Finally, David McClelland proposes that people have three basic needs, the need for achievement, the need for power, and the need for affiliation. Whatever the theory, managers must recognize the needs of employees.
JOB DESIGN
Another way to understand and affect employee motivation is to investigate the way a job is designed. Each job has certain core job dimensions that describe the duties performed. These duties lead to critical psychological states within employees that result in a variety of outcomes. Outcomes are the visible manifestations of work performance, while psychological states are hidden in the hearts and minds of people. If the human element is ignored, then quality and efficiency will suffer.
If the MBA is confronted with a personnel problem, it may be the result of job design. A close study of the core job dimensions can often yield great benefits without significant costs. For example, at a Lockheed parts factory in Los Angeles, unskilled minorities were hired and trained to assemble parts for jumbo jets fabricated at another factory. The employees were unmotivated and the quality of their output was poor. In talking with the men workers, the managers realized that the work had no meaning to them. They did not understand what they were producing. To fix that, the workers were taken to the aircraft assembly plant to see where their parts were installed. They also met those who were inconvenienced when they received a defective product. Realizing the relevance of their work, the employees became more productive and part defects decreased. Their previously pointless assembly task acquired significance, and they responded by performing better. The result was a happier workforce that took pride in a job well done. The MBA term for such employee happiness is quality of work life (QWL). When employees are given the chance to be all that they can be, the word MBAs use to describe this is empowerment. You can hardly pick up a business book today without tripping over that word.
JOB DESIGN MODEL
Adapted from “Introduction to Job Design,” by Professor William Zierden, Case UVA-OB-91R, Figure 1. Copyright © 1975 by the Darden Graduate Business School Foundation, Charlottesville, Virginia.
MBA PERSONALITY TRAITS
Business schools teach young women and men business skills, but they also try to motivate their students to maximize their own potential. In that vein, MBAs are taught to be innovative leaders.
Leadership. The top MBA schools claim to be incubators for the business leaders of tomorrow. In this pursuit, organizational behavior classes probe the subject of leadership and its responsibilities. Some schools even send their students to the woods for Outward Bound experiences to unleash the leaders inside them and develop team skills. Leaders shape goals. Leaders develop new ideas. Leaders reach people on an emotional level. Managers, on the other hand, react to events. Managers solve problems, while leaders take on challenges. Of course, at the top business schools, everyone fancies himself or herself as a future captain of industry. At the end of the book in chapter 10, there is a Ten-Minute Leadership Coach to help you to succeed.
The Leadership VCM Model. The VCM leadership model proposes that the following three characteristics are part of a leader’s personal profile:
Vision
Commitment
Management Skills
Leaders exhibit these qualities in differing proportions. No particular mix works best. It all depends on the individual and the job situation. Steve Jobs could be viewed as being high on vision when he saw the potential for user-friendly personal computing in the 1980s. In the accounting profession, vision is not as critical, whereas management skills and commitment to long hours are the keys to success.
LEADERSHIP STYLES: VISION, COMMITMENT, AND MANAGEMENT
Adapted from “Survey of Managerial Style,” by Professor James Clawson, Case UVA-OB-358, p. 14. Copyright © 1988 by the Darden Graduate Business School Foundation, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Leadership Patterns. There are as many ways to lead the troops as there are people. Leadership styles lie on a spectrum from boss-centered to subordinate-centered. In the 1960s, executives raced to be tested to see where they fell on the spectrum. Based on a managerial grid, they could be classified a “dictator” or a “wimp.” Some bosses use their authority directly to press their people into action. They do the thinking, and the staff does the legwork. Others give their people the freedom to use their own wits to organize and accomplish tasks. The boss’s function is to give general direction. Which leadership style a leader chooses is regulated by three basic forces:
The forces within the manager
The forces within the subordinates
The forces of the situation
If the leaders do not have confidence in their subordinates, they cannot delegate tasks. If a staff doesn’t have the ability to work unsupervised, full delegation of authority is inappropriate. When the staff has a clear understanding of the business situation and how to address it, it’s best to delegate authority.
It is important for a leader to understand his or her own personality traits. As you might imagine, a leader’s insecurities may lead to an authoritarian style, regardless of what the situation may dictate. That is why self-awareness is important; it will enable you to avoid inappropriate management styles.
My faults and my virtues are the same . . . Nothing is ever enough. I must check everything. It causes me problems—people think I don’t trust anyone. But I must know what’s going on.
—Giorgio Armani, Forbes
Creativity. Not only are MBAs schooled to understand leadership, they are taught to become leaders by tapping their own creativity. Because vision is an element in the VCM pie, MBAs ought to nurture their own creativity. Everyone has idea-friendly times when they are most creative. For some it may be while in the shower, for others on the porcelain throne or in the car. Creative thought is often fleeting; you must be able to capture it in its tender, nascent stage. What a Great Idea by Chick Thompson suggests that we should always keep a pen, a tape recorder, or a grease pencil (for the shower) handy in each of our friendly places.
The mind-mapping technique is also available. Take a blank piece of paper and start thinking about a creative challenge, then write down the subject and circle it. Proceed, in a completely uninhibited style, to scribble and circle all your related thoughts around that subject’s key words and connect them like the spokes on a wheel. Each of the spokes should have spokes around it, and so on. No thought is too stupid! After it’s all done, something may emerge from the jumble of free association. I’ve used the technique to think up titles, promotional copy, and project solutions for this book. Try it—you have nothing to lose.
An abbreviated mind-mapping session to develop the name for this book looked like the diagram below.
MIND MAPPING FOR A BOOK TITLE
Entrepreneurship. Touching on the traits of leadership and creativity is one of the hottest MBA topics, entrepreneurship. It is debatable whether entrepreneurship can be taught, yet all the top schools are researching this area and giving it a try. Studies of entrepreneurs reveal that they possess some combination of the following characteristics:
Comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty
Belief that they control their own destinies
Tenacity in completing tasks
Low fear of failure
Ability to identify opportunities
Entrepreneurial MBA incubators include classes on how to start a new venture and business plan contests. Visits from successful alumni provide inspiration and can be a source of contacts for the students.
Type A and B Behaviors. OB professors have introduced the concept of behavior typing into the curriculum as an added tool for personal understanding. Since most MBAs attending the Top Ten schools were admitted because their type A personalities helped them to the top of their college classes, it seems appropriate that they should understand that aspect of themselves. Type A behavior was originally identified in 1959 by two cardiologists, Meyer Friedman and Ray Roseman. They noticed that patients with seve
re coronary heart disease were often characterized by these traits:
A Competitive Need for Achievement
A Sense of Time Urgency
Aggressiveness
Hostility to Others and the World
Additional manifestations of type A behavior include explosive, accelerated speech, interruption of others, a fast-paced approach to life, and impatience. Type A’s always try to do more than one activity at once. That’s what those Palm Pilots are for. Type A’s are often dissatisfied with life, showing a free-floating hostility. They evaluate their self-worth based on external achievements. One sure symptom is competition with others in noncompetitive situations. A classmate reported such a case: “During the interview season I was struck by a pizza company executive who boasted that his performance on the treadmill, during the company’s annual physical, was superior to that of his coworkers.” That executive was a type A.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are the type B’s, who enjoy life and are more relaxed. Some type B’s also sneak into business schools. Most individuals fall in the continuum between the two poles. Hopefully, by recognizing the type A signs, MBA hard chargers may be able to head off a heart attack by exercising some control over their behavior. If not, behavior typing can make good bar conversation for MBAs heading for coronary oblivion.
MBA OFFICE PROCEDURES
The OB faculty, besides making students aware of their potentials and shortcomings, tried to teach us some practical interpersonal skills that would help us to succeed on the job.
Active Listening. One of the most valuable skills is to be able to really listen. Active listening helps you to gain a clear perception of situations so that you can effectively deal with them. It differs from conversation in three ways:
You Respond to Information and Don’t Lead.
You Respond to Personal Information and Don’t Give Advice.
You Identify the Interviewee’s Feelings as Well as the Content.
An active listener cedes control of the conversation to the other party. Given enough leeway, true motivations, feelings, and beliefs can come forth. After the active listening session runs its course, you can start to talk and act like an MBA know-it-all again.
Performance Appraisals. One of the most mismanaged tools for organizational improvement is the performance appraisal. Rating forms are sometimes used effectively for timely feedback and personal development. However, most of the time it is a task that is delayed until the appraisal has really lost all usefulness. Effective appraisals ought to have three types of goals:
Organizational
Feedback and Evaluation
Coaching and Development
Organizational goals aim to ensure proper conduct and levels of performance, placement, promotion, and pay. The feedback and evaluation aspects provide both employees and employers with a formal process and documentation of performance. Coaching and development should ultimately be the primary goals of an appraisal. How can we improve, rather than punish, unsatisfactory performance? Working together, the boss and the subordinate should agree on specific targets and timetables for improvement. These plans for the future lay the groundwork for a follow-up.
The problem is that managers tend to avoid this evaluation process. Subordinates are defensive. The appraisal must be timely; both participants must be prepared. The boss should foster an open climate of real communication (both ways) and make the purpose of the appraisal clear. As simple as the appraisal can be, it is seldom done right.
In addition to the potential for improvement, appraisals provide employers the documentation to legally fire an employee. Without documentation a disgruntled worker could sue the company for lack of just cause.
Reprimands. Sometimes an MBA will be called on to lower the boom. In line with my class discussions, the MBA should reprimand a subordinate using the following four steps.
1. Check out the facts first. Ask yourself if you caused the problem.
2. Give warning that you need to talk about the problem.
3. Pause and express your displeasure. Tell it exactly as you see it. Yelling is counterproductive.
4. Display a caring attitude. “I did not approve of your behavior, but you are still okay.” “Let’s learn from this and put it behind us.” The idea is to do it firmly, clearly, and move on to new business.
“A good manager can balance his reprimands with praise.”
Managing Your Boss. MBAs are not always bosses. Most start out as lowly analysts, planners, and associates. Ironically, these are the positions that operations classes characterize as corporate fat, ripe for trimming. Even if MBAs find themselves in more senior managerial jobs, it’s a safe bet that they will have a boss to deal with. Even presidents have to deal with chairmen!
Management of the relationship upward is as important as managing your relationship below. That’s why I’ve included it in this book. To give the MBA an edge, the curriculum includes a session on how to manage your boss. “Managing Your Boss” appeared in the Harvard Business Review in January 1980. It was written by John Gabarro and John Kotter, and it captures the subject well.
“The first step to success on the job is to understand bosses and their context, including:
Their stated and unstated goals and objectives
The pressures on them
Their strengths, weaknesses, blind spots
Their preferred work styles
“The second step is to be introspective and assess yourself and your needs, including:
Your own strengths and weaknesses
Your personal style
Your predisposition toward dependence on or resistance to authority figures
“The third step is to incorporate the first two steps and develop and maintain a relationship that:
Fits both your needs and styles
Is characterized by mutual expectations
Keeps your boss informed—bosses hate surprises!
Is based on dependability and honesty
Selectively uses your boss’s time and resources”*
Simply by asking a few questions at the start of the relationship, you can avoid making major political blunders in the future. Some bosses like a formal relationship, memos, and meetings with agenda. Others prefer informal notes and frequent unstructured meetings. Smart MBAs take the initiative to ask their bosses how they would prefer to communicate rather than guess. Careers often hang in the balance. I still keep Gabarro and Kotter’s article at my desk as a reminder to manage my boss.
Understanding Power on the Job. If MBAs want power, then they ought to know more about what they seek. There are actually five types of power:
Coercive
Reward
Referent
Legitimate
Expert
Coercive power is based on fear. Failure to comply with a request could result in some form of punishment. A person with coercive power can influence or directly fire, demote, or transfer an employee. At a firehouse, the chief has the power to assign shifts. If you get on the chief’s bad side, it could mean you work holidays.
Reward power is based upon the expectation of receiving praise, recognition, or income. It’s the opposite of coercive power.
Referent power is derived from being a person whom other people admire regardless of formal job status. These people are said to have charisma to inspire and to attract followers. Star salespeople have this role in sales organizations.
Legitimate power is due to the formal status held in the organizational hierarchy. Those with this type of power can use it to reward, to ax, and to influence the lives of others in the organization. A shift foreman has the power to assign duties on an assembly line.
Expert power comes from one’s own skill, knowledge, or experience. People with expert power have the ability to manipulate others. This is without regard to their position in the company. Often it is a lowly computer technician who may have the power to bring a senior executive to his cubbyhole. The
boss must crawl for assistance. Crafty technicians fix it so that they alone have the ability to tap into the database. This preserves their expert power. It’s a manager’s job to cross-train people to prevent the birth of such little generals in their organizations.
In the political gamesmanship of corporations, it is important for MBAs to recognize all the people in the organization with the power to influence their lives.
MBO and MBWA. MBO and MBWA are frequently used abbreviations in MBA babble. MBO means management by objective. It is a management style popularized by management guru Peter Drucker in the 1950s. Bosses delegate tasks by “negotiating a contract of goals” with their subordinates without dictating a detailed road map for implementation. MBO managers focus on the result, not the activity. At Frito-Lay, for example, a vice president might set a sales target for her regional sales managers. The managers decide what tactics and strategy are needed to meet the objective.
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