Human Resources

During week 6, one concept that I found to be interesting was Kym Ward Gaffney’s video on ‘Focusing on Feedback’. Gaffney defines feedback as a conversation or information which helps to affirm or adjust performance. Giving effective feedback is an important function of a manager to promote healthy communication within the workplace. It ensures that employees are informed on how well they have been doing, provided with timely and appropriate guidance to further improve their performance. Gaffney goes on to explain the positive numerous tensions on how  feedback is often viewed as criticism. This is because of the tension between two conflicting needs. These needs consist of growing and develop, and acceptance.  Feedback provides as excellent foundation of improving your performance.  Within the workplace feedback can flow from all different directions, managers, team leaders, or peers. Because feedback is sometimes viewed as criticism, Gaffney gives great recommendations on being aware. Employees should ask for feedback, they may not like what they hear, but they should step back and evaluate and watch their emotions. If employees are not sure if they understand, they should ask for clarity and then reach out for different perspectives. Feedback help helps to grow and develop and engage you potential.

The second concept that I found interesting this week was John Boudreau’s video on ‘The New Science of Human Capital’.  Boudreau explains that the key to staying competitive is investing your strategic pivot points. As mangers how do we figure out who or what the pivot points are in the organization? Leaders are very infrequent when it comes to making the connection. Leaders want to dive right in to the HR aspect and say I need, I need, I need. Instead, leaders outside of HR need to think strategically about what is pivotal in the process, resources, or the business that they manage. Then they can see where talent improvements can make the biggest difference. Clarity about what’s pivotal is very helpful when discussing the develop path.

In the article, ‘The Best Leaders Ask for More Feedback’ by Adam Vaccaro, research shows that the most effective leaders also follow the one rule of getting lots of feedback. A study was shown by consultancy Zenger/Folkman on new data that drove home the value of asking for feedback. ‘Leaders who ranked in the bottom 10th percentile of asking for feedback were rated at the 15th percentile in leadership effectiveness. While those in the top 10 percent of asking for feedback from their employees was ranked in the 86th percentile in overall leadership ability. And this trend held for all brackets in between the top and bottom performers; that is, the more a leader asked for feedback, the higher their leadership effectiveness’ (Vaccaro,2014).  Scott Berkun’s five keys for eliciting feedback will help managers who are having a problem with getting feedback from employees.

1. Who you ask

2. How you ask

3. When you ask

4. Where you ask

5. How you respond

Within this evidence –based material, Berkun explains managers should always start with an employee that they trust and know well. Push them to be honest and use something of a momentum builder to help you get the courage to ask more feedback from more people. When asking for feedback, ask for specific about the topic at hand and also ask employees to be specific. Give them a chance to give a thoughtful answer; it may also come from an informal setting. As a manager, if you really want feedback, you must be prepared to listen.

Within the last six weeks, I have learned many new concepts that I am able to apply to my career. As a energy sales person, I am constantly asking for feedback to help better my work ethic and potential. In this effort, I will be able to grow and become a better manager to others. 

Sources:

           Vaccaro, A. (2013, December 24). The Best Leaders Ask for More Feedback. Inc.com.                        Retrieved August 5, 2014, from http://www.inc.com/adam-vaccaro/best-leaders-ask-for-more-feedback.html  

Culture and Change Management

In week 5, Rosabeth Moss Kanter provided great insight on leading positive change. She starts by asking, what’s your goal? Getting things done and improving them, maybe starting my own business. It is never too early to start something that you are passionate about it. There are six keys to leading a positive change in life. The first is showing up. If you don’t show up, nothing happens. Deciding that your presence makes a difference is the key factor in making positive change. The second key for change is using the power of voice, because no one knows what we are thinking unless we express it. I believe this goes back to Melissa Hunt’s presentation on shared and non-shared information. There are always those one or two employees that talk 80% of the time until they hit upon something that they actually have to say. The power of voice is more about shaping the agenda, framing the issues for others, helping them think about it in a different way. Third; looking up at bigger vision and values. It is always important to remember the principles. We must remember as a leader what we stand for and remind ourselves what our mission and purpose is. The fourth skill is teaming up. Everything worth doing happens better with partners.  The best ventures are those partnerships from the beginning of the projects. The fifth key change is never give up. Everything can look like a failure in the middle. There is nothing we start that doesn't hit an obstacle or roadblock causing us to take longer than we ever imagined. Lastly, Lift others up. Sharing success creates an environment for giving support.

While most companies believe change happens by making people think differently, John Kotter suggests that change happens when we make people feel differently. In a change process of any kind, we have to win over the hearts and minds of people. People change what they do because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings. This would help make a difference with how we deal with people and the result. The way our brain has been constructed, one side emotional and one side thinking, the emotional side has a longer memory than the thinking side. If we want to make someone change to a significant degree, working on the emotional side of their brain will help with change. The emotional to emotional connection helps to change your feelings and outcome.

In some cases, Hard Facts, Dangerous Truths and Total Nonsense, explains that organizations are surprisingly adaptive to change and organizations can change quickly and easily. Change occurs when:

• ·        People are dissatisfied with the status quo
• ·        The direction they need to go is clear and they stay focused on that direction
• ·        There is confidence conveyed to others that it will succeed
• ·        They accept that change is a messy process marked by episodes of confusion and anxiety that people must endure

John Kotter’s Resistance to Change, on the other hand speaks that there are people in the workforce that are resistance to change and as people, we have a tendency to try and pull the people who are resistance to change into to the process and try to change their mind. There has yet to be a major change in an organization where there hasn't been a new strategy. Organizations are warned that the change may not go their particular way and programs or initiatives may have unintended effects, both positive and negative. People in hierarchy positions will be upfront with the organizations about their concerns; however, there are others that will keep quiet during the process. Companies should get those people who are resistant out of the way because they can cause the process to slow down. 

Glenn Llopis, the author, has led several change management strategies throughout his career and says that it is very imperative that organization leaders have clarity. The organization’s leaders should also be in alignment with their responses to the following questions:

• ·        What does success look like operationally and financially – and how does this benefit our employees and customers?
• ·        What is our mission trying to solve for the industry we serve  and how can we improve our ability to accomplish more than in the past –  so that the organization  can remain competitive, become more profitable and/or achieve market leadership?
• ·        What resources and relationships are mandatory to accomplish our goals, achieve sustainable success and be significant in our industry?

Within organizations, it is easy for them to say that need to improve in doing things better; however without strategy, change is simply a substitution. Organizations can have an idea, but without the right strategy and execution of the idea, little process will be made. This article is not considered to be evidence-based. Glenn Llopis could have provided a sample of facts showing the percentage of organizations that has tested his strategies to help support his argument.

In an organization, the opportunity for a change application will take place at some point in time. The question is, will I be the one able to effect change by helping people feel emotionally different? Every week, the concepts of organization behavior gets deeper and deeper as we break down different things that help us to manage people and organizations. I am looking forward to next week’s materials on human resources.


Sources:

            Llopis, G., & Llopis, G. (2014, June 30). Change Management Requires Leadership Clarity and   
            Alignment. Retrieved August 6, 2014, from
            http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2014/06/30/change-management-requires-leadership-clarity-and-alignment/

Power and Politics, Conflict, and Negotiation

The Power (Dis)PlAY?  Team in black draw more penalties article written caught my attention, especially since I am not a big hockey fan. This article explains the hidden psychological factors that play a role in penalties. Gregory Webster has found that “teams that wear black jerseys were penalized significantly more than teams wearing other colored jerseys”. It is not clear what has been driving the link between darker jerseys and penalties increases; however there could be a handful of explanations. One possibility is that players wearing darker colored jerseys are more visible on the ice than player wearing white. This allows the referees a better chance to spot fouls. Wearing darker color jerseys may also make teams more aggressive, which lands them in the penalty box more often. Lastly, teams also wearing darker colors could be victim to bias toward the referees.  Webster stated that “there is this very strong cultural association that comes through in how we think about colors in terms of white being associated with good and black with bad.” This comment was interesting because of psychology and how it works.  I would have never believed that the associations from a long time ago could be shown here time and time again. Whenever we think something is over, the development of cognitive bias tends to remind us of how things use to be.

In the Science of Persuasion, Chialdini explains the factors that influence us to say yes. The factors include reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking and consensus. Reciprocity is the obligation to give back to other when you receive service. For example, if a friend invites you to a party, it is only right that you return that gesture and invite them to your party. The key to using reciprocity is to be the first to give and to make that what you give is personalized and unexpected. Scarcity is the second factor that influences us to say yes. In scarcity, people tend to want more of those things there are less of. I found that this factor relates more to me especially in sales. People want more of scarce resources. People want to know the benefits and what is unique about product that we are selling and what they will lose if something happens to the product. Third, authority, people will follow credible and knowledgeable experts. It is important to signal to others what makes you an authority figure before you make your influence attempt. Fourth, Consistency is activated by looking for and asking for commitments that can be made. Fifth, liking, we like people who are similar to us, who pays us compliments, and people who cooperate with us. Lastly, consensus, people will look to the actions of others to determine their own.

Another concept I thought was interesting was Linda Babcock's interview on "Women Don't Ask". This interview talked about how women are lagging behind men colleagues in salaries, bonuses and promotions because women do not ask for it. Women are typically the ones that are more about self-serving. Forbes gives an example of a women who is a lead partner supervising a staff of five attorney and two paralegals in a quarter billion dollar antitrust action. After reminding the committee members of the scope of her responsibilities and the accomplishments the team had achieved that year, the managing partner asked her what she was expecting her salary to be in the upcoming year. She wasn't a skilled negotiator, nor did she want to seem self-serving, she explained that she should be compensated in a sum up that reflected the extent of her responsibilities and the amount of money that was brought into the firm. The managing partner's eyes grew wide as he shook his head and said that if they paid her for the amount of work she had done, she would be making as much as he was. The manager felt that he was insulted because she said that she should be paid as well as he was paid. This experience shows that women suffer economically because we fail to ask, however when we do ask, we seemed to be punished because we had the nerve to ask. Women should think of the world as a better place and know that they can ask for anything they want.

This week’s material was very rewarding and helped to open my eyes to different concepts of power, conflict and negotiation. Chaildini has showed me a unique approach to persuade others in sales. In all of the positions I have obtained in my career, I have never enjoyed the conflict part of working in a team. I was usually the one who blew everything off or gave them what they wanted to avoid it. However, looking at the bigger picture and what can be learned from the outcome helps me to understand the benefits of working with others. I am excited for next week’s materials and I am looking forward to applying what I have learned thus far to my everyday life.

Citations:

               Cialdini, R. C. (2012, November 26). Science Of Persuasion. YouTube. Retrieved July 23, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw

               Linda, B. (2011, November 11). "Women Don't Ask" w/L Babcock, S Laschever, B-L                              Switzen on The Woman's Connection®. YouTube. Retrieved July 23, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcZn7zYGrp8

              Muse, T. (2012, February 26). Why Women Don't Negotiate (and What We Can Do About It).                Forbes. Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/02/26/why-women-dont-negotiate-and-what-we-can-do-about-it/

               Vedantam, S. (2012, April 26). Power (Dis)Play? Teams In Black Draw More Penalties. NPR.                    Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://www.npr.org/2012/04/26/151383136/power-dis-play-teams-in-black-draw-more-penalties

Team, Communication and Leadership

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” —Warren Bennis

Week three has brought great insight on leaders and the control of their companies. I believe that leaders are the people that make a difference in the world. I was amazed at how the book Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-based Management listed examples of historical leaders like, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Queen Elizabeth I. These leaders where visionaries who had visions for themselves to accomplish and they decided to share them with the world. My manager once told me that leaders do not have visions to keep to themselves. They have visions to inspire and  make them into realities so that our world could be a better place.

Melissa Thomas-Hunt also brought up great points in regards to the Team Dynamics presentation. She was very clear about how managers should help inspire the workers by asking for their ideas for different projects. She explained how we all should help them by asking for evidence for their suggestion and also to help validate others opinions and suggestion when brainstorming for new ideas. This was a great way to help inspire the team and also gives the workers a reason to feel appreciated.  

I have come to the realization that some people are born with leadership skills and the rest has to work for it. We have all seen that one charismatic leader who has a way of motivation the team and instilling a feeling of accountability. “If one of us fails, we all fail” (Hein, 2013). These leaders are on a mission to effect change within the team and the company. Leadership is about motivation and empowerment of the employees. Leaders take the time to individualize and understand people and how they think. Leaders make up an important difference in organizational and group performance. They have a chance of making things better for the good of the company. 

 Citations:

Hein, R. (2013, June 9). How to Apply Transformational Leadership at Your Company. .
              Retrieved , from http://www.cio.com/article/2384791/careers-staffing/how-to-apply-transformational-leadership-at-your-company.html

Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2006). Hard facts, dangerous half-truths, and total nonsense: profiting from evidence-based management. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

Week 2: Does Financial Incentives Drive Company Performance?

           Incentives are considered to be an object or item of value that encourages an employee to do more by the employer through chosen incentives.  There are four types of incentives, Compensation, recognition, rewards, and appreciation.

What can Incentives do for us? Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense, tells us that incentives can motivate more effort, provide people with information about what the organization values and what its priorities are, and lastly attract the right kind of people and repel the wrong kind. I found the motivational effect more interesting this week.  The motivational effect is assumed when people began to work harder for a greater financial reward. “What workers want most from their employers beyond anything else is high wages’. People work primarily for money and financial incentives are the most important of all motivators. Increasing motivation through employees helps them try harder, to get better results. However, I do believe that incentives do not always have to be a financial reward. Depending on the job, I think that incentives could be considered in other forms of gifts or prizes and still have the same effect. For example, at Barnes and Noble, our incentives were never a financial award. They were more of recognition incentives, which we praised employees and announced their achievements through our meetings with the other booksellers. We also included reward incentives, such as gift items or monetary rewards.

On CIO.com, Paul Glen describes how to get projects done by motivating  his employees to perform no matter where their loyalties lie. I found this article to be interesting because as managers, your thought process focuses on getting the project complete regardless of who is doing the work. Glen goes on about how he pays his contractors lots of money to deliver product and that their motivation is their own business. Some ways Glen kept them motivated consist of:

·         “Including them in all the project-related activities that employees in the same role would be included in. Keep them informed about relevant project and business issues. Involve them in the relationship with outside stakeholders.

·         Explaining his expectations of them in terms of the roles he wanted them to fill rather than the deliverers he wanted them to produce. They will interact with the team very differently when you explain that you want them to serve as the QA lead on the project rather than defining their work as developing and executing a test plan. Then manage to the behavioral expectations rather than only to schedules and budgets.

·         Acknowledged that he understand their concerns and aspirations as contractors. Let them know that you know that references and referrals are essential to their ongoing well-being. Also, assure them that you understand that predictability is helpful for them; commit to giving them as much notice as you can about when you'll need their services again or when you won't need them anymore.”

I found this week’s study to be very informative in learning more in-depth about motivating others. I have worked a lot with motivation in the past with past employees to help push for certain goals the company was looking to achieve. It became more intriguing when I began to put the videos on happiness and thing weeks readings together to figure out that all of the key emotions makes a big difference when you’re motivating others. Some questions I found myself asking were; how do you motivate employees who are bitter? Or how do you continue to motivate employees who are considered sweet without driving them away from the job because we are asking for too much? I believe that every once in a while; managers should get a refresher on incentives and motivating others.

Citations:

Glen, P. (2014, March 10). Motivating the Mercenaries. . Retrieved , from http://www.cio.com/article/2378058/project-management/motivating-the-mercenaries.html

Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2006). Hard facts, dangerous half-truths, and total nonsense: profiting from evidence-based management. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

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