best at work, my PhD thesis is aimed at measuring the NMPS of Italian managers and identifying which managerial behaviours are the most appreciated and recognised by Italian employees as important and, therefore, which lead them to recommend their manager to others as someone they should work for in the future. Based on a sample of 632 employees, it is possible to state that the most important managerial behaviours for Italian employees are: obtaining freedom about how employees can achieve their results; availability to listen to employees; attention towards their needs and opinions; openness to confront with employees; daring to take tough decisions; clarity of the objectives. The innovation extent of my research is huge, since, up to my knowledge, it is the first measurement of NMPS in Italy. Up to now, all the worldwide studies on NMPS applied the indicator to one single company, while my research provide an interesting photograph of the Italian working environment as a whole. Another element of differentiation is the fact that my research investigates how managerial behaviours and the quality of the manager-employee relationship impact on NMPS. This approach allows to obtain a list of concrete and useful guidelines for managers, which are applicable immediately in the everyday organisational life, in response to employees needs and requests.