WORKING BEST WITH PEOPLE

‘People are more likely to be motivated if they work in an environment in which they are valued for what they are and what they do.’

MICHAEL ARMSTRONG

INTRODUCTION

The brain behind the success or failure of any business organisation are the people working there, whose individual and collective efforts determine the achievement of its short, medium and long term objectives. To achieve organisational objectives, people need to be understood, managed and motivated in such a way that they can willingly put in their best possible effort towards the achievement of organisational objectives.

The management approach and styles applied by organisations in managing their workforce go a long way in determining the employees’ level of commitment to their work and organisation. To be able to manage workforce for result, managers must have a detailed knowledge of individual differences, personalities, orientations and roles.

Company management and managers must be familiar with the characteristics of people in terms of individual differences. They should know that there are no two similar individuals. Even DNA has proved this to be real and true. Managers should expect variation in individual’s performance and behaviour at work because people differ in terms of abilities, intelligence, background, personality, race and culture. The knowledge of these differences will go along way in helping company management and managers to manage their workforce optimally.

FACTORS FOR CONSIDERATION

 To work best with people, managers at work should be adept at people’s management. They should be familiar with those factors and characteristics that distinguish an individual from several others. These factors include individual’s ability, level of intelligent, background and culture, ability and personality.

 ABILITY

All employees at work are different in terms of ability. Ability is the quality that makes an action possible. Abilities vary and could be verbal, numerical, memory, reasoning, spatial and mechanical abilities. A skillful manager is expected to know the strengths and weaknesses of his subordinates in terms of variation in their ability to contribute to the achievement of the company’s objectives. Managers should utilize each of his subordinates in their most noticeable area of strength. It’s easier to work best with employees when we know their area of strengths and capitalize more on these areas.

 LEVEL OF INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence means different things to different people. Intelligence is the ability to learn, understand and think in a logical way about things. It is the capacity to solve problems, think and reason abstractly, process information, apply principles, make inferences and perceive relationships. The level of intelligent of people at work differs. This should be clear enough to all superiors at work. While some employees are good at drawing inferences, others are good at solving problems through abstract thinking and reasoning. The onus is on the superior at work to recognise the area where an employee can perform best and fix him up appropriately.

BACKGROUND AND CULTURE

The environment in which people were brought up goes along way in molding their perception and value in life. Peoples social-cultural environment, roles and relationships, opportunities and constraints encountered in their life journey are very crucial in determining how they perceive relationship and take decisions. Managers should learn to relate well with employees and motivate them optimally by having an incline into their background and culture. 

PERSONALITY

Men are different in terms of their personality. Individuals at work exhibit different kinds of behaviour based on their personality traits. They exhibit the big five personality traits of ‘Deary and Matthew’ such as conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, extraversion and neuroticism. Managers should have a clear understanding of individual differences in terms of their different personalities and therefore manage them in such a way as to get the best out of them.

ATTITUDE

The attitudes of people at work are also fundamental to their effective and efficient management at work. Attitudes are developed through experience and can change as new experiences are gained or influences absorbed. An Attitude can be defined as an individuals settled mode of thinking. Managers should learn to understand individual’s attitude and then put in place machinery to identify and modify those attitudes exhibited by employees at work that are capable of affecting personal and team productivity on the job.

 WORKING ENVIRONMENT

The environment at which people work can impact either positively or negatively on their productivity. The work environment is a combination of physical environment, behaviour of colleagues and leaders, company policies, reward system and job characteristics. The physical and social environment of the organisation must be conducive to get the best out of employees.

CONCLUSION

Management is all about getting things done through people. To get the best result from people as individual and as a team, they must be understood by their superiors as being different, one from another. Men are product of divers’ background, personality, ability and intelligence. Therefore employees should be managed and motivated with the view that no two individuals are the same.

References:

Argyle, M (1989): The Social Psychology of Work, Penguin, Harmondsworth.

Armstrong, M (2003):  A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 9^th edn, Kogan Page, London.

Burt, C (1954): The differentiation of intellectual ability, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 24, pp 45-67.

Deary, I.J and Matthews, G (1993): Personality traits are alive and well, The Psychologist, 6, pp 299-311.

About the author

Ajiboro Ayodeji is a Chartered HR Practitioner based in Lagos, Nigeria. Tel: 2348027807452. Email: hutrenconsulting@gmail.com.