I am not personally aware of any established relationship between honesty and efficiency. However there could be some studies linking honesty and efficiency. I feel, honesty and efficiency are two different independent parameters. While honesty is a state of mind, efficiency is a product of knowledge and skill. In any organization,there could be four types of people: 1) honest & efficient 2) honest & inefficient 3) dishonest & efficient 4) dishonest & inefficient. Hence it is really difficult to say that only honest managers perform better or are efficient. Standard of honesty, like moral standard, depends on value system of the people, which is likely to vary from person to person.

In my 15 years as an institutional investment consultant, I have never seen a study but I can say with very good authority that managers that are honest, ethical and forthright...they usually do out perform! Call it the test of time! JPK

It might be important to split performance related to internal interactions and external relations. Within an organization, dishonesty in managers should raise transaction cost, as staff spends more time 'covering their butts' , and documenting any interaction to be able to defend themselves against their superiors. The cost of creating a low-trust work environment, ranging from lower productivity to higher staff turnover, are well documented. Externally, it might depend on whether the company works in an environment with stable long-term relationships or in a highly volatile market. In the latter, trust and reliability might not be too damaging.

Elllen makes several excellent points!

check the link

it ll help

http://books.emeraldinsight.com/display.asp?K=9781781906019&sf1=contributor&st1=Tiia%20w/2%20Vissak&sort=sort_date/d&m=1&dc=2&cur=GBP

Thanks!!!

In order to answer to the question -A study of 20,000 workers showed that more honest people tend to perform better." Does anyone know of studies that document whether honest managers perform better than dishonest ones?

One has to clarify 1)what means "perform better" even when considering internal interactions and external relations 2) ask how do u to consider honesty ? as a personal trait like characteristic or as a construct through socialization (organizational values, code of ethics, etc.) or as combination of these; thus, the way you consider the motivational source of the honest behaviour will be different, and so the result on performance. Honesty and performance cannot have direct causality, there can be correlations, no necessary always positive (honest people will perform low in a "bad" company (bad in the eyes of the honest employee) and will tend to leave it). I support the idea of an indirect impact of honesty on performance, honesty can mediate and/or moderate performance, (again all dependent the way one operationalizes both variables of honesty and performance and the use of control variables). But there is an explanation of the result described in the Economist. Honest people general involve in their work more than asked by the work contract, they behave pro socially at their work place ; this behaviour can be a the source of higher efficiency if : there is alignment in terms of values, mission and goals between the employer and the employee and if management is respecting the self-determination condition of intrinsic motivation). That's way it is important to know, as explained above, if honesty is intrinsically motivated or externally motivated, and if externally what degree of autonomy characterises the actual honest behaviour. For managers, the situation is complex, its dependents first of all on the honesty of the manager ( if it is intrinsic or extrinsic) and secondly , on the incentive schemes he receives . The result is at the intersection of these variables and it might be multidimensional and context dependent.

do you mean "ethical" managers ?  If anybody would like to test ethicality and project performance - happy to help them conduct the study in the indian context.

This research could be of interest 

Corruption in public projects and megaprojects: There is an elephant in the room! Original Research Article

International Journal of Project Management, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 24 October 2016 Giorgio Locatelli, Giacomo Mariani, Tristano Sainati, Marco Greco http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786316301090 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2016.09.010

Enterprises are expected to hold corporate social responsibility for the parties beyond the management and capital owners. However, enterprises sometimes ignore this responsibility on reason that such responsibility does not contribute anything to the company. This is particularly true because the relationship between the enterprises and environments is non reciprocal , meaning that the transaction between the two does not result in mutual contribution.

How to design Accounting Information System for CSR disclosure and activities?. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_design_Accounting_Information_System_for_CSR_disclosure_and_activities [accessed May 13, 2017].