Human Elements of Management

Human Elements of Management

Ameer A. BaniPhD. Management

DLSAU

An Introduction to Human Relationship in Organization

A study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations.It interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system. its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives.

Human behavior in organizations is as complex as the social system itself. People differ from each other in their needs and values, which can be understood better with the help of behavioral science.

Behavioral science considers the influence of various elements (social, economic and technical systems) of the complex external environment on people's behavior. It improves people's understanding of interpersonal skills and also their ability to work together as a team to achieve organizational goals effectively.

Elements of Organizational Behavior

• It lies on management's philosophy, values, vision and goals.• Organizational culture which is composed of the formal

organization, informal organization, and the social environment.• The culture determines the type of leadership, communication, and

group dynamics within the organization.• The workers perceive this as the quality of work life which directs

their degree of motivation.• The final outcome are performance, individual satisfaction, and

personal growth and development.

Cycle of Continuous Improvement

People•Skill Development•Motivation•Teamwork•Personal Development & learning•Readiness to change & adapt•Increased personal responsibility•Greater self-management•Decreased stress

Productivity• Reduce waste• Reduced rework• More efficient use of material, human, financial & informational resources

Products• Greater customer satisfaction• Better quality goods and services

Processes• Technological advancement• Faster product development & production cycle times• System flexibility• Leaner & more effective administration• Improved communication & information flow• Organizational learning• Participative & ethical decision making

Organization Development• Systematic application of behavioral science knowledge at various levels, such as

group, inter-group, organization, etc., to bring about planned change.• Its objectives is a higher quality of work-life, productivity, adaptability, and

effectiveness.• There are seven characteristics of OD:

Humanistic Values: Positive beliefs about the potential of employees. Systems Orientation: All parts of the organization, to include structure,

technology, and people, must work together. Experiential Learning: The learners' experiences in the training environment

should be the kind of human problems they encounter at work. The training should NOT be all theory and lecture.

Problem Solving: Problems are identified, data is gathered, corrective action is taken, progress is assessed, and adjustments in the problem solving process are made as needed. This process is known as Action Research.

Contingency Orientation: Actions are selected and adapted to fit the need. Change Agent: Stimulate, facilitate, and coordinate change. Levels of Interventions: Problems can occur at one or more level in the

organization so the strategy will require one or more interventions.

Social Systems, Culture and Individualization

• Social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting within an organization, the social system includes all the people in it and their relationships to each other and to the outside world.

• Social system does not have boundaries...it exchanges goods, ideas, culture, etc. with the environment around it.

• Culture is the conventional behavior of a society that encompasses beliefs, customs, knowledge, and practices.

• People depend on culture as it gives them understanding and the ability to respond to a given situation.

• Individualism favors individual rights, social networks, self respect, and personal rewards and careers.

Processes occurring within individuals (attitudes, perception, motivation)

Group Processes(communication, influence, formal and informal norms)

Organization Processes(organizational culture, values, structure, politics)

Organizational Behavior

Models of Organizational BehaviorFour Major models:• Autocratic – the basis of this model is power with a managerial orientation of

authority. The employees in turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence on the boss. The employee need that is met is subsistence. The performance result is minimal.

• Custodial – the basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of money. The employees are oriented towards security and benefits and dependence on organization. The employee need that is met is security. The performance result is passive cooperation.

• Supportive – the basis of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support. The employees in turn are oriented towards job performance and participation. The employee need that is met is status and recognition. The performance result is awakened drives.

• Collegial – the basis of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of teamwork. The employees in turn are oriented towards responsible behavior and self-discipline. The employee need that is met is self-actualization. The performance result is moderate enthusiasm.

Different Approaches to OB

• Taylorism and Scientific Management Approach by Federic Winslow Taylor, (1856-1915):Taylor attempted to make a science for each element of work and restrict behavioral alternatives facing worker. Taylor looked at interaction of human characteristics, social environment, task, and physical environment, capacity, speed, durability and cost. The overall goal was to remove human variability. This involved breaking down each task to its smallest unit and to figure out the one best way to do each job. After analyzing the job should teach it to the worker and make sure the worker does only those motions essential to the task.

• The Human Relations Approach by Elton MayoElton Mayo along with Roethlisberger and Dickinson conducted a study called as Hawthorne Study in the Western Electric Cicero in 1920s, which showed how work groups provide mutual support and effective resistance to management schemes to increase output. The result of the research led researchers to feel that they were dealing with socio-psychological factors that were not explained by classic theory which stressed the formal organization and formal leadership.

• Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

Douglas McGregor proposed two theories which are very nearly the opposite of each other, about human nature.His first theory was “Theory X”, which is pessimistic and negative; and according to McGregor it is how managers traditionally perceive their workers. Then, in order to help managers replace that theory, he gave “theory Y”, which takes more modern and positive approach. He believed that managers could achieve more if managers start perceiving their employees as self-energized, committed, responsible and creative beings.

1.1 Purposed of learning concepts of human behavior

• Learning from practice Relative to learning more about how to effectively manage people at

work. The effectiveness of specific theoretical management techniques is

contingent on the situations in which they are applied.

• Learning from Research Meta-analyses Field Studies Laboratory Studies Sample surveys Case studies

Basic Concepts of Human Behavior

• Choosing one’s behavior.• Most people who cling to inappropriate behavior do so because it is familiar to

them or it makes them feel safe or they have never questioned it.• We have to be aware of our feelings, beliefs, expectations and assumptions if we

are to cope with them.• What you say to yourself has a powerful influence on your behavioral choices.• Everyone is afraid of something.• Since we can create our own fears, we can eliminate them.• in general, unrealistic fears become obstacles that keep us from becoming what we

want to become.• One has to risk failure in order to experience success.• Failure is never permanent; unless you let it be.• Another person cannot make you feel inadequate or of low value unless you give

them permission.• We can learn to change our behavior.• Team effort depends upon individual effort.

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT(Cultural Context)

Understanding & Managing Individual Behavior

Understanding & Managing Group & Social Processes

Understanding & Managing Organizational Processes & Problems

Managers Responsible for

Achieving Organizational

Results with and through Others

Organizational Effectiveness through

Continuous Improvement

1.2 Organizations and people at work

• An organization’s culture is made up of all of the life experiences each employee brings to the organization.

• Culture is especially influenced by the organization’s founder, executives, and other managerial staff because of their role in decision making and strategic direction.

• Culture is represented in a group’s: language, decision making, stories and legends, symbols, daily work practices.

Comparison of traditional assumptions vs. human relationsTraditional Assumptions People try to satisfy one class of need at work: economic needs. No conflict exists between individual and organizational objectives. People act rationally to maximize rewards. We act individually to satisfy individual needs.

Human Relations• Organizations are social systems, not just technical economic systems.• We are motivated by many needs• We are not always logical.• We are interdependent; our behavior is often shaped by the social context.• Informal work group is a major factor in determining attitudes and performance of individual workers.• Management is only one factor affecting behavior; the informal group often has a stronger impact.• Job roles are more complex than job descriptions would suggest ; people act in many ways not covered by job

descriptions.• There is no automatic correlation between individual and organizational needs.• Communication channels cover both logical/economic aspects of organization and feelings of people.• Teamwork is essential for cooperation and sound technical decisions,.• Leadership should be modified to include concepts of human relations.• Job satisfaction will lead to higher job productivity.• Management requires effective social skills, not just technical skills.

1.2.1 The effects of organizations on people

• A trust relationship with an individual is a perfectly normal and healthy thing, and is often a necessary part of life. Where an individual demonstrates a propensity for acting in a particular manner, and a personal relationship with that individual suggests that the reason for that propensity is a matter of integrity, what we perceive is the individual’s trustworthiness.

• Organizations — including nonprofits, profit-seeking corporations, and governments, among other examples — are not subject to the same rules of integrity, because their perceived integrity is entirely dependent upon the integrity and value systems of the people who make up the organization, both as decision makers and as agents of the decision makers.

• To a certain extent, the behavior of an organization can be somewhat predictable, and beneficial decisions about how to deal with such organizations in the short term can be supported by an effective analysis of the factors that influence their behavior.

• The simplest keys to understanding such behavior is to consider what the organization’s “customers” think and say they want, whether those “customers” involve advocates and patrons, voters, the press, or literal paying customers and potential customers. Principles of economics show us that such organizations are strongly influenced by what customers want and need, as expressed by their buying behavior.

• What people say they want or need is necessarily identical to what they demonstrate they want or need.

• The most successful organizations will be those that serve what their customers demonstrated they want or need, rather than simplistically serving what their customers say they want or need.

• They know how their organizations work and how to work their organizations. They understand that they have the ability to help people achieve what they want to achieve - and they use those skills to build support for required actions.

• They are politically astute without being corporate politicians. They understand how to help people see how to achieve their own goals by going along with the required change even though their motivation for doing so may not be the purest. In this way, they are political back-room operatives, welding together a critical mass of supporters and holding them together through the change process.

• They are consummate negotiators but getting it done is non-negotiable. • They think out of the box while acting inside the box. Creative people who are

constantly looking for different ways to get things done. Barriers are challenges, obstacles represent opportunities for innovation, the words “can’t do” register as “how can we do.” But their creativity is exercised in ways which bring people onside rather than alienate them. They use the culture to change the culture, they know how to use channels effectively and when there are no channels they create new, legitimate ones rather than acting as revolutionaries and mavericks. They make people comfortable feel good about having achieved program results. How they have done it is likely to leave a legacy in the organization of a new way of doing things rather than a trail of organizational and personal debris.

• They are analytical and intuitive, aggressive and patient, confident and humble, deliberate and decisive. They are aggressive in the pursuit of goals, yet patient in recognizing that many people will have to change what they do in order to achieve them; they are confident that they can achieve their goals yet have the humility to acknowledge the perspectives to others, to listen to their ideas, and to give them the credit for having achieved results; they are deliberate in their approach to complex problems but don’t fall victim to the analysis-paralysis that often goes along with major, multi-faceted decisions.

1.2.2 Characteristics of Managerial work

• A knowledge-based technical specialty• Cross-functional and international experience• Competence in collaborative experience• Self-management skills• Personal traits of flexibility, integrity and trustworthiness

Being a good manager is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. The first time you try to fit the pieces together, it takes a while to get everything to fit smoothly. The second time you attempt to make the pieces fit, you are a little more familiar with the pattern. Each time after that, it becomes more and more natural to easily match everything together and have it all turn out right.

The pieces of the puzzle a manager has to put together are:1. advertising2. recruiting3. holding productive meetings4. motivating a person who is in an emotional or financial slump5. handling types of personalities they don’t relate to6. recruiting people that are happy on other jobs, but are ready for change.

LeaderNow if we look at the characteristics of a leader. When you hear the term, leader, a number of images may pop into your head. One phrase that may come to mind is "he or she is a born leader". This phrase does depict a great deal about the difference in managers and leaders as there are a great many distinctions. To demonstrate characteristics of a leader you must be more strategically focused and rather than directing employees through tasks, they inspire and motivate employees to drive themselves. Leaders are adapt in the art of Emotional Intelligence and apply it in a way that attains the best work out of their people.

Individual Characteristics Perception and Personality:

2.1 Perception: process, characteristics, errorsPerception is the process by which individuals organize and interpret their seniority impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

Basically the theory suggests that when we observe an individual’s behavior we attempt to determine whether it was internally or three caused. That determination depends largely on three factors:• Distinctiveness• Consensus• Consistency

Frequently used shortcuts in judging others

• Selective Perception: People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background experience and attribute. • Halo Effect: Halo effect refers to drawing a general impression about an individual on the basis of single characteristics such as intelligence, sociability or appearance.• Contrast Effect: Contrast effect refers to evaluation of a person’s characteristics that are affected by comparison with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics.• Projections: Projections refers to attributing one’s own characteristics to other people. People who engage in projection tend to perceive others according to what they themselves are like rather than according to what the person being observed is really like.• Stereotyping: Stereotyping refers to judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs.

2.2 Personality: theories, dimensionsPersonality is defined as the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts an interacts with others.

• Hereditary: Hereditary refers to those factors that were determined by conception. Physical stature, facial alteration, gender temperament, energy level and biological rhythms are characteristics that are either completely or substantially influenced by parents. Evidence demonstrates that traits such as shyness, fear and distress are most likely caused by inherited genetic characteristics.

• Environment: Among the factors that exact pressures on our personality formation are the cultures in which we are area raised; our earlier conditioning the norms among our family, friends and social groups and other influences that we experience. These environmental factors play a substantial role in shaping our personalities. It can be concluded that both heredity and environment are the primary determinations of personality.

• Situations: The third factor, the situation influences the effects of heredity and environment on personality. An individual’s personality, although generally stable and consistent does change in different situations. The different demands of different situations call forth different aspects of one’s personality. So we shouldn’t look at personality patterns in isolation.

Determinations of personality that are more input than in others in shaping the personality of a manager include:• Locus of control:- The degree to which people believe they masters of their own fate. Individuals who believe that they control what happens to them make more successful manager than those who believe that what happens to them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance.• Introvert and Extrovert:- Extrovert i.e. individuals who are gregarious and social are more successful as managers than Introverts i.e. individuals who are shy, quite and retiring.

Gordon Allport’s Trait Theory

• Cardinal Traits: Traits that dominate an individual’s whole life, often to the point that the person becomes known specifically for these traits. People with such personalities often become so known for these traits that their names are often synonymous with these qualities. Allport suggested that cardinal traits are rare and tend to develop later in life.

• Central Traits: These are the general characteristics that form the basic foundations of personality. These central traits, while not as dominating as cardinal traits, are the major characteristics you might use to describe another person. Terms such as intelligent, honest, shy and anxious are considered central traits.

• Secondary Traits: These are the traits that are sometimes related to attitudes or preferences and often appear only in certain situations or under specific circumstances. Some examples would be getting anxious when speaking to a group or impatient while waiting in line.

Personality researchers have proposed that there are five basic dimensions of personality, they are described as follows:

• Extraversion: This trait includes characteristics such as excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness.

• Agreeableness: This personality dimension includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other pro-social behaviors.

• Conscientiousness: Common features of this dimension include high levels of thoughtfulness, with good impulse control and goal-directed behaviors. Those high in conscientiousness tend to be organized and mindful of details.

• Neuroticism: Individuals high in this trait tend to experience emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness.

• Openness: This trait features characteristics such as imagination and insight, and those high in this trait also tend to have a broad range of interests.