Understanding PeopleIn order to manage people, we need to understand

people. If we understand why people behave as they do, we may be able to encourage – or change – their behavior

If you know what types of behavior make people effective as workers, we may be able to encourage or change their behavior in such a way as to increase their contribution to organizational goals

Understanding People Cont…Unfortunately or fortunately – human behavior is not easy to

describe, let alone to explain – let alone to predict! All individuals

are different, and so behave differently

Each individual behaves differently over time, in different

circumstances and with different people

Interpersonal behavior (the interaction between two or more

people) is different from individual behavior

Groups of people behave rather differently than the individual

members would if they were on their own

PersonalityPersonality is the total pattern of characteristic ways of thinking ,

feeling, and behaving that constitute the individual’s distinctive

method of relating to the environment

There is a debate about whether or how far the factors of heredity

(nature) and environment (nurture) influence personality

Individuals possess a selection of these traits, which tend to go

together in compatible trait clusters, effectively dividing people

into personality types; personality develops through interaction

with the environment and how he sees himself

Personality If we say someone is generally sweet-tempered or undemonstrative, we

are identifying traits in their personality

Individual personality is simply a ‘pick and mix’ from a range of possible

traits

People are different because individuals possess different traits, and

different strengths of the same trait

However, possessing a particular trait means to possess certain other

compatible or related traits; trait clusters

A person sociable and expressive is also likely to be impulsive, risk-

taking, active, irresponsible and practical – extrovert personality

Individual TraitsEach person has different personality and trait

The Big Five Factors Can help us to understand some of them Openness to Experience – describes an individual’s pro-active seeking

and appreciation of experience for its own sake

Conscientiousness – describes how energetic and enthusiastic a person

is – especially when dealing with people

Agreeableness – describes a person’s attitudes towards other people

Neuroticism or natural reactions – measures the different ways people

have of reacting emotionally to pressure and stressful circumstances

Individual TraitsOur behavior is really determined by these internal traits,

giving the situation a small role in determining behavior

In other words these traits leak to an individual acting a

certain way in a given situation

What would be the desirable trait for an organization

What would be the desirable trait for an individual

Desirable TraitsIt is not one straight rather difficult and complex process to

select the desirable traits

Ability and experience, education and skill training,

motivation, job design, age, attitudes, opportunity and many

other factors will influence job performance

Research has simply not been able to show significant

correlation between any personality trait and successful

performance

Self and Self-ImagePeople have a subjective ; picture of what their own self is like; Self-

image is developed primarily through experience, and interaction with

other people

We evaluate ourselves according to the effect of our behavior on other

people, and how they respond to us

If people regularly praise your hard work, for example, you may have an

image of yourself as a conscientious, successful worker

People tent to behave in accordance with their self-image, and how they

expect to be treated

Personality and Work BehaviorThe compatibility of an individual’s personality with the task

The compatibility of an individual’s personality with the systems and

management culture of the organization

Some people hate to be controlled, but others want to be controlled;

find responsibility threatening

Some people have a strong desire of success and strong fear of failure

Such people tend to want personal responsibility, moderately difficult

tasks and goals (which challenge them but do not present the risk of

failure) and clear, frequent feedback on performance

Personality and Work BehaviorThe compatibility of the individual’s personality with that of others in the

team

Personality clashes are a prime source of conflict at work

An achievement-oriented personality – tends to be a perfectionist, s

impatient and unable to relax, and will be unsociable if people seem

to be getting in the way of performance

Such a person will clearly be frustrated and annoyed by laid-back

sociable types working (or not working) around him

Even attractive traits, like a sunny temper, can get on the nerves of

people of a different type

IncompatibilitiesRestore compatibility – this may be achieved by reassigning an

individual to tasks more suited to his personality type or changing

management style to suit the personalities of the team

Achieve compromise – individuals should be encouraged to :

Understand the nature of their differences; personal differences Should not

be taken personally – as if they were adopted deliberately to annoy

Modify their behavior, if personality develops according to feedback from

interactions with others, the popple can be encouraged and trained to

adopt positive traits and overcome negative ones; we may train people to

be more achievement oriented

Incompatibilities Cont…Remove the incompatible personality – in the last

resort, obstinately difficult or disruptive people may

simply have to be weeded out of the team

Team selection should as far as possible ensure that

potentially incompatible people never become part

of the team in the first place

PerceptionDifferent people ‘see’ things differently

Human beings behave in the world – not ‘as it really is’ but

as they see it

This is why we need to understand perception

Perception is the psychological process by which stimuli or

in-coming sensory data are selected and organize into

patterns which are meaningful to the individual

Perceptual selectionThe sensory apparatus of humans (eyes, ears, skin etc.) has limitations,

which filter out certain stimuli; certain pitches of sound

Perception acts as a further screen

We are constantly bombarded by sensory data of all kinds, not all of

which is interesting or useful to us, we would not ne able to function if

we had to deal with every sound, sight, smell, and touch

The filtering process is called perceptual selectivity

It means that the world picture that our brains actually hold is not a

whole or accurate one

Perceptual selection Cont…The context – people ‘see what they want to see’; what ever

is necessary or relevant in the situation in which they find

themselves. You might notice management or motivation

which normally you would not notice

The nature of stimuli – Our attention tends to be drawn to

large, bright, loud, unfamiliar, moving, and repeated stimuli.

Advertisers know it….

Perceptual selection Cont…Internal factors – Drawn to stimuli that match our

personality, needs, interests, expectation and so on; If

we are hungry, we will pick the smell of food out of a

mix of aromas

Fear or trauma – people are able to avoid seeing things

that they don’t want to see

Things that are threatening to their security or self-

image, or things that are too painful for them

Perception and work behaviorWe need to remember that human beings do not respond to the world ‘as

it really is’ but as they perceive to be

If individuals act in ways that seem illogical or contrary to you, it is

probably not because of stupidity or defiance, but because they simply do

not see things in the same way you do

Consider whether you might be misinterpreting the situation or others

Get people involved to define the situation as they see it. Then

everyone will know what they mean and differences of perception can

be cleared up before they can cause confusion

Common ClashesManagers and Staff – the experience of work can be very

different for managerial and no-managerial personnel, and

this has tended to foster ‘them and us’ perceptions

Work Cultures – different functions in organizations may

have very different time-scales and cultures of work , and

will therefore perceive the work – and each other – in

different ways

Race and Gender

AttitudeAttitudes are our general standpoint on things; the

positions we have adopted in regard to particular

issues, things and people, as we perceive them

An attitude is ‘a mental and neural state of

readiness….exerting a directive or dynamic influence

upon the individual's response to all objects and

situations with which it is related’

Attitude Cont….

Attitudes are thought to contain three basic

components

Knowledge, beliefs or disbeliefs, perceptions

Feelings and desires (Positive or Negative)

Volition, will or the intention to perform an

action

Attitude Cont….So our attitude towards something includes what

we think and feel about it – and also predisposes us

to behave in a certain way in response to it

This will be of particular interest to a manager,

because it suggests that I you can identify people’s

attitudes to things, you may be able to anticipate

how they will behave