Human Relations PART III – Relationships with Others “Relationships are only as good as your commitment to what you want them to be.”

Contents Vertical and Horizontal Working Relationships Productivity Your most important Working Relationship Understanding the Nature of Relationships Restoring Injured Relationships 6 Common Human-Relations Mistakes

Vertical and Horizontal Working Relationships Understanding yourself and the power of your positive attitude makes it much easier to meet new people and establish meaningful relationships with them. Whether you like it or not, a relationship will exist between you and every employee or supervisor with whom you have regular contact. Working Relationships can be either: Strong or Weak Warm or Cold Healthy or Unhealthy Friendly or Distant

Vertical and Horizontal Working Relationships Each relationship has its own Characteristics: Mostly because, each individual has a Unique Personality. Each person may interpret you differently based on his or her own unique background, prejudices, dislikes, etc. (i.e.: they don’t each see the same person in you) Since everybody sees you differently, you will have to build good relationships with different people differently.

Vertical and Horizontal Working Relationships Vertical Working Relationships A VWR is the relationship between you and your immediate supervisor. Your supervisor may have several employees under her or his supervision and each employee has a different relationship with the same supervisor. But since they are human beings and not perfect the person working next to you may have a stronger or weaker relationship with the supervisor.

Vertical and Horizontal Working Relationships Lifeblood of Good Relationships Good Relationships are Built and Maintained by free and frequent verbal communication. People need to talk with each other, exchange ideas and views, voice complaints, and offer suggestions. The moment one party refuses to talk things over, the relationship line becomes thin and weak e.g.: as within a marriage

Vertical and Horizontal Working Relationships Horizontal Working Relationships Are those that exist between you and your co- workers in the same department or the people you work with on a daily basis. In this case you, not the supervisor, has the primary responsibility for creating and keeping healthy Horizontal Relationships. Having poor Horizontal Relationships can cause tension and stress in the work environment.

Vertical and Horizontal Working Relationships Horizontal Working Relationships (cont’d) There are 2 mistakes you should refrain from making: 1.Avoid concentrating on building a good relationship with your supervisor and neglecting good relationships with your fellow workers. 2.Avoid concentrating on building one or two very strong horizontal relationships and neglecting those with the remaining fellow workers in your department. Good Relationship TIP: Always be nice to everybody in your organisation because you never know when you may need their assistance or help.

Productivity Productivity, or Quality Performance, is so important and essential to all organisations. Being productive requires more than just Technical Skills. Measuring Productivity: Productivity on an Assembly Line can easily be measured. But Productivity in terms of Customer Service and Office Work is more difficult to measure. Understanding what is meant by Productivity (from a Management point of view) is important to your future success.

Productivity There are 2 kinds of productivity: 1. Individual Productivity is the contribution one employee makes to getting the departmental job done is the amount of work one does in comparison with that of others in the department. 2. Group Productivity is the sum total of all individual contributors. Productivity Potentials : There is always a Gap between what one employee could do and what one actually does. The supervisor will always attempt to get the Potential Level of Productivity to its highest. e.g.: Conduct Performance Appraisals, Retrain Employees, etc.

Productivity High Productivity and Good Relationships Go hand-in-hand Happy employees are usually High Producers The goal of good Human Relations is not just having happy employees, but having happy employees who produce more. Productivity, ultimately, involves the Quality of Service provided to Customers. A primary responsibility, often neglected by otherwise excellent employees, is developing an effective Service Attitude. ALL employees should take time to identify who their customers are and then serve them in every way possible with a positive attitude. ALL employees should Take Pride in their Work

Productivity Your Job Success will depend, to a large degree, on finding a proper balance of Personal Productivity and Human Relations that work for you. A Winning Equation: To summarise the importance of proper balance between Personal Productivity and Human Relations, consider Einstein’s Theory for mass energy equivalence, E = mc 2 : Every day of your life, put into practice the winning equation, E = mc 2 : E = Energy and Enthusiasm to work hard, m = motivation to build strong relationships, and c = commitment to continuously strive for self- improvement.

Your most Important Relationship The most important working relationship is the one you have with your immediate supervisor. This single relationship can speed up your personal progress or slow it down to a discouraging crawl. It can make going to work a joy or drag. Good or Bad you may need to learn to cope with your boss. What kind of person will you get as a supervisor? It is impossible to predict. He or She may be: Easy to get along with or Very Difficult; Be sensitive to your needs or not.

Your most Important Relationship There are 3 things certain about your Supervisor: 1. He/She has a Strong Personality that gave him/her the confidence to become a supervisor in the first place; 2. The Responsibilities of being a supervisor probably weight heavily on his/her shoulders; 3. He/She has Work Authority over you. The Supervisor’s Role What is a Supervisor? Teacher Counsellor Leader

Your most Important Relationship Working Climate Each individual supervisor creates his/her own special climate, or atmosphere, under which you must operate. Three possible climates you may come across are: 1. The Structured Climate: Here supervisors are more strict and operate a tight dept. by keeping close, and sometimes restrictive, controls. They expect employees to be precisely on time, orderly, and highly efficient. They permit foolishness only when a special occasion calls for it. 99% of the time they stick strictly to business.

Your most Important Relationship Working Climate (con’td) 2. The Permissive Climate: The direct opposite of the Structured Climate is the Permissive atmosphere. In this climate, some supervisors have a free-and-easy leadership style. There are usually few controls and restrictions. This climate can be the most “dangerous” or “risky” of all, especially for the inexperienced employee because his or her need for self-discipline is so great. 3. The Democratic Climate: A Democratic climate is the most difficult of all climates to establish. The supervisor becomes one of the group while retaining his or her supervisory status. The employees are permitted to have a lot of say about the operation of the environment. Everyone is involved and works as part of a group.

Your most Important Relationship Working Climate (con’td) There are other types of Working Climates you may come across depending on the nature of the business, type of organisational design, and supervisor you may come across. The idea, as an employee, is to be able to adapt to the given Working Climate and contribute to the greater good of the dept. or organisation.

Your most Important Relationship Supervisory Style Douglas McGregor (1960), a professor of Industrial Management, said a supervisor’s management philosophy reflects one of two sets of assumptions about workers. He called it the two sets Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X (representing a more Structured Climate): Supports management by control. It assumes that most employees are not self-motivated. Therefore, most employees should be directed and controlled in order to achieve high productivity.

Your most Important Relationship 1. Supervisory Style Theory Y (representing a more Democratic/Permissive Climate): Encourages Participative Management. In other words, it states that workers will achieve greater productivity if they can set their own goals and direct their own efforts through involvement. The theory assumes that under the proper working climate, workers will motivate themselves.

Understanding the Nature of Relationships Several characteristics have considerable influence on the quality or tone of the relationship. There are 6 major characteristics that represent Human Relations Competencies you may wish to possess. Remember that 2-way communication is the Lifeblood of a relationship. Several characteristics have considerable influence on the quality or tone of the relationship. There are 6 major characteristics that represent Human Relations Competencies you may wish to possess. Remember that 2-way communication is the Lifeblood of a relationship. Good input, reception, and feedback are necessary at both ends.

Understanding the Nature of Relationships Now let’s add our 6 Factors to the mix: Of course not all of the elements listed above represents any single relationship. Each relationship has a mixture of them and/or other factors.

Understanding the Nature of Relationships 1. Mutual Reward Theory Hopefully you will create working relationships that will turn out to be Mutually Rewarding. This theory states that a relationship between two people is enhanced when there is a satisfactory balance of rewards (or exchanges). i.e.: a win-win situation for each party involved 2. Value Conflicts Everyone has his/her own value system.

Understanding the Nature of Relationships 3. Ethnic Implications Globalisation and an increase in the Diversity of the Workforce have greatly contributed to the composition that makes up many departments and organisations. A basic Human Relations Competency is to respect and treat every person as a unique, special individual. We should embrace the differences amongst each other as they will likely contribute to a more successful and productive set of employees.

Understanding the Nature of Relationships 4. Sexual Overtones and Harassment Working relationships between employees can frequently contain sexual overtones. This can involve particular behaviours and comments or even dating between employees. What are the Human Relations dangers involved in dating someone where you work? Possible jealousy or [un]preferential treatment Possible future break-up Possible Conflicts of Interests Employee-Supervisor dating can be even more dangerous

Understanding the Nature of Relationships 4. Sexual Overtones and Harassment (cont’d) Harassment is not limited to sexual harassment only. It can involve: 1. Verbal 2. Visual 3. Physical Any form of harassment may cause an employee to be uncomfortable and have a negative impact on productivity. Nowadays, most organisations have implemented strict Anit-Harassment policies to protect all employees as well as the other stakeholders of a firm (e.g.: suppliers, the community, etc.)

Understanding the Nature of Relationships 5. Age Differences Differences in ages of co-workers can represent one of the greatest Human Relations challenges. Young, ambitious, and capable employees are often frustrated that their lack of seniority can hinder their chances for promotions or advancements. At the same time older workers can feel intimidated by newer/younger workers because, in comparison, they may be behind in terms of their skill sets (e.g.: Technology/Internet skills). However, older workers will frequently have more experience over younger workers.

Understanding the Nature of Relationships 5. Age Differences (cont’d) In short, each should help each other out and share in their strengths in order to increase productivity & efficiency in the department. It is also very important to note that there are significant differences between how differences in age are perceived and valued in different cultures. WEST ex.: North-America more “degree”-based Younger Supervisors / Older Employees EAST ex.: Japan more “Seniority/Hierarchical”- based Older Supervisors / Younger Employees VS.

Understanding the Nature of Relationships 5. Age Differences (cont’d) Good Tips: Everyone, regardless of age, likes to be noticed and appreciated. Older employees, especially, like to receive compliments. They need to fee appreciated and respected. They like to feel like they still have a lot to offer and are part of today’s world, not yesterday’s. Perhaps the most important aspect of building a good relationship with mature employees is learning how to gain their respect. And remember, more than anything else, learn from mature workers. Their additional years of experience prove invaluable.

Understanding the Nature of Relationships 6. Irritation Threshold Relationships are frequently endangered because one of the individual has an irritating habit or mannerism that bothers the others. Can you think of examples? Also, some people more easily get irritated about things or situations more easily than others.

Restoring Injured Relationships Make Repairs Quickly Basic Repair Principles: Try to see the cause of the falling out See the connection between repairing the relationship and career success Develop a willingness to rebuild damaged relationships Design your own rebuilding techniques

Restoring Injured Relationships Relationship Rebuilding Strategies 1. If you were fully or partially responsible for the damage, swallow your pride and take the direct approach (say you are sorry and try to make it right again). 2. If you were not responsible for the damage, give the person some room to make repairs. Give the person the opportunity to approach you to restore the relationship.

6 Common Human-Relations Mistakes 1. Failure to Listen 2. Underestimating others 3. Failure to report or admit mistakes to management 4. Failure to provide your own motivation 5. Permitting others to turn you into a victim 6. Falling prey to negative drift