The headline in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reads: "Study: Bosses bring employees down," but the study referred to says lots of other things as well. Here are some findings.

"The study found that workers experienced less happiness, enthusiasm and optimism when talking to their bosses than when interacting with others." That matches the headline, but …

"a manager's leadership behaviors affect employees' emotions throughout the workday, even when the employees are interacting with others" and

"Managers who were enthusiastic, expressed a strong vision for the company, clearly explained the importance of the work and sought input from employees positively affected their employees' emotions."

The study was conducted by Joyce Bono and some graduate students.  Dr. Bono is director of the Leadership Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. 

We didn't need a study to tell us that bosses have an impact on the mood, attitude, morale and productivity of the people who work for them.  Anyone who's every worked or who knows somebody who's worked knows that.

What's important in this study is that the boss's impact lasts beyond the immediate contact and the boss's influence can be either positive or negative.