We’ve all felt the negative fallout of the increase in temp hiring, outsourcing and a host of stupid management tactics to help prop up profits. Most employees know these things are morale and productivity killers.

But for some reason, executives don’t seem to get this. Or maybe they do and just don’t care.

What if there were a study that showed these out-of-touch managers that such steps could actually hurt their grand schemes of making big bucks?

Yes, I just got such a study.

Research from North Carolina State University released today found that it’s not nice to treat workers like little more than cogs in a wheel.

“We spend a great deal of our time at work, so it is an important part of our lives,” says Dr. Martha Crowley, an assistant professor of sociology at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research. “If our work experience is unpleasant, it affects every aspect of our lives and ultimately it affects our ability to do our jobs.”

For their study, the researchers examined data on working conditions, workplace relationships and worker behavior of professional employees over the past 80 years. The researchers found that, over that period, employers have increasingly implemented measures that they feel will improve worker productivity and profits. These measures include layoffs, outsourcing jobs, replacing salaried employees with contract staff, and putting employees onto short-term teams designed to tackle individual projects.

“We found that, while these measures have succeeded in increasing performance pressure, there have also been unintended consequences,” Crowley says.

Drum rolllllll.

(Forgive me if you already knew this.)

The researchers found, such tactics cause:

* Chaos.

* Distrust of management.

* Stressed out workers.

* Workers that don’t help each other.

* Inefficiency.

* Loss of Quality.

“People are still doing their jobs and many are putting in a lot of hours,” Crowley says, “but they are not doing the things they would do if they were passionate about their work.”

There may be a lesson here for employers. “Some firms have had a lot of success by handling their employees differently,” Crowley says. “Treating your employees well can be a way to boost your profits and productivity simultaneously without generating the unintended consequences of tactics based on fear.”

Unfortunately, temp hiring and outsourcing is not abating in this economy and is expected to explode in the years ahead.

I did a recent column on temporary workers, and folks, most agree it’s the new normal.

“It’s cheaper to hire contingent workers, but also more flexible for employers,” said Bill Kahnweiler, associate professor and human resource expert at Georgia State University’s Department of Public Management and Policy.

However, it turns out, it doesn’t help the long-term well-being of workers or companies.

Remember the phrase “long-term”? Who thinks about that anymore?