May 20, 2017

Ladder of Inference : Management Funda; V5 Issue 5

May 20, 2017/ Anu Sharma

What kind of ladder are we talking about?

The Ladder of Inference is a model which explains why we tend to ‘jump to conclusions’ when we are faced with a particular circumstance. Initially developed by Chris Argyris, and later used by Peter Senge in his book “The Fifth Discipline”, the Ladder of Inference describes how we make sequential interpretations from a set of observations, form beliefs, and then commit to take actions based on those beliefs. It is as if we rapidly climb up a mental ladder, drawing conclusions on our own, with little or no data to actually support these conclusions. Finally, we end up taking actions based on these conclusions which almost always causes breakdown of communication.

An Example

I have given an assignment to my team mate Rashmi and have specified the deadline for the same. I feel that the assignment is not too difficult and the time given to finish the assignment is adequate. The deadline comes and goes, without any response from Rashmi. I write a mail to her reminding her that the assignment was due. She however, does not get back to me with any explanation for the delay. The following day, I receive an SMS from her informing me that she is unwell and will not be able to make it to office for a couple of days. I immediately link this with the unfinished assignment and think to myself that Rashmi is faking an illness in order to get away from the deadline. That’s why she avoided talking to me and just sent me a message instead. I start to recall that she did not seem too enthusiastic about taking this assignment up. Maybe she felt that this assignment was a burden and hence did not consider it important.I figure out that she is clearly not interested in taking up additional responsibilities. She is also very irresponsible since she did not get back to me with a response on the stipulated timeline. Based on these beliefs, I decide never to include Rashmi in any new assignments in the future. I start to behave very curtly with her after she is back from her leave. And even though she finally does a very good job on the assignment, I never include her in any future projects and continue to maintain very low levels of trust in her.

Here is the ladder I climbed in my sub consciousness in the episode with Rashmi.

So how do we avoid leaping up the Ladder of Inference?

We can avoid ‘jumping to conclusions’ by remembering the following three points:

Reflection: By becoming more aware of our own thinking and reasoning (Is it fair to judge Rashmi based on non-conclusive data?)
Advocacy: By making our thinking and reasoning more visible to others ie. saying what we are thinking. (Explaining to my colleague why I don’t give Rashmi any more additional responsibilities and checking whether my reasoning is correct?)
Inquiry: Inquiring about other’s thinking and reasoning ie. asking questions to understand others’ thinking. (Asking Rashmi - Is there any reason why you did not respond to my communications on the assignment deadline? Do you feel that additional responsibilities are a burden for you?)

Along with being more conscious of our own reasoning, the use of advocacy and inquiry in the right manner should promote understanding between the parties. For e.g. had I used advocacy and inquiry with Rashmi, I would have found out that she had been extremely unwell in office the day before the assignment deadline and hence had not been able to respond to my communications. She had left me a voicemail on my phone, which I had unfortunately missed. Even though, she had almost completed the assignment, she had been unable to complete the last bit by the deadline set. And contrary to what I thought, she was extremely interested in taking up additional assignments in order to increase her learning.

What role does this ladder play in the communication process?

Understanding this ladder and incorporating our understanding into daily practices can be a pivotal component of a learning organization. It gives people ways to self-check the various interpretations of events, which in turn will prevent breakdown of communication. As Chris Argyris cautions people, when a fact seems self-evident, it requires us to be especially careful. However, the use of advocacy and inquiry in the right proportion is very important. A ‘high’ of either of these two, can lead to a one way communication instead of a two way understanding.

The ability to make deductions from available data and information is an important cognitive skill. The Ladder of Inference shows to us both the power as well as the dangers of this ability, and can help us differentiate between its use and its misuse. When embedded into teams as a regular practice, this ladder helps in eliminating lack of understanding between team mates, break down of communication and feeble compromises.

References

Argyris, C, “Overcoming Organizational Defences”, 1992.
Senge P, “The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook”, 1994.
Larcher, B, “Up and Down the Ladder of Inference”, 2007 .
Brown, Y, “The Ladder of Inference” .
Kofman F, “The Ladder of Inference: How to Avoid Climbing to Unwarranted Conclusions”, 1996.

May 20, 2017

Competencies: Management Funda; V4 Issue 4

May 20, 2017/ Anu Sharma

Competencies

Your HR department has published a competency manual comprising of competencies for various roles for your company. You have seen it. It looks nice and sounds ‘very important’. But you just cannot imagine how you are going to use it. Before you dismiss ‘Competencies’ as HR mumbo jumbo with no conceivable value to you do read this article. In this article an attempt has been made to familiarize you with some basic concepts related to ‘Competencies’.

What are Competencies?

A competency is an underlying characteristic of an individual ie., it is a fairly deep and enduring part of a person’s personality. It can predict behavior in a wide variety of situations and job tasks. What is important for you to understand is that a competency is related to effective/superior performance in a job. This means if you know the competencies required for a role, you can select, develop and manage people based on an understanding of these competencies. Following are the 5 types of competency-characteristics:

Motives: they “drive, direct and select” behavior toward certain actions or goals and away from others. E.g. Achievement-oriented people consistently set challenging goals for themselves.
Traits: are physical characteristics and consistent responses to situations or information. E.g. Good eyesight is a physical trait competency of combat pilots.
Self-concept: a person’s attitudes, values, or self-image E.g. Self-confidence, a person’s belief that he/she can be effective in almost any situation is part of that person’s concept of self.
Knowledge: information that a person has in specific content areas. However, knowledge at best predicts what someone “can” do not what he/she “will” do E.g. A surgeon’s knowledge of nerves in the human body.
Skill: the ability to perform a certain physical or mental task. Mental or cognitive skill-competencies include analytical thinking (processing knowledge and data, determining cause and effect, organizing data and plans) and conceptual thinking (recognizing patterns in complex data).

As the figure above illustrates knowledge and skill competencies tend to be visible and relatively surface characteristics of people whereas self-concept, trait and motive competencies are more hidden, “deeper” and central in the personality.

Competencies are contextual. They are related to the organization, the function, the role, the level and the timing. Hence competencies developed in one context cannot be generalized to another. A competency with the same name can mean different things in two different companies.

Example of a Competency
Each Competency has a narrative definition with a few behavioural indicators ie., ways of demonstrating the competency in the job. Behavioural indicators indicate the existence of a competency in a person.

A competency manual contains the definitions of several competencies applicable to different roles in the organization. These competencies could be of different types. The combination of these types of competencies is called a competency framework. For instance in one of the companies in the auto sector there are 7 common competencies called leadership competencies applicable to all employee for e.g., Customer Focus, 1 competency applicable to auto sector viz., Auto Passion and 3 to 4 functional competencies applicable to each unique role for e.g., Business Planning. Thus a person has 11 to 12 competencies to focus on.

Utilizing Competencies

For starters you need to have a thorough understanding of the Competency framework in your company. Then understand the competencies relevant for your role and if relevant, for the roles that report into you. Based on this understanding you can be more effective in the following:-

Self Development: You can follow these steps for developing yourself using competencies.
a. Recognize competency exists and is important to do job well
b. Understand what the competency is and how to use it/ do it
c. Get feedback on own level of competence vis-à-vis superior performer
d. Practice in realistic simulations and get coaching feedback
e. Set goals and develop action plans for how you are going to use new competency behaviors in real jobs.
f. Get follow up support from mentors, managers, trainers.

Career Growth: Competencies can help you chart your career growth. Look at the competencies for the next level of role or roles that you are interested in taking up. Plan to demonstrate those competencies. Also work on developing those competencies.

Selection: When hiring, assess the competencies of the candidates vis-à-vis the competencies required by the role. Surface knowledge and skill competencies are relatively easy to develop. Hence it is more cost-effective to train employees in these and recruit people with the required core motive and trait competencies.

Performance Management: Competencies differentiate a superior performer from an average one especially in complex jobs and in higher level technical, managerial, professional jobs. So when trying to determine midyear course corrections during a performance cycle, consider assessing whether the lack of competencies is hampering performance.

Training/Development: You can facilitate the development of your subordinates by helping them follow the steps given for “Self Development”.

Conclusion

Competencies are not very easy to understand. But once we do understand them, it gives clarity on a lot of people issues and provides some very effective solutions to the challenges encountered in selecting, developing, and managing people. All the best for building competencies for yourself and your team members!

References

Spencer, L M and Spencer, S M , 1993, ‘Competency at Work, Models for Superior Performance’, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Rao, T.V, ‘Certificate Program in Competency Mapping’, T V Rao Learning Systems Pvt. Ltd.
‘Workitect’s Competency Dictionary’

May 20, 2017

A Motivation Theory: Job Characteristics Model: Management Funda; V4 Issue 3

May 20, 2017/ Anu Sharma

Do you agree that typically a motivated employee is a productive employee? Imagine then if as a manager you can design jobs such that it makes your people motivated. Would you not have a very powerful tool for enhancing your team productivity? Over the years a lot of people have developed different theories to explain what motivates a person at work. Two such people were Hackman and Oldham. They developed the Job Characteristics Model; a motivation theory which identifies five job characteristics impacting an employee’s personal and work outcomes.

Understanding the Job Characteristics Model

According to The Job Characteristics Model the presence of five core job dimensions ensures three psychological states. These psychological states in turn influence desirable work outcomes like quality of work, job satisfaction etc. Let’s look at them in detail.

Critical Psychological States

The five core job dimensions stated below result in three different psychological states.

Experienced meaningfulness of the work: The extent to which people believe that their job is meaningful, and that their work is valued and appreciated.
Experienced responsibility for the outcomes of work: The extent to which people feel accountable for the results of their work, and for the outcomes they have produced.
Knowledge of the actual results of the work activity: The extent to which people know how well they are doing.

Core Job Dimensions

Skill variety: This refers to the range of skills and actsivities necessary to complete the job. The more a person is required to use a wide variety of skills, the more satisfying the job is likely to be. However, far too many might be overwhelming, too few, may prove boring. Jobs that require employees to make decisions and solve problems will usually be more satisfying than jobs with tasks that are routine and predictable.
Task identity: This dimension measures the degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work. Employees who are involved in an activity from start to finish are usually more satisfied. For example, writing an entire report would be more satisfying than just formatting it.
Task significance: This looks at the impact and influence of a job. Jobs are more satisfying if people believe that they make a difference, and are adding real value to colleagues, the organization, or the larger community.
Autonomy: This describes the amount of individual choice and discretion involved in a job. More autonomy leads to more satisfaction. For instance, a job is likely to be more satisfying if people are involved in making decisions, instead of simply being told what to do.
Feedback: This dimension measures the amount of information an employee receives about his or her performance, and the extent to which he or she can see the impact of the work. The more people are told about their performance, the more interested they will be in doing a good job. So, sharing production figures, customer satisfaction scores etc can increase the feedback levels.

The model says that internal rewards are obtained by individual when he/she learns (knowledge of results) that he/she personally (experienced responsibility) has performed well on a task that he/she cares about (experienced meaningfulness).The more these psychological states are present the greater will be an employee’s motivation, performance, satisfaction. The model is depicted graphically below.

Hackman and Oldham’s Job Characteristics Model

You can also see in the figure above that the links between the job dimensions and the outcomes are moderated by the strength of the individual’s growth need. This means an individual with high growth need is more likely to experience the psychological states when their jobs are enriched ie., the scope of the job is expanded. And they will respond more positively to the psychological states when they are present.

Applying the Job Characteristics Model

So how can you use this model? Well, you can tweak the design of the existing jobs of your team members. You can even design new jobs such that the job holders experience greater job satisfaction and deliver results. More specifically you can do the following:-

Combine tasks to increase skill variety and improve task identity. For instance make a person completely responsible for recruiting for a vacancy rather than for just sourcing of appropriate profiles for the same.
Assign larger, more significant tasks to people, so that they feel connected to and accountable for results.
Get people to see how their performance is contributing to the performance of the department, division and organization. Link their goals with the organization goals.
Increase participation of your team members in decision making, and delegate more responsibility in order to improve autonomy.
Open channels of communication to improve the frequency and quality of feedback.
Give your team members knowledge of the results of their work. For example get an electronics engineer who assembles a radio to also test it if it operates properly rather than getting only the quality control inspector to test it.
Share feedback from customers, clients, and other stakeholders with your team members.
Provide opportunities for providers of a service to meet the recipients of the service.

Conclusion

Apart from job characteristics there are other factors also that influence job performance. But you can surely make a start by designing the job effectively to motivate your team members. Just remember one important point though. When you are redesigning a job be sure to truly enrich the job and, not just give more work for people to do. So go ahead and try your hand at some designing and design some jobs that people will love to do and will do well.

References

Robbins, SP, 1994, ‘Organizational Behavior’, 6th edition, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi.
Mione, P, ‘Job Enrichment’,
‘Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics’,
‘Job Characteristics Model’,

May 16, 2017

7 S Framework : Management Funda; V4 Issue 2

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

You are evaluating a new technology for managing your supply chain process. Wondering whether it will work in your organization the way things are now and if not, how will you make it work? The 7 S framework, a diagnostic tool to assess organization effectiveness can help you here. This tool describes seven interdependent internal factors that need to be aligned for an organization to be successful viz., Strategy, Structure, Systems, Style, Staff, Skills, and Shared Values.

The 7 S framework was born when four people met in 1978. Two of them were Richard Pascale and Anthony Athos who were investigating how Japanese industry has been so successful. They first mentioned the 7 S framework in the article ‘The Art of Japanese Management’ in 1981. The other two were Tom Peters and Robert Waterman both McKinsey consultants who had also been exploring what makes a company excellent. They explained this in their book ‘In Search of Excellence’. McKinsey started using it as a diagnostic tool and since then it came to be known as the Mckinsey 7 S framework.

Understanding the 7 Ss

The 7 factors in the 7 S framework are categorized as either "hard" or "soft" elements:"Hard" elements are easier to define, identify and management can directly influence them."Soft" elements, on the other hand, can be more difficult to describe, and are less tangible and more influenced by culture. However, these soft elements are as important as the hard elements if the organization is going to be successful. The figure below depicts the interdependency of the elements.

Catalytic Mechanisms : Management Funda; V4 Issue 1

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

You have set a really difficult goal like become the number one brand in your industry. How are you planning to achieve it? By including it in your vision? By designing a special incentive program for brand managers? Try implementing Catalytic Mechanisms. The term Catalytic Mechanisms appeared first in a now famous article in the Harvard Business Review in 1999 titled ‘Turning Goals into Results: The Power of Catalytic Mechanisms’. The author was Stanford Professor James C. (Jim) Collins, co-author of best-selling books ‘Good to Great’ and ‘Built to Last’. He defined it as the crucial link between goals and performance.

Characteristics of Catalytic Mechanisms
To understand catalytic mechanisms better we need to understand the five characteristics that distinguish catalytic mechanisms from traditional managerial tools. These are:-

They produce desired results in unpredictable ways: Unlike traditional systems which lead to bureaucracy and mediocrity, catalytic mechanisms let organizations achieve greatness by allowing people to do unexpected things and to show initiative and creativity. Most of us are familiar with a catalytic mechanism in 3M. Yes, the rule of letting their scientists spend 15% of their time experimenting and inventing in an area they chose. Imagine how radical this must have sounded in 1956 - not being told what products to work on, just how much time to work.
They distribute power for the benefit of the overall system often to the great discomfort of those who traditionally hold power: Catalytic mechanisms accomplish the organization’s goals by distributing power throughout the system and shifting the balance of power from a leader that may inadvertently support a sense of inertia to a system that is ready to implement change. At W.L. Gore & Associates, employees have the authority to fire their bosses - a catalytic mechanism that builds on the idea of non-hierarchical leadership.
They have teeth: Just drafting vision, mission etc will not yield results. A catalytic mechanism puts a process in place that ensures result. Take Collins’ example of Granite Rock, a family-owned company that sells gravel, concrete and sand. It wanted to provide "total customer satisfaction and achieve a reputation for service that met or exceeded that of Nordstrom, the upscale department store that is world famous for delighting its customers." It’s catalytic mechanism? A radical policy called ‘short pay.’ At the bottom of every Granite Rock invoice was a line saying "If you are not satisfied for any reason, don't pay us for it. Simply scratch out the line item, write a brief note about the problem, and return a copy of this invoice along with your check for the balance." Every time a customer exercised short pay, Granite Rock learnt or invented a way to run its operations more effectively. "Imagine," says Collins, "paying for airline tickets after the flight and having the power to short pay depending on your travel experience, not just in the air, but during ticketing and deplaning as well.” The short-pay policy forces both learning and change. It drives managers, says Collins, "to relentlessly track down the root causes of problems in order to prevent repeated short payments. It signals to employees and customers alike that Granite Rock is dead serious about customer satisfaction that goes far beyond slogans."
They eject viruses: In contrast to traditional controls that are designed to get employees to act in the right way, catalytic mechanisms help organizations to get the right people in the first place, keep them, and eject those who do not share the company's core values. The Nucor Corporation, a successful U.S. steel company, used catalytic mechanisms to create a high-performance environment where innately hard working people thrive and free riders get ejected. For instance people work in teams of 20 to 40; team productivity rankings are posted daily. Though the base hourly pay is 25% to 33% below industry average, a bonus of 80% to 200% of base pay, based on team productivity, is paid weekly to all teams that meet or exceed productivity goals. The story goes that once team members chased a lazy coworker out of the plant.
They produce an ongoing effect: Unlike a one off electrifying off-site meeting, an exciting strategic initiative or an impending crisis, a good catalytic mechanism can last for decades. Darwin Smith, Kimberly-Clark CEO, set in 1971 the goal to transform Kimberly-Clark from a mediocre forest-and paper-products company into a world-class consumer goods company. He created one catalytic event ie., selling a big chunk of the company’s traditional paper-production mills. This left no easy escape route from the dream. He also created one important catalytic mechanism ie., committing the company to head-to-head competition with the world’ best consumer-products company viz., Procter & Gamble. Kimberly-Clark would either become excellent at consumer products or get crushed. Unlike just saying “change or die” this catalytic mechanism’s ongoing effect is as powerful today as when it was put in place nearly 30 years ago.

Collins’ Guidelines for creating Catalytic Mechanisms

Don't just add, remove:: Instead of adding new initiatives, new systems, new strategies and new priorities, taking something away can be as catalytic. HP started realizing its BHAG, when it removed its “buy internal” rule ie. HP’s started allowing their divisions to buy their components from outside competitors rather than only from HP’s circuit division. Faced with competition, the circuit division’s performance increase dramatically.

Create, don't copy: The best catalytic mechanisms for your organization will be the ones that are idiosyncratic adaptations for your organization’s unique situation and not those you copy exactly.

Make use of money, but not only money: Research shows that only about half of catalytic mechanisms use money. The effectiveness of Nucor’s catalytic mechanisms lies not only in the weekly bonuses earned but also in the peer pressure and the desire to not let teammates down.

Allow your mechanisms to evolve: New catalytic mechanisms may produce unintended negative consequences which need to be corrected. Over time catalytic mechanisms tend to lose their strength. Reinforce them. In the 1990s, worried that fewer people were using the 15% mechanism than in previous decades, 3M put together a task force to reinvent it, bolstering it with special recognition rewards for those who used their 15% of time to create profitable innovations.

Build an integrated set of catalytic mechanisms: One catalytic mechanism can do wonders. By that logic if there are several of them wouldn’t they create a greater impact? At Granite Rock apart from ‘short pay’ there are other mechanisms. Compensation ties directly to learning and improvement, not just job performance Only those who do a good job and improve their skills and make a contribution to improving the overall Granite Rock system receive higher than midpoint pay.

Conclusion

Catalytic mechanisms can work beautifully for individuals too. For example a free-lance writer routinely took on more assignments than she needed in order to support her family. Tired of being enlisted as a last-minute babysitter her sister nagged her to do something. So this writer thought of a catalytic mechanism. It was a $200 a day "penalty fee" her sister imposed on her every day she worked on projects in excess of those required to support her family. So folks don’t stop dreaming; there is always some catalytic mechanism to make them a reality. Find it!

References

CatalyticMechanisms

Collins, J, ‘Turning Goals Into Results: The Power of Catalytic Mechanisms’, caplix.com/pdf/Turning%20Goals%20Into%20Results.pdf

Gilmore,T, ‘Using Catalytic Mechanisms to Drive and Institutionalize Change’, April 18, 2002

Millar ,K, ‘Forcing Change - Using the Catalytic Mechanism’

May 16, 2017

Appreciative Inquiry : Management Funda; V3 Issue 4

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

Do you believe that “organizing is a problem to be solved” or that, “organizing is a miracle to be embraced”? David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivatsva, who developed Appreciative Inquiry (AI) in the 1980s, believed in the latter. AI is based on the premise that “organizations change in the direction in which they inquire.” So organizations which inquire into problems will keep finding problems. And organizations that try to appreciate what is best in them will discover more and more that is good.

In 1985, a team from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management (Cleveland) was consulting with The Cleveland Clinic, consistently ranked among the top hospitals. They discovered something interesting. As the team asked the clinic's employees questions related to positive work aspects, a wave of energy was seen to be unleashed. The factors that had contributed to the clinic's success were actually being enhanced by the interview process. Thus was born AI, a philosophy and process that builds on the goodness in a person, a situation, or an organization and enhances capacity for collaboration and change. It is the opposite of problem solving. Instead of focusing on gaps and inadequacies an attempt is made to build organizations around what works, rather than trying to fix what does not. AI is a particular way of asking questions and envisioning the future that fosters positive relationships.

Building blocks of AI
AI should have four characteristics. It should be Appreciative, Applicable, Provocative and Collaborative. To understand how AI is implemented let’s look at how a company actually used it. In the late 1990s, Waterbury, VT-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) was expanding. It was tripling its sales force and doubling its plant size. It was an exciting time of growth for the now $100 million specialty coffee company that CEO Bob Stiller founded as a coffee shop in 1981. In 2000, Stiller realized he needed to capture the economies of the company’s new scale to prevent the company from sinking under its own significantly increased weight. He decided to deploy AI.

GMCR worked through the "4D" AI process comprising of following four phases:-

Discover: Here people talk to one another, often via structured interviews to discover the times when the organization is at its best. These stories are told in as much detail as possible. GMCR team identified where the company's processes worked perfectly.
Dream: This phase is often run as a large group conference. Participants are encouraged to envision the organization as if the best moments discovered in the ‘discover’ phase were the norm rather than exceptions. GMCR team envisioned processes that would work perfectly all the time. “We identified the one best path in each process,” says former CFO Bob Britt, “and asked, “Why don't we do this with everything?”"
Design: In this phase a small team is empowered to go away and design ways of creating the organization dreamed in the conferences. GMCR team defined and prioritized the elements of perfect processes.
Destiny: This is the final phase in which the changes are implemented. GMCR team participated in the process design creation.

Initially the four phases used to be spread out over a long period of time. But nowadays it is more common for the whole process to take place at an ‘Appreciative Inquiry Summit’, a 4 day large group event. Each phase takes place on a separate day. GMCR organized formal AI summits on the company's major business processes—procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, plan-to-produce, and market-to-sell. More than 200 employees, over half the work force, focused on raising productivity.

EXAMPLES OF AI BENEFITS

How can I use it?

Interestingly you can use AI to improve your team’s functioning too. The following exercise can aid in developing shared mental maps of group success, reenergizing the team and improving its performance. It can also help create a safe way of discussing difficult issues for a team.

First, ask your team members to recall the best team experience they have ever been a part of.

Ask each team member in turn, to describe the experience while encouraging the rest of the team to be curious and to engage in a dialogue with the person. Fully explore what about themselves, the situation, the task, and others made this a ‘peak’ experience.

Once all members have exhausted their exploration, ask the team, on the basis of what they have just discussed, to list and develop a consensus on the attributes of highly effective teams.

Conclude by inviting members to publicly acknowledge anything they have seen others in the team do that has helped the team be more like any of the listed attributes.

Conclusion

So often we fall into the trap of trying to understand why 1% of our customers are dissatisfied rather than exploring how we have satisfied the 99% of our customers. Or we conduct exit interviews instead of interviewing people who choose to stay with the company and work on factors that demoralize the team instead of dwelling on the factors that give energy to the team. Taking an Appreciative Inquiry approach will help you view your work and your relationships with others in a different perspective, more positively. And this will yield more positive results for you and your company.

References

‘Appreciative Inquiry’

Kinni, T, ‘The Art of Appreciative Inquiry’, September 22, 2003

‘Appreciative inquiry’

‘Wipro Inducts ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ For Better Team Work’, Dec 02, 2002

Bushe , G R, Ph.D. ‘Appreciative Inquiry with Teams’

May 16, 2017

Pygmalion Effect : Management Funda; V3 Issue 3

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

In an interesting study researchers looked at 12 separate research studies involving employees and their supervisors from different work settings, a total of 2,874 participants. Each study randomly assigned employees to two groups.

Supervisors were told that one group of employees had considerably greater potential thus creating a positive attitude among supervisors about one group of employees who were basically no different from other group of employees. Result? With only two exceptions employees in the former group responded with greater productivity. This was because of the Pygmalion Effect.

What is Pygmalion Effect and how did it originate?
Pygmalion Effect is essentially the power of others’ expectations. Positive expectations produce positive results and vice-versa. Typically every supervisor has expectations of the people who report to him and these expectations get communicated consciously or unconsciously. When people perceive expectations about their performance from their supervisors they perform in ways that are consistent with the expectations they have picked up.

J. Sterling Livingston, wrote on the Pygmalion Effect in the ‘Harvard Business Review’ in his article, ‘Pygmalion in Management’, "The way managers treat their subordinates is subtly influenced by what they expect of them," and that unskilled supervisors "leave scars on the careers of young workers, cut deeply into their self-esteem, and distort their image of themselves as human beings. But if he is skillful and has high expectations of his subordinates, their self-confidence will grow, their capabilities will develop and their productivity will be high. "

This concept has its roots in Greek mythology, when Pygmalion, a sculptor and prince of Cyprus made a statue of his ideal woman, whom he called Galatea, which came to life. The story was also the basis of George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion”, later turned into the musical “My Fair Lady”. In Shaw’s play, Professor Henry Higgins claims he can take a flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, and turn her into a duchess. But, as Eliza herself points out to Higgins’ friend Pickering, it is not what she learns or does that determines whether she will become a duchess, but how she is treated.

Pygmalion Effect was initially successfully demonstrated by Robert Rosenthal, a Harvard University professor, and Leonore Jacobson, a school principal in a publication called ‘Pygmalion in the Classroom’. At the beginning of the school year, they gave an intelligence test to all students at an elementary school. Then, they randomly selected 20% of the students without actually relying on their test results. Their teachers were told that those students showed "unusual potential for intellectual growth." Eight months later, they retested all the students. The 20% labled as having "unusual potential" showed significantly greater advancement than other children not singled out for the teachers' attention

Using the Pygmalion effect to get the best of people

Firstly reflect on what kind of expectations do you have from each of your team member. Determine what are the fundamental beliefs about people that you hold. There are some fundamental beliefs about people that help managers have a high performance expectation of their subordinates. They are…..

Most people want to do a good job
Most people can be trusted to do the right thing
Most people, given the same information, will reach the same conclusion
People are natural goal setters and achievers
Most people will accept change

Knowing this can help you understand why you tend to have high or low expectations. Work towards changing those beliefs that prevent you from having high expectations of others. Next look at how do you communicate these expectations. Subtle communications from the manager like the tilting of heads, the raising of eye brows or the dilation of nostrils and not so subtle communications as listed below tell the employee what the expectations are.

Some examples of how managers communicate their expectations

Are you unwittingly communicating low expectations to people? If yes, gradually change the way you behave with such people.

Finally understand that people’s expectations of themselves also affect their performance. This is called the Galatea Effect. Employees who think they will succeed are most likely to succeed. So it goes without saying that any actions the supervisor takes to increase the employee's feelings of positive self-worth will help the employee's performance improve. Let’s look at some of the ways in which you can encourage positive, powerful self-expectations in employees.

   The best part of having positive performance expectation from their team members is that a team leader can even
     create a positive Galatea Effect i.e. Pygmalion Effect can cause Galatea Effect. Hold frequent, positive verbal
     interactions with the employee and communicate consistently your firm belief in the employee's ability to perform
     the job. Keep feedback positive and constructive.

Provide opportunities for the employee to experience increasingly challenging assignments.
Make sure he/she succeeds at each level before moving forward.
Enable the employee to participate in potentially successful projects that bring continuous improvement to the workplace.
Focus on the strengths. In a one-to-one coaching with employees emphasize improving what they do well rather than focusing on their weaknesses. Help them apply their strengths in ways that contribute positively to the organization.
Make sure the employee is receiving consistent messages from others around him/her. How you speak to others about him/her will mould their opinions about the person.
Demonstrate your sincere commitment to the employee's success and ongoing development.

Conclusion

The bottom line is both Pygmalion Effect and Galatea Effect can be powerful performance management tools. Your expectations of your people and their expectations of themselves are the key factors in how well they will perform at work. So believe in your team members. More often than not, they will meet or exceed your expectations. You just make sure that the expectations are high.

References

'Better Management by Perception', http://www.accel-team.com/pygmalion/prophecy_06.html
Sehgal, A, ‘The Pygmalion Effect - Belief in potential creates potential’, July 11 2009 ,
http://www.chrmglobal.com/Replies/2953/1/The-Pygmalion-Effect-.html
Heathfield, S M, ‘The Pygmalion Effect: The Power of the Supervisor's Expectations’,
http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementtips/a/mgmtsecret.htm
Bruce, S, ‘Expectations: The Power of Pygmalion and Galatea in the Workplace’, July 16, 2008,
http://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/archive/2008/07/16/HR_Management_Pygmalion_Galatea_Effects_Expectations _Motivation_Retention.aspx
Garner ,E, ‘The Pygmalion Effect’, http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Pygmalion-Effect&id=86460
Scholz, R, ‘The Pygmalion Effect’, http://www.isnare.com/?aid=398407&ca=Advice

May 16, 2017

Belbin Team Roles : Management Funda; V3 Issue 2

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

After the success of ‘Team Chandrayaan’, ISRO Chief Madhavan Nair mentioned in one of his interviews that the team’s success was not because the team comprised of brilliant individuals. So if not individual brilliance what made them succeed? I would say definitely the right mix of team members, among other things! Would you like to achieve this mix in your team? One way to do this is by using the ‘Belbin Team Roles’ model.

What are the Belbin Team Roles

Over several years, Meredith Belbin and his research team at Henley Management College, England, studied the behavior of managers from world over observing that people in teams tend to assume different team roles. A ‘Team Role’ is “a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way". Their research identified nine distinctive team roles known as the ‘Belbin Team Roles’ as underlying the success of teams. The following table summarizes the same.

Some points to remember are…

The nature of team assignment determines the ideal team composition. If the assignment must be finished very fast, then one needs strong Shapers and Finishers. If the assignment is related to development of new products, then one needs more Resource Investigators, Plants and Specialists. Typically to achieve the best balance, there should be…
- A Coordinator or Shaper (not both) for leader.
- A Plant to stimulate ideas.
- A Monitor Evaluator to ensure honesty and clarity.
- One or more Implementer, Team Worker, Resource Investigator or Completer Finisher to make things happen.

One’s behavior and interpersonal style within a team is to some extent dependent on the situation. It relates not only to ones’ own natural working style, but also to the interrelationships with others, and the work being done. A person may behave and interact quite differently in different teams or when the membership or work of the team changes.

Belbin team roles represent tasks and functions in managing the team, activities and are not personality types or thinking preferences.

While one may have ideal and preferred team roles, it does not mean one cannot or should not assume other roles. A team member can even adopt more than one role if the number of team members is less than nine.

Benefits of using the Belbin Team Roles Model

By understanding your team role within a particular team, you can develop your strengths and manage your weaknesses as a team member, and thus improve your contribution to the team.

As the team leader you can use the model to balance team roles before a project starts. Ensure that each needed role in the team can actually be performed by somebody and is assigned to somebody. Teams can be unbalanced if all team members assume the same team roles. Say there are too many Shapers in the team. Each Shaper will want to pull the team in a different direction weakening the team in the process. The good news is well balanced teams are less risk-bearing and typically will require less of your management attention.

You can use also use the model to identify reasons for and manage interpersonal differences within an existing team. Use your analysis of your team as a guide in developing your team's strengths, and managing its weaknesses.

Steps in analyzing your team using the Belbin Team Roles model

Observe how each of your team members contribute and behave with other team members.
Against each team member list down key strengths, weaknesses and characteristics observed.
Compare each person's listed strengths and weakness with Belbin's descriptions of team roles, and determine the one that most accurately describes that person.
Next to identify potential weakness, areas of conflict and missing strengths ask yourself questions like… “Which team roles/strengths are missing from your team?” “Is there a prevalent team role that many of the team members share?”, “What are the potential areas of conflict?”
Consider the options you have to improve as a team. For instance is it possible for a team member to improve how he/she works with others to avoid potential conflict of their natural styles or can new skills be added to the team through addition of new team members to address potential weaknesses.

Conclusion

The Belbin Team Role model is used by over 40 percent of the top 100 companies in the UK, the United Nations, the World Bank and thousands of organizations throughout the world to enhance individual and team performance.

Now you may be thinking that while individuals are likely to excel when given a role that exploits their strengths, it is not always possible to do so. You may have to deliver through the team members you already have. However, an understanding of the required team roles will help your team members to contribute in a manner that improves the effectiveness of the team. And that is where you as their team leader can help. Of course don’t forget to also ensure the presence of the other factors that are equally important in getting a team to perform at its best. And undoubtedly you will have a winning team to successfully launch your own Chandrayaan.

References

Watson B, ‘An Introduction to Belbin Team Roles’, http://www.housing.sc.edu/rsl/pdf/Training/Students/Week2ReadingBelbinSt.pdf.
‘Belbin's Team Roles’, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_83.htm.
‘Belbin's Ream Roles’,http://changingminds.org/explanations/preferences/belbin.htm.
‘Belbin's Team Roles’, http://www.12manage.com/methods_belbin_team_roles.html.
‘Belbin Team Roles’, http://www.leadershipsolutions.co.nz/belbin.cfm.

May 16, 2017

Goal Setting - the SMARTER way : Management Funda; V3 Issue 1

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

A tried and tested way of achieving organization, team and individual success is by setting goals. Hence, in the context of current economic challenges, this is a good time for the HR folks to strengthen the goal setting process of their companies. Strengthening this organization process will not only help in enhancing current productivity levels, but also future productivity levels. As a manager this is also a powerful way to motivate yourself and your team members.

Aligning Individual Goals with Organization Goals

For goals to produce desirable result for your organization, first and foremost all goals, be it individual or team, should be aligned with organization goals. Let’s look at how this can be done with an illustration for a Sales Officer.

Knowing the target is the first step in achieving the target. The goal therefore should comprehensively and completely define what the role holder needs to target to achieve success. The clarity of the goals set also provides the role holders a higher level of control in their jobs leading to high levels of engagement. One of the methods found very useful across organizations to make goal setting more effective is the SMARTER goal setting.

About SMARTER Goal Setting

SMARTER goal setting entails making the goals one sets SMARTER ie., Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time bound, Engaging and Reaching. Let’s see what each of this means.

Specific: The expected result should be stated explicitly. A vague goal like "Take initiative”, has limited motivational value and has lesser chance of being accomplished than a specific goal. Determine “What exactly do I want to accomplish and How?” Use action words such as direct, organize, lead, develop, plan etc. For example the goal of "Reduce costs" can be made specific by saying "Implement two initiatives to reduce overhead costs across the company by 5% in every quarter in order to attain overall 10 % cost reduction for the year."

Measurable: What cannot be measured cannot be attained. Hence the goal should be such that it allows you to clearly measure your progress. When you reach your short term targets you feel a sense of achievement motivating you to put in the efforts required to reach your long term goal too. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask......How much? How many? How will we know if we’ve accomplished the result?

Attainable: An important characteristic of a goal is the level of challenge, related to whether the resources and skills needed to accomplish the goal are available. The need for achievement is strong among people. Therefore one is best motivated by challenging, but realistic goals. Setting a goal that one will fail to achieve is possibly more de-motivating than setting a goal that's too easy.

Relevant: This criterion is related to whether the goal fits with the overall strategy and goals of the organization and department. The goal needs to be relevant for you and your team. For example a goal related to “achieving high customer satisfaction”, maybe more relevant to a service team than for a research and development team.

Time bound: A goal should say by when it will be achieved. Otherwise there will be no sense of urgency and planning for its achievement and prioritizing between goals will be difficult. If you want to launch a new product, by when do you want to launch? "Some time in the year" is not good enough. But if you anchor it within a timeframe like "by August 15th", then your plans for achieving it will be guided by this time limit.

Engaging: The goal should be devised in such way that it is interesting and motivating for you and your team member. You will not mind putting in that extra effort for such goals.

Reaching: A goal should provide a growth opportunity for the individual. Although it should be realistic, it should also be a challenge or a stretch so that in the process of meeting it the individual develops.

An exercise on SMARTER Goals: Look at the first column in the table below and see if you can determine whether it meets the SMARTER criteria. If not which criterion does it not meet?

Goal Setting - the SMARTER way