UNIT-I

Introduction Nature and Importance of Organizational Behavior - Management

Functions, Roles and Skills – People Skills.

Meaning of Organizational behavior

Organizational behavior is the systematic study of human behavior, attitudes and
performance within an organizational setting; drawing on theory methods and
principles from such disciplines as psychology, sociology and cultural
anthropology to learn about individual perceptions, values, learning capacities and
actions while working in groups and careful application of knowledge about how
people- as individuals and as groups- act within the total organization; analyzing
the external environment’s effect on the organization and its human resources,
missions, objectives and strategies.
“Organizational behavior is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction, and
control of human behavior in organizations.”
— Fred Lathan’s

“OB is the study of human behaviour in organizational setting, of the interface

between human behaviour and organization and of the organization itself.”
___ K Aswathappa

“OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and
structures have on behaviour within organizations for the purpose of applying such
knowledge towards improving an organization’s effectiveness.”
___ Stephen P. Robbins

“Organizational behaviour can be defined as the study and application of

knowledge about human behaviour related to other elements of an organization
such as structure, technology and social systems.”
___ L. M. Prasad
 “Organizational behaviour is the study and application of knowledge about how
people act within organizations.”
___Davis and Newstram

Why Is Organizational Behavior Important?

Organizational behavior describes how people interact with one another inside of an
organization, such as a business. These interactions subsequently influence how the
organization itself behaves and how well it performs. For businesses, organizational
behavior is used to streamline efficiency, improve productivity, and spark innovation to
give firms a competitive edge.

What Are the 4 Elements of Organizational Behavior?

The four elements of organizational behavior are people, structure, technology, and the
external environment. By understanding how these elements interact with one another,
improvements can be made. While some factors are more easily controlled by the
organization—such as its structure or people hired—it still must be able to respond to
external factors and changes in the economic environment.

What Are Some Common Problems that Organizational

Behavior Tries to Solve?
Organizational behavior can be used by managers and consultants to improve the
performance of an organization and to address certain key issues that commonly arise.
These may include a lack of direction or strategic vision for a company, difficulty
getting employees on board with that vision, pacifying workplace conflict or creating a
more amenable work environment, issues with training employees, poor communication
or feedback, and so on.

The need to study organizational behaviour

There is a strong need to study organizational behaviour for the following reasons –

• To understand the reason why people behave in a certain way

• To understand why one team is more effective than the other
• To understand why one individual is competent whereas others are not
• To understand the process through which utilization of resources is
possible
 • To understand the basis of motivation and what a manager should do to
motivate the employees
• To understand the various ways for developing inter-personal relations in
an organization

There are several practical reasons why we study Organizational Behavior;

• OB is the study of learning how to predict human behavior and then apply it in
some useful way to make the organization more effective. It helps in the
effective utilization of people working in the organization and guarantees the
success of the organization.
• OB helps managers to understand the basis of motivation and what he should
do to motivate their subordinates.
• OB helps to maintain cordial industrial relations which help to increase the
overall productivity of the industry.
• It helps greatly in improving bur inter-personal relations in the organizations.
• It helps managers apply appropriate motivational techniques in accordance with
the nature of individual employees who exhibit a learning difference in many
respects.

What Are the 3 Levels of Organizational Behavior?

• The first is the individual level, which involves organizational psychology and
understanding human behavior and incentives. The second level is groups, which
involves social psychology and sociological insights into human interaction and
group dynamics. The top-level is the organizational level, where organization
theory and sociology come into play to undertake systems-level analyses and the
study of how firms engage with one another in the marketplace.

Organizational Behaviour – 3 Levels

• OB can be defined as actions and behaviors of individuals and groups

towards and their impact on the organization’s overall functioning and
performance. OB can be studied at various levels within an
organization, and each level has a unique set of roles, responsibilities,
and goals.

Following points discuss the three levels briefly:

 1. Individual Level – Deals with the concepts at the individual level.
Examples of individual-level concepts are perception, personality,
learning, motivation, and attitude.

2. Group Level – Deals with the concepts at the group level. Examples
of group-level concepts are team, conflict, leadership, power, and
politics. Group-level concepts may include how groups are formed,
how to make effective teams, how individually and collectively the
group activities can be improved, how to motivate employees, and
which type of group would be suitable for a particular assignment.

3. Organizational Level – Deals with the concepts at the

organizational level. Examples of organizational-level concepts are
change management and organizational culture. Other topics discussed
at organizational level include the concept of organization, different
organizational models, and organizational change along with its impact
and implementation. The working conditions and stress management
are also discussed at the organizational level.

Objectives of organizational behaviour

The goals of organizational behaviour are

• Finding the right people

• Job satisfaction
• Understanding the employees in a better way
• Organizational culture
• Leadership and conflict resolution
• Developing a good team
• Developing good leaders
• Higher productivity

Importance
The importance of organizational behaviour is
 • Organizational behaviour helps to build a better relationship in an
organization by achieving social, corporate and people’s objectives
• Organizational behaviour fosters goodwill of the organization
• Organizational behaviour helps to create sustainable competitive
advantages by covering people into valuable resources through various
practices
• Organizational behaviour helps in better coordination within the
organization
• Organizational behaviour includes behaviour, change management, training
and development, teams and leadership etc.
• Organizational behaviour is significant as it helps to achieve objectives at a
fast pace
• Organizational behaviour facilitates motivation
• Organizational behaviour improves relations in an organization.
• Organizational behaviour helps in optimal utilization of resources.
• Organizational behaviour results in higher levels of efficiency.
• Organizational behaviour is multidisciplinary as it applies different types of
theories, methods and techniques to evaluate the performances.
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR NATURE:

Organizational behaviour has emerged as a separate field of study.

The nature it has acquired is identified as follows:

1. A Separate Field of Study and Not a Discipline Only:

By definition, a discipline is an accepted science that is based on a theoretical
foundation. But, O.B. has a multi- interdisciplinary orientation and is, thus,
not based on a specific theoretical background. Therefore, it is better
reasonable to call O.B. a separate field of study rather than a discipline only.
2. An Interdisciplinary Approach:
Organizational behaviour is essentially an interdisciplinary approach to study
human behaviour at work. It tries to integrate the relevant knowledge drawn
from related disciplines like psychology, sociology and anthropology to make
them applicable for studying and analyzing organizational behaviour.
3. An Applied Science:
The very nature of O.B. is applied. What O.B. basically does is the
application of various researches to solve the organizational problems related
to human behaviour. The basic line of difference between pure science and
O.B. is that while the former concentrates of fundamental researches, the
latter concentrates on applied researches. O.B. involves both applied research
and its application in organizational analysis. Hence, O.B. can be called both
science as well as art.

4. A Normative Science:
Organizational Behaviour is a normative science also. While the positive
science discusses only cause effect relationship, O.B. prescribes how the
findings of applied researches can be applied to socially accepted
organizational goals. Thus, O.B. deals with what is accepted by individuals
and society engaged in an organization. Yes, it is not that O.B. is not
normative at all. In fact, O.B. is normative as well that is well underscored by
the proliferation of management theories.

5. A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach:

Organizational Behaviour applies humanistic approach towards people
working in the organization. It, deals with the thinking and feeling of human
beings. O.B. is based on the belief that people have an innate desire to be
independent, creative and productive. It also realizes that people working in
the organization can and will actualize these potentials if they are given
proper conditions and environment. Environment affects performance or
workers working in an organization.

6 A Total System Approach:

The system approach is one that integrates all the variables, affecting
organizational functioning. The systems approach has been developed by the
behavioral scientists to analyze human behaviour in view of his/her socio-
psychological framework. Man’s socio- psychological framework makes man
a complex one and the systems approach tries to study his/her complexity and
find solution to it.

MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

Four generally accepted functions of management:

• Planning
• Organizing
• Leading
• Controlling

o These functions work together in the creation, execution and realization of

organizational goals.
o The four functions of management can be considered a process where each
function builds on the previous function.
o To be successful, management needs to follow the four functions of
management in the proper order.

❖ Planning:

Managers first need to develop a plan, then organize their resources and delegate
responsibilities to employees according to the plan, then lead others to efficiently
carry out the plan, and finally evaluate the plan’s effectiveness as it is being
executed and make any necessary adjustments.

In the planning stage, managers establish organizational goals and create a course
of action to achieve them. During the planning phase, management makes strategic
decisions to set a direction for the organization. Managers can brainstorm different
alternatives to achieve the objective before choosing the best course of action.
While planning, managers typically conduct in-depth analysis of the organization’s
current state of affairs, taking into consideration its vision and mission and
evaluating what resources are available to meet organizational objectives.
While planning, managers usually evaluate internal and external factors that may
affect the execution of the plan, such as economic growth, customers and
competitors. They also establish a realistic timeline for achieving the goal or goals
based on the organization’s available finances, personnel and resources. Managers
may have to take additional steps, such as seeking approval from other
departments, executives or their board of directors before proceeding with the plan.

There are several approaches to planning:

• Strategic planning: This type of planning is often carried out by an

organization’s top management and usually creates goals for the entire
organization. It analyzes threats to the organization, evaluates the
organization’s strengths and weaknesses and creates a plan of how the
organization can best compete in its environment. Strategic planning usually
has a long timeframe of three years or more.
• Tactical planning: Tactical planning is the shorter-term planning of an
objective that will take a year or less to achieve. It is usually carried out by
an organization’s middle management. Tactical planning is usually aimed at
a specific area or department of the organization such as its facilities,
production, finance, marketing or personnel.
• Operational planning: Operational planning is the process of using tactical
planning to achieve strategic planning and goals. Operational planning
creates a timeframe for putting a portion of the strategic goal into practice
operationally.

❖ Organizing:

The purpose of organizing is to distribute the resources and delegate tasks to

personnel to achieve the goals established in the planning stage. Managers may
need to work with other departments of the organization, such as finance and
human resources, to organize the budget and staffing. During the organizing stage,
managers strive to create a work environment conducive to productivity. Managers
typically take employees’ motivation and aptitude into account to match
employees with roles and tasks that best fit their abilities.

When assigning team member roles, managers should explain and ensure that
employees understand their individual duties. To help employees feel engaged and
productive, managers should ensure that employees are assigned an appropriate
amount of work and an appropriate amount of time to complete their work.
Here are some examples of the organizing function:

• If the company’s brand manager works part-time and the organization’s goal
is to launch a new advertising campaign for a product, the brand manager
may not take on the significant responsibility of managing the campaign
besides their regular duties. The company may hire an advertising agency to
help with the promotion of the product.
• If a company’s sales in a geographic area have grown exponentially,
management may plan to split the territory in two and need to divide the
current team working in the territory and hire additional staff members as
needed.

❖ Leading:

Leading consists of motivating employees and influencing their behavior to

achieve organizational objectives. Leading focuses on managing people, such as
individual employees, teams and groups rather than tasks. Though managers may
direct team members by giving orders and directing to their team, managers who
are successful leaders usually connect with their employees by using interpersonal
skills to encourage, inspire and motivate team members to perform to the best of
their abilities.

Managers can foster a positive working environment by identifying moments when

employees need encouragement or direction and using positive reinforcement to
give praise when employees have done their jobs well.

Managers usually incorporate different leadership styles and change their

management style to adapt to different situations. Examples of situational
leadership styles include:

• Directing: The manager leads by deciding with little input from the
employee. This is an effective leadership style for new employees who need
a lot of initial direction and training.
• Coaching: The manager is more receptive to input from employees. They
may pitch their ideas to employees to work cooperatively and build trust
with team members. This style of leadership is effective for individuals who
need managerial support to further develop their skills.
• Supporting: The manager decides with team members but focuses more on
building relationships within the team. This style of leadership is effective
 for employees who have fully developed skills but are sometimes
inconsistent in their performance.
• Delegating: The leader provides a minimum of guidance to employees and
is more concerned with the vision of the project than day-to-day operations.
This style of leadership is effective with employees able to work and
perform tasks on their own with little guidance. The leader can focus more
on high-level goals than on tasks.

➢ Controlling:

Controlling is the process of evaluating the execution of the plan and making
adjustments to ensure that the organizational goal is achieved. During the
controlling stage, managers perform tasks such as training employees as necessary
and managing deadlines. Managers monitor employees and evaluate the quality of
their work. They can conduct performance appraisals and give employees
feedback, providing positive remarks on what they are doing well and suggestions
for improvement. They may also offer pay raise incentives to high-performing
employees.

Managers may need to make adjustments such as:

Budget adjustments

Managers monitor the budget and resources to ensure that they are using the
resources available and not going over budget. For example, a manager may notice
that she is going over budget on a project but be unsure what is causing the project
to go over budget. In this situation, she will need to identify whether there is a
general problem with overspending or whether one department, in particular, is
going over budget. Once the manager identifies the source of the overspending, she
must take action to curb overall spending and make cuts as necessary to balance
the budget.

Staffing adjustments

Managers may need to make challenging decisions such as whether to reassign an

employee who produces a low-quality work to a different task or dismiss them
from a project. They may also need to add additional team members to meet an
organizational goal if they conclude that the team is understaffed. If this is the
case, they may also need to consult with organization executives to secure more
funding.
MANAGEMENT ROLE:

Organization behavior examines and gathers the insights on employee behavior, as how
to drive them with the proper motivation by understanding them a little better.
Organizational behavior should start with the role of the managers and how well they
incorporate moral and support down the hierarchy. Managerialism is not just about
gaining profits, and executing control but, creating a safe space for interaction of
different opinions and to be able to work as a group and achieve organizational goals.
As they say, there is no I in Team. The organization that works together, grows
together.
It all comes down to the question of, what role should the manager play, keeping in
mind what should be expected of him/her with respect to organizational behavior?
• As a manager, he probably fulfill many different roles every day.
• For instance, as well as leading the team, resolving a conflict, negotiating new
contracts, representing your department at a board meeting, or approving a
request for a new computer system.
• Put simply, you're constantly switching roles as tasks, situations, and
expectations change. Management expert and Professor Henry Mintzberg
recognized this, and he argued that there are ten primary roles or behaviors that
can be used to categorize a manager's different functions.

What Are Mintzberg's Management Roles?

Mintzberg published his Ten Management Roles in his book, "Mintzberg on
Management: Inside our Strange World of Organizations," in 1990.

The ten management roles are:

• Figurehead.
• Leader.
• Liaison.
• Monitor.
• Disseminator.
• Spokesperson.
• Entrepreneur.
• Disturbance Handler.
• Resource Allocator.
• Negotiator.
From MINTZBERG ON MANAGEMENT by Henry Mintzberg. Copyright © 1989 by Henry Mintzberg. Reprinted by
permission of Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Category Roles

Figurehead
Leader
Interpersonal Liaison

Monitor
Disseminator
Informational Spokesperson

Entrepreneur
Disturbance Handler
Resource Allocator
Decisional Negotiator
Role of Managers:

➢ Interpersonal Management Roles

The managerial roles in this category involve providing information and ideas.

Figure Head –

In this role, the manager performs duties of ceremonial nature, such as,
attending an employee’s wedding, taking the customer to lunch, greeting the
tourist dignitaries and so on.
As a manager, you have social, ceremonial and legal responsibilities. You're
expected to be a source of inspiration. People look up to you as a person
with authority, and as a figurehead.

Leader Role –

In this role, the manager is a leader, guiding the employees in the right path,
with the proper motivation and encouragement.
 This is where you provide leadership for your team, your department or
perhaps your entire organization; and it's where you manage the
performance and responsibilities of everyone in the group.

Liaison Role –

In this role, the manager cultivates contacts outside the vertical chain of
command to collect useful information for the organization.
Managers must communicate with internal and external contacts. You need
to be able to network effectively on behalf of your organization.

➢ Informational Role:
Monitor Role –

In this role, manager acts as a monitor, perpetually scanning the

environment for information, keeping an eye on the liaison contacts and
subordinates and receive unsolicited information.

In this role, you regularly seek out information related to your

organization and industry, looking for relevant changes in the environment.
You also monitor your team, in terms of both their productivity, and their
well-being.

Disseminator Role –

In this role, manager acts as a disseminator by passing down privileged

information to the subordinates who would otherwise have no access to it.

This is where you communicate potentially useful information to your

colleagues and your team.

Spokesperson Role –

In this role, manager acts a spokesperson by representing the organization

before various outside groups, which have some stake in the organization.
These stakeholders can be government officials, labour unions, financial
institutions, suppliers, customers, etc. They have a wide influence over the
 organization, so the manager should coin their support by effectively
managing the social impact of the organization.
Managers represent and speak for their organization. In this role, you're
responsible for transmitting information about your organization and its goals
to the people outside it.

➢ Decisional Role :

• Entrepreneurial role –

In this role, the manager acts as an entrepreneur, always thirsty for new
knowledge and innovation to improve the organization. Nowadays, it doesn’t
matter if the organization is bigger or better, but it is necessary that it grows
consistently. Innovation is creating new ideas which may either result in the
development of new products or services or improving upon the old ones.
This makes innovation an important function for a manager.
As a manager, you create and control change within the organization. This
means solving problems, generating new ideas, and implementing them.

• Disturbance handler role –

In this role, the manager acts a disturbance handler, where the manager has to
work reactively like a firefighter. The manager should come up with solutions
to any problem that arises and handle it in an orderly way.

When an organization or team hits an unexpected roadblock, it's the

manager who must take charge. You also need to help mediate disputes
within it.

• Resource allocator role –

In this role, the manager acts as a resource allocator where the manager must
divide work and delegate authority among his subordinates. The manager
should plan out which subordinate will get what based on the abilities and
who will be more suited into a particular task.
You'll also need to determine where organizational resources are best
applied. This involves allocating funding, as well as assigning staff and other
organizational resources.
 • Negotiator –

In this role, the manager acts as a negotiator where the manager at all levels
has to spend considerable time in negotiations. The president of a company
may negotiate with the union leaders about a new strike issue or the foreman
may negotiate with the workers about a grievance problem, etc.
You may be needed to take part in, and direct, important negotiations within
your team, department, or organization.

Management Skills

Managerial skills are the knowledge and ability of the individuals in a

managerial position to fulfil some specific management activities or tasks.
This knowledge and ability can be learned and practiced. However, they also
can be acquired through practical implementation of required activities and
tasks. Therefore, you can develop each skill through learning and practical
experience as a manager.

When we talk about managerial skills, we talk about the skills of a manager to
maintain high efficiency in the way how his or her employees complete their
everyday working tasks. Because of that, managers will need skills that will
help them to manage people and technology to ensure an effective and
efficient realization of their working duties.

Types of managerial skills

Robert Katz identifies three types of skills that are essential for a successful
management process:

• Technical skills
• Conceptual skills
• Human or interpersonal management skills

➢ Technical Skills
• As the name of these skills tells us, they give the manager knowledge and
ability to use different techniques to achieve what they want to achieve.
 Technical skills are not related only for machines, production tools or other
equipment, but also they are skills that will be required to increase sales,
design different types of products and services, market the products and
services, etc.

• Technical skills are most important for first-level managers. What it comes
to the top managers, these skills are not something with high significance
level. As we go through a hierarchy from the bottom to higher levels, the
technical skills lose their importance.

• The ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. All jobs require

some specialized expertise, and many people develop their technical skills
on the job.

➢ Human Skills
• Ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both
individually and in groups, describes human skills.

• Many people are technically proficient but interpersonally incompetent.

• Human or interpersonal management skills present a manager’s knowledge

and ability to work with people. One of the most critical management
tasks is to work with people. Without people, there will not be a need for the
existence of management and managers.

• These skills enable managers to become leaders and motivate employees for
better accomplishments. Additionally, they help them to make more
effective use of human potential in the company. Simply, they are essential
skills for all hierarchical levels in the company.

➢ Conceptual Skills
• The mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations.
 • Decision making, for example, requires managers to spot problems, identify
alternatives that can correct them, evaluate those alternatives, and select the
best one.

• Conceptual skills present knowledge or ability of a manager for more

abstract thinking. That means he can easily see the whole through analysis
and diagnosis of different states. In such a way they can predict the future of
the business or department as a whole.

• Conceptual skills are vital for top managers, less critical for mid-level
managers and not required for first-level managers. As we go from the
bottom of the managerial hierarchy to the top, the importance of these skills
will rise.

People skills
❖ The ability to relate to others.

“Having the ability to relate to others and their position or viewpoint is crucial in
business,” Hockett says. “By having a well-rounded personality and set of
experiences, it’s usually possible to relate to almost anyone.” Sometimes being able to
relate to others simply means that you’re willing to agree to disagree with mutual
respect; letting them know you understand their position.

❖ Strong communication skills.

This is the most fundamental people skill because it encompasses your persona and
ability to get along with other colleagues, persuade others to listen to your ideas, and
much more, Taylor says. “If you have a gift for the spoken and written word, you will
always put your best foot forward. Being articulate is highly prized in today’s
workplace, when time is at a premium and technology requires constant
communication.”

Parnell says articulation is a very important “people skill.” “Illusory transparency

refers to the notion that as we speak to others, we believe that they are of the same
mindset as us, and are processing things exactly as we would. Even if this were
possible - which it's not - it would be incredibly challenging because of semantic
ambiguity,” he explains. “Universal quantifiers for instance - all, any, every, etc. - are
systematic violations of accurate communication in that they are rarely true in a literal
sense, and leave significant room for translation. Effective communicators are very
careful to understand these systematic violations, and avoid them or accommodate
them when necessary.”

➢ Patience with others.

“If you're patient with others and can keep a level head in stressful situations, it will
definitely be noticed by management and perceived as a very strong asset,” says Amy
Hoover, president of Talent Zoo. “When your boss is forced to deal with a situation
where people have lost their cool he or she will certainly remember the troublemakers
when the next promotion comes available.”

➢ The ability to trust others.

You can only accelerate your career if you’re trustworthy. “Without it, you can’t get
projects done or get cooperation,” Taylor says. “No one can operate in a vacuum for
long.”

➢ Knowing how and when to show empathy.

“Having the ability to place yourself in someone else’s shoes is a key people skill,”
says Ryan Kahn, a career coach, founder of The Hired Group, star of
MTV’s Hired! and author of Hired! The Guide for the Recent Grad. It allows us to
create relationships with others, provides insights into people’s motives and allows us
to predict responses.

“Offer support, sympathy and feedback in your daily business life,” Taylor suggests.
“It will bring you positive emotional returns – part of ‘corporate karma.’” If you
contribute to a dehumanized company, both you and your employer will have limited
growth potential, she says.

Hockett reminds us that things are not always black and white, and in order to have
effective relationships with others we need to show compassion where appropriate.
“In a perfect world there would be no hiccups, but life happens and knowing when to
show compassion when others face challenges is important.”

➢ Active listening skills.

Hearing someone and actively listening to them are two different things, Hockett
explains. Most people hear someone speak and start to form a response in their mind
(or worse, starting talking) before the person finishes what they’re saying. “The key is
to actively listen, which takes more time but produces better results. It means you
listen without interruption and then take the time to think and form a response before
replying. It takes practice, but it pays off.”

Taylor says the axiom “we were given two ears and one mouth” speaks volumes. “Be
a good listener and remain sensitive to the needs of your workers and boss. This
people skill can be practiced; and once honed, you’ll see the difference in the positive
reaction of those around you.”

➢ Genuine interest in others.

People know when you’re truly interested in them, Kahn says. “If you’re not showing
a genuine interest – asking thoughtful questions and considering about their answers –
your interaction can actually have an opposite effect to the one intended. Take care to
remember names, dates and important life events.”

➢ Flexibility.

Being "likable" or having a "good personality" are highly contingent and context
dependent attributes, Parnell explains. “Your prison-bound uncle's personality may
not be likeable at the Thanksgiving table, but it may serve him well once incarcerated.
Supreme communicators have a keen ability to shift gears when the context calls for
it, and a deep well of communication options to choose from. This way, they can
respond accordingly to what the current situation requires.”

Taylor agrees. She adds: “If you can bend your own rules and beliefs, you are by
definition a ‘good people person.’”

➢ Good judgment.

Good judgment is a key people skill that comes directly from learning, listening to
others and observing the world around you, Kahn says. “It allows you to wisely select
friends and associates, determine reactions and responses, and make sound decisions.”

Parnell adds: “Pay attention to your gut - it often has something valuable to say.”

➢ The ability to persuade others.

There’s a good chance that at some point in your career you’ll have to sell others on
your ideas, products or services. Whether you’re up for a promotion, pitching a
project, or selling clothing in a retail store, you need to be able to form a strong,
convincing argument for why you, or your products, are the very best, or the “right”
one.

➢ Negotiation skills.

Good negotiating skills are beneficial with both internal and external discussions,
Hoover says. “Internally, job offers and salary discussions greatly benefit from solid
negotiating, as well as when it's time to pitch a new idea or sway coworkers to your
way of thinking. Externally, both vendors and customers often require negotiations
and you can really become the hero when you are successful in either scenario.”

➢ The ability to keep an open mind.

“To create trust and respect in others, people need to know that their point of view and
feedback will be considered and used,” Kahn says. Being known as someone who
keeps an open mind also makes you more approachable and easier to work with.

➢ A great sense of humor.

“Who doesn’t enjoy laughing? It’s ‘the great diffuser’ of tension and conflict. If you
can jam the system of tension or routine with levity, you will thrive in your job,”
Taylor says. “It was once said that ‘nobody ever died of laughter,’ and if you can
retain some lightheartedness in your job, you’re likely to get more air time during
meetings and overall.”

➢ Knowing your audience.

Knowing what, how, and when to say things to others is critical. For example, if
someone just loss their job, it’s probably not a good idea to talk about your promotion.
This seems trivial, but it’s one of the primary reasons why people encounter
communication breakdowns with each other, Hockett explains.

➢ Honesty.

The saying, “honesty is the best policy” is not only true, it’s essential in building trust
among your colleagues, Taylor says. “Once you lose it, it’s almost impossible to
regain.

Kahn agrees and says people want to work with those that they know they can
trust. “Honesty is the foundation of any relationship, particularly in business.”

➢ Awareness of body language.

The importance of body language cannot be emphasized enough, since it makes up the
majority of how we communicate with others. “The reality is, we’re communicating
with people all the time even when we’re not speaking. Being mindful of what our
gestures, expressions, voice, and appearance are communicating can greatly help or
harm our people skills,” Hockett says.

➢ Proactive problem solving.

Work is a series of problem solving situations, but if you’re proactive, you’ll take the
pressure off your boss and colleagues, Taylor says. This is a great people skill to have
in the workplace.

➢ Leadership skills.

If you can motivate a team and help those around you do their best work, you'll be
more successful even if you're not in management, Hoover says.

➢ Good manners.

“Using ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ goes a long way in the realm of people skills,”
Taylor explains. While seemingly obvious, some need little reminders. Keeping a post
it with a smile or another icon can remind us that work is more than getting something
accomplished, it’s how we get it accomplished.

➢ The ability to be supportive and motivate others.

“People want others to believe in them, regardless of how successful they might be.
By showing support in the form of encouragement, you can put someone back on
track or keep them headed in the right direction,” Hockett explains.

Taylor says: “Not only should you praise and recognize your staff, all the while being
accessible and upbeat. You should also be motivational around your boss and
colleagues. Employees at all levels want to be around enthusiastic people with drive
and high energy.”

“When workers know how to conduct themselves with people sensitivity, their career
outlook is much more enhanced,” Taylor says. “Employees who are aware of the
‘human factor’ in the workplace understand how to get things done.” Assuming the
work is satisfying, it’s how people feel at work that will determine their loyalty and
contributions.
Hockett concludes: “Nowadays many of us live in two worlds, the real and digital one.
Make sure that your people skills are consistent across both.”