UNIT-V LEADING HIGH PERFORMANCE

Employee performance refers to how workers behave in the workplace and how well they
perform the job duties organization obligated to them. Company typically sets performance
targets for individual employees and the company as a whole in hopes that its business offers
good value to customers, minimizes waste and operates efficiently. For an individual
employee, performance may refer to work effectiveness, quality and efficiency at the task
level.

Individual performance affects the team of employees and organizational performance. If the
organization has employees who can't keep up or who perform subpar work, this means that
other workers may have to pick up the job or that it has to have work redone. When employee
performance is poor, organization may not be able to satisfy its customers and thus see
negative impacts on profits, company reputation and sales.

Employee performance is defined as how employees fulfil their job duties and executes their
required tasks. It refers to the effectiveness, quality, and efficiency of their output.
Performance also contributes to our assessment of how valuable an employee is to the
organization. Each employee is a serious investment for a company, so the return that each
employee provides must be significant.
Factors affecting work performance are many. Some of the prominent factors include:
 Job design or the structuring of the job and goals
 The extent of knowledge, skill, and expertise to do the job.
 The ability or the capability to perform the required tasks to match expected standards.
 Hygiene factors such as pay and other benefits.
 Motivators that provide positive reinforcement for the employee
 Environmental conditions such as ergonomics, availability of equipment, and co-
workers.
 Feedback from the supervisors or management such as performance appraisals,
providing the employee with a measured indicator of performance and targets, and
training to overcome shortcomings.
Job design and goal setting based on feedback from management play a crucial role in
improving employee performance. Research establishes that properly designed jobs with
specific targets of achievement help employ in enhancing the performance.

Organization and Job Design

Within the organization, the function of job design is regarded to be of utmost significance. It
is vital for the individuals to formulate a theoretical framework of job design and then put
into practice the strategies and methods that are necessary to perform the job duties up to the
required standard. Organizations have goals and objectives to achieve. When strategies and
approaches are put into practice regarding the designing of jobs, then it is vital to take into
consideration the organizational goals as well as the personal goals of the employees. In
addition to job duties, it needs to be ensured that employees possess the required skills and
abilities that are needed to perform the job duties well.

Within the organization, the individuals are in a hierarchy. With the chairperson at the top-
most position, then the director, general managers, assistant managers, supervisors and
workers. These individuals are assigned their respective duties and perform roles towards the
implementation of organizational tasks and functions. The process of job design has been
defined as the specifications of the contents, methods and relationships of the jobs, with the
purpose of satisfying the technological and the organizational requirements and also the
personal and the social requirements of the job holder. Job design is an important method that
the employees use to improve their performance. It is the manner, in which the organizations
define and structure jobs. There are numerous types of jobs within the organization, from
the upper level till the lower level. The individuals are required to possess efficient skills and
abilities in order to perform their job duties in a well-organized manner. The job design is
referred to “the formulation of techniques, methods, strategies and approaches within the
job”. The individuals are required to possess efficient qualifications, skills and training to
perform their job duties satisfactorily.
The job design primarily focuses upon the designing of the process of transformation
of inputs into outputs and takes into consideration, the organizational and the cultural factors
that have an impact upon transformation. In particularly production and manufacturing
organizations, when workforce is engaged in the production of goods, by making use of
materials, machines and other equipment, then it is referred to as job design. On the other
hand, in service organizations, when the individuals are engaged in the production of
services, then they are required to make use of the knowledge and information and produce
the desired outcome. Research has indicated that at the skill level, the designing of the job
takes place with optimum variety, meaningful whole task, optimum work-cycle, control over
work standards and feedback of results, preparation and auxiliary tasks, use of valued skills,
knowledge and efforts, and perceivable contribution to complete the product.
Approaches to Job design
Four popular approaches to job design are job rotation, job engineering, job enlargement and
job enrichment.
Job Rotation
Job rotation refers to moving employees from job to job to add variety and reduce boredom
by allowing them to perform a variety of tasks. When an activity is no longer challenging, the
employee would be to another job at the same level that has similar skill requirements. It
reduces boredom and disinterest through diversifying the employee’s activities. Employees
with a wider range of skills give the management more flexibility in scheduling work,
adapting to changes and filling vacancies.
Job rotation also has its drawbacks. Training costs are increased. Work is disrupted as rotated
employees take time to adjust to a new set-up, and it can de-motivate intelligent and
ambitious trainees who seek specific responsibilities in their chosen specialty. According to
Herzberg, job rotation is merely “substituting one zero for another zero”.

Job Engineering
Job engineering focuses on the tasks to be performed, methods to be used, workflows among
employees, layout of the workers, performance standards, and interdependence among people
and machines. Experts often examine these job design factors by means of time-and-motion
studies, determining the time required to do each task and the movements needed to perform
it efficiently.
Specialization of labour is the hallmark of job engineering. High level of specialization is
intended to (a) allow employees to team a task rapidly; (b) permit short work cycles so that
performance can be almost automatic and involve little or no mental effort; (c) make hiring
easier because low-skilled people can be easily trained and paid relatively low wages; and (d)
reduce the need for supervision, using simplified jobs and standardization.

Although job engineering can also create boring jobs, it remains an important job design
approach because the resulting cost savings can be measured immediately and easily.

This approach continues to be successfully used, particularly when it is combined with a

concern for the social context in which the jobs are performed. Job engineering may be used
with success, subject to the following golden rules of work design being ensured:

 The end product/output of the work is clearly defined and fully understood by the
employees.
  The steps/tasks to be performed to achieve the required end product/output are clearly
defined in the appropriate sequence.
 The employees know and understand where their responsibility starts and finishes in
the work process.
 The tools, facilities and information needed to perform the work are readily available
and fully understood by the employees.
 There is a process whereby the employees can suggest possible improvements in the
work design and exercise initiative in implementing them.
 The employees are involved in the work design process.
Job Enlargement
Job enlargement refers to the expansion of the number of different tasks performed by an
employee in a single job. For example, and auto mechanic undergoes job enlargement when
he switches from only changing oil to changing oil, greasing and changing transmission fluid.
Job enlargement attempts to add somewhat similar tasks to the existing job so that it has more
variety and be more interesting.

The job enlargement approach to job design has been criticized as well as appreciated.
An enlarged job can motivate an individual for five reasons:

a. Task Variety: Highly fragmented jobs requiring a limited number of unchanging

responses tend to be extremely monotonous. Increasing the number of tasks to be
performed can reduce the level of boredom.
b. Meaningful Work Modules: Frequently, jobs are enlarged so that one worker
completes a whole unit of work, or at least a major portion of it. This tends to increase
satisfaction by allowing workers to appreciate their contribution to the entire project
or product.
c. Ability Utilization: Workers derive greater satisfaction from jobs that utilize their
physical and mental skills and abilities better. Enlarged jobs tend to fulfil this
condition. However, management must be careful not to enlarge jobs too much,
because jobs that require more skills and ability than the worker possesses lead to
frustration and present obstacles to task accomplishment. Enlarged jobs with optimal
levels of complexity, on the other hand, create tasks that are challenging but
attainable.
d. Worker-paced Control: Job enlargement schemes often move a worker from a
machine-paced production line to a job in which the worker paces himself/herself.
 Workers feel less fatigued and are likely to enjoy their work more if they can vary the
rhythm and work at their own pace.
e. Performance Feedback: Workers performing narrow jobs with short performance
cycles repeat the same set of motions endlessly, without a meaningful end point. As a
result, it is difficult to count the number of completed performance cycles. Even if
they are counted the feedback tends to be meaningless. Enlarged jobs allow for more
meaningful feedback and can be particularly motivating if they are linked to
evaluation and organizational rewards.
Job Enrichment
First coined by Herzberg in his famous research with motivators and maintenance factors, job
enrichment has become a popular concept. It simply means adding a few more motivators to
a job to make it more rewarding. To be specific, a job is enriched when the nature of the job
is exciting, challenging and creative, or gives the job holder more decision-making, planning
and controlling power. According to Herzberg, an enriched job has eight characteristics.

a. Direct Feedback: Employees should be able to get immediate knowledge of the

results they are achieving. The evaluation of performance can be built into the job or
provided by a supervisor.
b. Client Relationship: An employee who serves a client or customer directly has an
enriched job. The client can be outside the firm (such as a mechanic dealing with a car
owner) or inside (such as a computer operator executing a job for another
department).
c. New Learning: An enriched job allows its incumbent to feel that he is growing
intellectually. An assistant who clips relevant newspaper articles for his or her boss is,
therefore, doing an enriched job.
d. Scheduling own Work: Freedom to schedule one’s own work contributes to
enrichment. Deciding when to tackle which assignment is an example of self-
scheduling. Employees who perform creative work have more opportunity to schedule
their assignments than those who perform routine jobs.
e. Unique Experience: An enriched job has some unique qualities or features, such as a
quality controller visiting a supplier.
f. Control Over Resources: One approach to job enrichment is for each employee to
have control over his or her resources and expenses.
g. Direct Communication Authority: An enriched job allows the worker to
communicate directly with people who use his or her output, such as a quality
assurance manager handling a customer’s complaints about quality.
 h. Personal Accountability: An enriched job holds the incumbent responsible for the
results. He or she receives praise for good work and blame for poor work.

Job enrichment seeks to improve both task efficiency and human satisfaction by building into
people’s jobs, quite specifically, greater scope for personal achievement and recognition,
more challenging and responsible work, and more opportunity for individual advancement
and growth.
An enriched job will have more responsibility and autonomy (vertical enrichment), more
variety of tasks (horizontal enrichment), and more growth opportunities. The employee does
more planning and controlling with less supervision but more self-evaluation. In other words,
what the supervisor has been doing till now (planning, instructing, controlling and
supervising) will now be done by the worker.

The Job Characteristics Approach to Job Design

Job characteristics Theory of Hackman and Oldham states that employees will work hard,
when they are rewarded for the work they do, and when the work gives them satisfaction.
Hence, they suggest that motivation, satisfaction and performance should be integrated in the
job design. According to this approach, any job can be described in terms of five core
dimensions which are defined as follows:

1) Skill variety: The degree to which the job requires that workers use a variety of different
activities, talents and skills in order to successfully complete the job requirements.
2) Task identity: The degree to which the job allows workers to complete whole tasks from
start to finish, rather than disjointed portions of the job.
3) Task significance: The degree to which the job significantly imparts the lives of others
both within and outside the workplace.
The entire job dimensions impact workers psychologically. The first three dimensions affect
whether or not workers view their job as meaningful. Autonomy determines the extent of
responsibility that the workers feel. Feedback allows for feelings of satisfaction for a job well
done by providing knowledge of results.
The core job dimensions can be combined into a single predictive index called the Motivating
Potential score. Its computation is as follows:
Motivating potential score = Skill variety + Task identity + Task Significance / 3 x
Autonomy x Feedback
Critical psychological states: The model states that core job dimensions are more rewarding
when individuals experience three psychological states in response to job design.
Personal and work outcomes: Jobs are high on motivating potential and must be high at
least in one of the three factors that lead to meaningful work and must be high in both
autonomy and feedback and vice-a-versa. These three critical psychological states lead to
outcomes such as (1) high internal work motivation (2) high growth satisfaction, (3) high
quality work performance, (4) high general job satisfaction, (5) high work effectiveness and
(6) low absenteeism and turnover (Figure). The models say that internal rewards are obtained
by the individual when he learns that he personally has performed well on a task that he cares
about job characteristics model:
Research finding on the job characteristics model have been generally supportive. These
studies have indicated that:
1) People who work on jobs with high core job dimensions are more motivated satisfied
and productive than those who do not.
 2) People with strong growth needs respond in a positive way to jobs that have high
motivating potential than do those with weak growth dimensions.
The structure of work therefore has a significant bearing on an employee’s motivation level.
The decision to structure a job in a particular way reflects other considerations (such as
environment technology skill, levels etc) apart from the job’s motivating potential.
Ironically the main features of the job characteristics design method – its intrinsic
psychological motivation may be its biggest drawback. Supervisors attempting to apply these
principles may discover that for many employees these psychological states are unimportant.
In fact, research to date indicates that some employees respond exceedingly well to jobs
redesigned according to job characteristics dimensions, whereas for others, it has no
discernible impact.

Objectives of Job Design

A job design is the long term assignment of tasks, by means of which, the individuals are able
to render an imperative contribution towards achievement of organizational goals and
objectives in an efficient manner. The objectives of job design have been stated as follows:
1. Technical Feasibility – A job is the set of tasks and duties that are assigned to be
performed. It is essential to make a selection of skilled and proficient human resources
and methods and procedures that are used in the adequate implementation of jobs and
functions.
2. Economic Feasibility – The organizations are required to take into consideration their
financial resources. The costs that are involved in the implementation of tasks and
functions, such as, seminars, training and development programs, workshops and so forth
should not be too high and should be within the budget of the organizations.
3. Behavioural Feasibility – The behaviour and the personality traits also affects to a
major extent in the implementation of job design. When the individuals are required to
perform manual jobs in factories and industries, then it is essential to ensure that they are
mentally, medically fit and not suffering from any ailment.
Outcomes of the Job Design Approaches
The positive and the negative outcomes of the job design approaches have been stated as
follows:
i. Work Simplification – As the name implies, work simplification is putting into practice
the strategies and methods that are used to make the tasks and functions that are related to
the job more manageable. The individuals feel at ease and get alleviated from any types of
negative perceptions in terms of the jobs, other members and the working environmental
conditions, when their job duties get simplified. The positive outcome of work
 simplification is, the individuals, who are less trained and less skilled are able to perform
the job duties in an appropriate manner. When the work is simple, they do not experience
any problems in its implementation. The reason being, individuals normally do not
encounter any major problems and difficulties, in simple tasks and functions. Another
positive outcome is when the employees are less paid, then too they do not experience any
challenges when the jobs are simplified. The negative outcome is, oversimplification
results in making the job duties monotonous, and individuals usually lose interest.
ii. Job Rotation – Job rotation is the process of transfer of the employees from one place or
department to another within the organization. This process has been common in large
organizations. This process contributes in generating awareness and knowledge among the
individuals in terms of various areas and develops their skills and abilities effectually. This
process also helps in alleviating any monotony or tediousness that the individuals
experience within the course of performance of job duties. Job rotation is planned in the
job training phase. It is a helpful task of transferring the employees from one job to
another. The positive outcome of job rotation is jobs intrinsic rewards potential is likely to
increase and the organization benefits, because it is initiating means for the progression
opportunities for the employees. When the employees are able to generate awareness
among them in terms of various areas, then the process of job rotation is regarded as
positive. The negative outcome is jobs do not undergo any type of improvements; hence
this may make the workers feel frustrated.
iii. Job Enlargement – As the same implies, job enlargement means extension,
augmentation, broadening and elaboration of the jobs. Job enlargement is regarded as one
of the main areas that vests more job duties upon the individuals. It is a combination of
different jobs and adding connected duties to the jobs. The individuals need to perform
more job duties and functions. The positive outcome of job enlargement is, individuals are
motivated to work and feel that more duties and responsibilities would enable them to
enhance their career and acquire promotional opportunities. It claims to have a
motivational impact. The negative outcome of job enlargement is, the workers usually feel
that they would not be able to carry out all the job duties and responsibilities, hence, in this
way, some of the job duties get resisted by them. Resisting job duties have negative effects
upon their jobs and in maintaining appropriate terms and relationships with the other
members.
iv. Job Enrichment – Job enrichment is regarded as one of the aspects that is desired by the
workforce and other members of the organization. In this function, methods and strategies
are adopted for the purpose of upgrading the tasks and functions that are associated with
the jobs. Job enrichment not only enhances the skills and abilities of the workforce, but
 also renders a significant contribution in leading to achievement of organizational goals
and objectives. Job enrichment is usually encouraged by using modern and innovative
strategies and methods. The positive outcome is, there is an increase in motivation and
reduction in the rate of absenteeism among the employees. Job enrichment leads to an
increase in job depth, the degree to which the employees can plan and control their work
duties. The negative outcome is, individuals do not feel satisfied with the introduction of
modern and innovative techniques and methods and prefer to make use of the same
traditional methods, which they have been using.
v. Autonomous Work Team – Autonomous work team is when the employees form a team,
which is granted permission to carry out the tasks independently. The team is assigned a
task or a project and they are allowed to put into practice various tasks and functions on an
independent basis. The positive outcome is, the workforce is meant to make use of
strategies, methods, techniques and approaches on their own. Therefore, this independence
may generate the desired outcome or they may not be able to satisfy their employers. They
are also able to gain recognition of employment opportunities and are able to realize the
significance of employment. The negative outcomes are, when the work team is
implementing the task, then they are meant to communicate with the managers and
supervisors regarding it, only after its completion. Before completion, they are just
supposed to consult them briefly. Therefore, in this way, the managers and supervisors do
not render any contribution.
vi. High Performance Work Design – High performance work design is when the
individuals make use of advanced, modern and innovative strategies and methods.
Through these methods, the individuals are not only meant to generate awareness but they
are able to bring about improvement in productivity. When production and manufacturing
processes takes place within the organization, then the individuals are assigned number of
tasks and functions. The job duties are assigned to them in accordance to their skills and
abilities. The positive outcome of high performance work design is, the workforce are able
to obtain the opportunities of working in an environment of high rate of innovation and
operational freedom. The negative outcome is, individuals in some cases do not feel
confident in making use of these methods. When they are required to use these methods
and approaches, they usually feel apprehensive and vulnerable. The reason being, they
have not made use of them before.
Job design is regarded as a method that is used in the structuring of the jobs. It is
communicated to the employees, when they attend the training and development programs, so
that they are able to generate awareness in terms of other jobs within the organization. The
job design is transferring of the employees to different areas, so that they are able to develop
their skills and abilities. The theoretical framework of job design includes, improvement in
motivation, reduction in stress, job satisfaction, improvement in performance, socio-technical
designs, health conditions, time management, coping with challenges, organization and
systematization and autonomy and feedback.

Goal Setting

Goal achievement is a factor that influences the success levels of individual employee,
departments and business units and the overall organization. A goal is a performance target
that an individual or group seeks to accomplish at work. Goal setting is the process of
motivating employees by establishing effective and meaningful performance targets.
Goal-setting theory of motivation states that specific and challenging goals along with
appropriate feedback contribute to higher and better task performance.
In 1960’s, Edwin Locke put forward the Goal-setting theory of motivation. This theory states
that goal setting is essentially linked to task performance. It states that specific and
challenging goals along with appropriate feedback contribute to higher and better task
performance.
In simple words, goals indicate and give direction to an employee about what needs to be
done and how much efforts are required to be put in. The important features of goal-setting
theory are as follows:
 The willingness to work towards attainment of goal is main source of job motivation.
Clear, particular and difficult goals are greater motivating factors than easy, general and
vague goals.
 Specific and clear goals lead to greater output and better performance. Unambiguous,
measurable and clear goals accompanied by a deadline for completion avoids
misunderstanding.
 Goals should be realistic and challenging. This gives an individual a feeling of pride
and triumph when he attains them, and sets him up for attainment of next goal. The
more challenging the goal, the greater is the reward generally and the more is the
passion for achieving it.
 Better and appropriate feedback of results directs the employee behaviour and
contributes to higher performance than absence of feedback. Feedback is a means of
gaining reputation, making clarifications and regulating goal difficulties. It helps
employees to work with more involvement and leads to greater job satisfaction.
 Employees’ participation in goal setting is not always desirable. Participation of
setting goal, however, makes goal more acceptable and leads to more involvement.
 Goal setting theory has certain eventualities such as:
 a. Self-efficiency- Self-efficiency is the individual’s self-confidence and faith that he
has potential of performing the task. Higher the level of self-efficiency, greater will
be the efforts put in by the individual when they face challenging tasks. While, lower
the level of self-efficiency, less will be the efforts put in by the individual or he
might even quit while meeting challenges.
b. Goal commitment- Goal setting theory assumes that the individual is committed to
the goal and will not leave the goal. The goal commitment is dependent on the
following factors:
i. Goals are made open, known and broadcasted.
ii. Goals should be set-self by individual rather than designated.
Individual’s set goals should be consistent with the organizational goals and vision
The diagram, figure 3, shows how goal-setting can be weaved into fabric of the organisation
system. The theoretical thrust of this diagram derives from the management legend Prof.
Peter Drucker to whom the term management-by-objectives (MBO) is attributed. MBO
prescribes a systematic approach to the setting of objectives and appraising by results in order
to enhance performance and employee satisfaction. Although the term MBO is obsolete
today, most paradigms that claim to integrate goal setting into the machinery of management
to foster improved organisational performance are but modified and re-engineered systems of
an MBO parentage.

Advantages of Goal Setting Theory

 Goal setting theory is a technique used to raise incentives for employees to complete
work quickly and effectively.
 Goal setting leads to better performance by increasing motivation and efforts, but also
through increasing and improving the feedback quality.
Limitations of Goal Setting Theory

 At times, the organizational goals are in conflict with the managerial goals. Goal
conflict has a detrimental effect on the performance if it motivates incompatible
action drift.
 Very difficult and complex goals stimulate riskier behaviour.
 If the employee lacks skills and competencies to perform actions essential for goal,
then the goal-setting can fail and lead to undermining of performance.
  There is no evidence to prove that goal-setting improves job satisfaction.
Quality of Work Life

So far, the discussion of job design has resolved mainly around job enrichment, fob
characteristics, engagement and social information processing. The concern for quality of
work life (QWL) and the accompanying socio-technical approach to job design and high-
performance work practices (HPWPs) take a more macro perspective.

Quality of Work Life: The quality of work life (QWL) perspective does not advocate one
particular job design technique. Instead, QWL is more concerned with the overall work
climate or culture. QWL may be described as a concern about the impact of work on people
and organizational effectiveness combined with an emphasis on participation in problem
solving and decision making. Quality of work life refers to the level of satisfaction,
motivation, involvement and commitment individuals experience with respect to their lives at
work. It is the degree to which individuals are able to satisfy their important personal needs
while employed by the firm. Companies interested in enhancing employees Quality of work
life generally try to instil in employees the feelings of security, equity, pride, internal
democracy, ownership, autonomy, responsibility and flexibility.

Objectives of QWL: The main objectives of the QWL programmes are to:
 Improve employee satisfaction;
 Improve physical and psychological health of employees which creates positive feelings;
 Enhance productivity of employees;
 Reinforce workplace learning;
 Improved management of the ongoing change and transition; and
 Build the image of the company as best in recruitment, retention, and in general
motivation of employees.
The following figure represents the constructs of quality of work life.
 Figure-1: Construction of Quality of Work Life

The overriding purpose of a QWL programme is to change and improve the work climate so
that the interface of people, technology and the organization makes for a more favourable
work experience and desired outcomes. For this, there are several applications that have been
undertaken. In the area of human resource management, job sharing, flexitime, five day, 10
hours workweeks are examples of attempts to improve the quality of work experience. In
organizational behaviour, the historically important socio-technical approach and the more
recent high-performance work practices (HPWPs) approach deserve specific attention.

Socio-technical Design:
Technological advances have made possible industrial and commercial applications of
artificial intelligence, virtual reality and highly integrated manufacturing systems. It has also
freed business activity from a focus on place, as both work activities and markets have been
able to harness information and communication technologies in order to operate remotely.
There has been a decline in the importance of place in work activities; greater scope for
collaboration; employee autonomy and talent management; and an emphasis on innovation.

Socio-technical systems thinking had its origin in the coal mining industry in Great Britain in
the 1940s. Eric Trist and his colleague at the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations were
interested in founding a social science research organization that would apply Lewin’s ‘action
research’ to address organizational issues and opportunities. In their search for research sites,
Ken Bamforth, a former coal industry executive who had joined the Tavistock staff, made
Trist aware of challenges associated with applying new technology to boost post war coal
production. Different mines, it seemed, were experiencing widely variable results with the
new technology, the reasons for which at the time were not clearly understood. Tavistock
researchers visited the mines, spoke with leaders and workers and began a series of studies
under the auspices of the British Coal Board, an industry-led association.

The socio-technical approach to job design was made popular a number of years ago by the
experiences of the Swedish Saab and Volvo automobile plants. Volvo ECO Pehr
Gyllenhammer led the socio-technical changes in his firm after becoming convinced that the
company was experiencing severe absenteeism and turnover related to conflict between the
values of workers, who wanted more meaningful jobs, and the technological work processes
needed to build cars efficiently.
The changes made at Volvo reflected more natural work modules, which were served by
autonomous work groups who assigned and inspected their own work. Each member of the
group worked toward the same group goals, and all were paid the same except the leader.
After some initial smaller programmes, an entire plant used the new approach. Soon after,
turnover and absenteeism were reduced and workers reported an improved quality of work
life.

Principles of Socio-Technical System (STS)

The value of STS in terms of dealing with different performance indicators by means of three
of these principles in particular, the socio-technical criterion, the principle of minimal critical
specification and the principle of the joint optimization of the technical and the social system.

The socio-technical criterion deals with the control of variance and states that variances
should be controlled as near to their point of origin as possible. The socio-technical criterion
was incorporated in STS from systems theory, where it was referred to as ‘the principle of
requisite variety’. According to this principle, to manage environmental demands
successfully, an organization should have enough means to transform the input of
information, materials and parts into the output that it desires, that is, only variety can beat
variety.
The principle of minimal critical specification refers to the following: define as little as
possible how a worker should perform tasks, but provide just enough directives to ensure that
he or she is able to perform the task properly while still allowing for the employee’s personal
contribution. This refers particularly to local autonomy and decentralized control, which will
result in enriched jobs and empowered workers.
The joint optimization principle deals with the fact that STS endeavours to consider both the
social and the technical system simultaneously. The technical system refers to the production
structure, the technical equipment and to systems from the field of information and
communication technology. The social system refers to human resources, job design and to
the control structure.
Approaches to Socio-Technical System
The STS approach is commonplace today and has come to be viewed as a major category of
organizational theory. Although there are no universally accepted defining principles and
assumptions of the socio-technical approach, the following ideas are commonly identified
with this approach:
 Organizations are open systems. They exist as animate entities in an environment of
customers, competitors, suppliers, regulators, technology, stakeholders, and the broader
economy. They must scan that environment, exchange with it (receive inputs and
produce outputs), and anticipate and react to environmental changes in adaptive ways.
The Tavistock group was strongly influenced by general systems theory as it was
articulated in the physical sciences by Ludwig von Bertalanffy during the 1940s and
1950s. Fred Emery, a noted member of the Tavistock team, brought von Bertalanffy’s
work to the attention of Trist and the rest of the Tavistock group, and it became a pillar
of the socio-technical approach.
 Change is the norm in the environment of work. The business environment is aptly
described as turbulent and uncertain, connoting that change can be sudden, extreme, and
largely unpredictable. Turbulence disrupts previously stable patterns of interaction and
requires a rethinking and redesign of work.
 Joint optimization is essential. Because work is, by its very nature, an intertwined
technical and social process, both aspects need to be integrated into the design of work to
achieve the critical objective of improved productivity and quality of work life.
 Equi-finality, a notion diametrically opposed to Frederick Winslow Taylor’s concept
that there is only one road to success, prevails. In all living systems, there are many
possible ways to achieve the same outcome. Thus, there are many possible work designs
that can achieve the joint goals of productivity and quality of work life.
 Work must be designed for flexibility. Because the environment is constantly
changing, no hardwired design, no matter how well adapted to current conditions, will
continue to fit the evolving demands of the environment. The organization must be
designed— and continually redesigned—for flexibility. The design process is never
completed. No design is ever final.
 Design with minimum critical specification. Work designers should specify only what
absolutely must be specified in terms of technical and social job design parameters and
allow the organization the flexibility to specify the rest for itself.
  Stakeholder input is critical. Employee participation at multiple levels is essential in
creating a socio-technically designed organization and operating it daily. High levels of
employee empowerment are central to the socio-technical philosophy.
 Teams do the work. Teams are the universal, most visible end product of socio-
technical design. The primary production unit is the self-directed work team (also known
as the self-managing, self-regulating, semiautonomous, or high-performance team).
Team members are usually expected or even required to acquire broader skills and more
business knowledge so that they can take on a higher level of decision-making ability
and authority. Internal controls gradually supplant external controls. Teams have access
to much more information than workers in traditionally structured organizations.
Continual learning and growth is expected. Thus, in practice, such multi-skilled teams
commonly complete a whole, meaningful unit of work rather than a subcomponent only.
They absorb some functions traditionally provided by support departments, such as
managing quality, setting production goals, tracking performance and productivity, and
making process improvements. Self-managing teams are the embodiment of the socio-
technical systems approach.
 As teams become more capable of self-direction and less reliant on daily supervisory
control, they are allowed to manage the bulk of their daily work internally. Management
is then able to step out to the boundaries of the team—to focus more strategically on
keeping the team linked with other teams and other parts of the organization and helping
to build and manage such structures as pay-for-skill and gain-sharing programs, which
support the team concept.
 When problems occur, they should be handled at the source by those who directly
encounter them. Thus, quality variances are detected and addressed promptly by line
employees who are trained in quality as well as production.

High-Performance Work Practices (HPWPs)

The high-performance work practices (HPWPs) (sometimes the term system is used instead
of practice) are designed to improve an organization’s financial and operational performance.
HPWPs’ methods are probably the most inclusive of all job design methods described thus
far. Although there are many definitions, a comprehensive review concluded that the best
definition is “an organization system that continually aligns its strategy, goals, objectives and
internal operations with the demands of its external environment to maximize organizational
performance”. The primary emphasis of an HPWP is to achieve a fit among people,
technology, information and work. There must be a further match, in which the firm’s
internal environment meshes and fits with the demands of the external environment,
including supporting customer needs and expectations.
High-performance work practices are defined as a way of organizing work in which
employees participate in making decisions that have a real impact on their jobs and the
broader organization. The aim of these practices is to achieve a high-performance culture,
one in which the norms, values, and human resources are combined to create an environment
in which the achievement of high levels of performance is a way of life.
The strategic importance of human resource management and its impact on financial
performance has created substantial interest within academic and practitioner communities.
This interest is focused on the potential of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) to act
as a unique, sustainable resource supporting the implementation of corporate strategy and the
achievement of operational goals.
The terms such as knowledge workers, intellectual capital and high-performance work
systems reflect a new interest in people as a source of competitive advantage rather than as a
cost that needs to be minimized. Consequently, people as intellectual assets and the systems
within an organization designed to attract, develop and retain them are emerging as
significant elements of the strategic decision-making process.

High-performance work practices (HPWPs) can be defined as practices that have been shown
to improve an organization's capacity to effectively attract, select, hire, develop, and retain
high-performing personnel.

Subsystem #1: Engaging Staff. The four practices in this organizational engagement
subsystem share a common theme of ensuring employees' awareness of and personal stake in
the organization's vision and its current level of success in pursuing that vision.

 Conveying mission and vision—Activities associated with communicating the

organization's scope and purpose to employees, and clarifying their role in supporting
that purpose.
 Information sharing—Practices through which current information on organizational
performance and other information that could affect jobs is communicated to
employees.
 Employee involvement in decision making— Practices supporting employees' ability
to influence the “decisions that matter” through mechanisms such as quality circles,
process project teams, management/town hall meetings, and/or suggestion systems.
  Performance-contingent compensation— Policies and practices that link salary and/or
bonuses to the employee's success in achieving organization-supportive goals.
Examples include profit-related pay, gain-sharing, and goal-anchored bonuses.

Subsystem #2: Acquiring and Developing Talent. The four practices in this subsystem
focus on building the quality of the organization's workforce through attention to attracting,
selecting, and developing staff.

 Rigorous recruiting— Activities and outcomes associated with outreach to attract new
employees. Examples include referral incentives to current employees, employee
branding, and alumni programs. This category also includes strategic practices such as
workforce planning and evaluation of recruiting systems.
 Selective hiring—Practices associated with ensuring that open positions are filled
with the highest quality candidates available from the applicant pool. Examples
include validated selection tools such as personality assessments, work samples, bio-
data, and/or assessment centres.
 Extensive training—Activities involving investment in staff development that is more
than mandated/more than typical as another strategy to achieve greater relative
organizational effectiveness.
 Career development—Practices that focus on identifying career
opportunities/pathways for current employees, as well as providing training to support
those opportunities. Practices related to career development also include an emphasis
on internal labour pools for filling open positions.
Subsystem #3: Empowering the Frontline. These practices most directly affect the ability
and motivation of frontline staff, clinicians in particular, to influence the quality and safety
their care team provides.

 Employment security— Policies and practices that ensure employees greater than
mandated security in their positions. They include policies supporting freedom from
repercussion for speaking up about systems issues/concerns and practices that
generally support stable employment (e.g., avoiding layoffs).
 Reduced status distinctions—Practices that emphasize egalitarianism across employee
roles. Examples include policies and practices supporting open communication across
disciplines.
 Teams/decentralized decision making—Practices of formalizing/defining employees
according to teams and providing those teams (and the individuals on them) greater
latitude in decision making related to how their work is organized and completed.
Subsystem #4: Aligning Leaders. These practices influence the capabilities of the
organization's leadership in running and evolving the organization as a whole.

 Management training linked to organizational needs—Practices involving the

alignment of leadership development resources with the strategic direction of the
organization. Examples include use of core competency models and/or incorporation
of goals to guide training, assessment, and feedback programs.
 Succession planning—Practices designed to proactively identify and address future
leadership needs through leadership workforce analysis, leadership career planning,
and development targeted toward preparing future leaders for promotion.
 Performance-contingent compensation—Practices that link a portion of leadership
compensation to successful achievement of corporate, division, and/or departmental
goals.

There are several key aspects of HPWPs that are especially relevant to organizational
behaviour research, theory building and practice. First, the approach expands understanding
of the “fit” concept between people and technology to include other elements of the work
experience, notably the organization’s culture, which may be related to the quality of work
life. Second, this approach highlights empowerment in addition to team-based and non-
financial rewards. Further, employees are to be rewarded for their specific competencies and
for learning. The HPWPs perspective also emphasizes the disadvantages associated with
people doing jobs that do not match their competencies. For instance, many organizations
have recently experienced the problem of managers performing too many low-level activities,
which sometimes called “scut work”. This misallocation of time reduces the emphasis on the
strategic focus that should be engaging senior and middle managers.

Most importantly, HPWPs insist on effective human resource management selection and
evaluation practices. This includes multiple selectors and effective training of selectors (e.g.
as found in an assessment centre) and innovative performance evaluations and ways to
provide feedback (e.g., 360 degree feedback system). The goal of HPWPs is to go beyond
simply trying to fit employees with existing technological structures within the organization.
In addition, the fit should exist with organizational processes, information flows and
managerial operations.

Behavioural Performance Management:

It is fact that all organizational behaviour is either directly or indirectly affected by learning.
For example, a worker’s skill, a manager’s attitude, a staff assistant’s motivation, a
salesperson’s optimism and confidence and an accountant’s mode of dress are all learned.
With the application of learning process and principles, employees’ behaviour can be
analyzed and managed to improve their performance.

Behaviour-based management is the simple principle that people perform best when they
know:
 What they are supposed to do
 How they are supposed to do it
 When they are supposed to do it
 And, what is in it for them

When looking at this simple principle, there is no difference between performance-

based management and behaviour-based management except for the management styles
used to achieve the corporate goals. The bottom line management is still focus on how
do workers’ perform to increase revenue and keep customers happy.

The most basic purpose of any theory is to better understand and explain the
phenomenon in question. When theories become perfected, they have universal
application and should enable prediction and control. Thus, a perfected theory of
learning would have to be able to explain all aspects of learning (how, when and why),
have universal application (for example, to children, college students, managers and
workers) and predict and control learning situations
Contingency Thinking
Everybody attempts to explain behaviour: Parents ponder the reasons for their children’s
behaviour; teachers attempt to influence their students’ behaviour; star crossed lovers try to
predict the behaviour of their chosen one. This is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing
because it is the source of public interest in psychological science. It is a curse because lay
explanations of behaviour strongly compete with scientific ones. Behavioural psychology
emerges from a pragmatic and contextualistic philosophy of science that treats psychological
events as the integrated action of a whole organism interacting in and with a context
considered both historical and situational. These situated actions include all forms of
psychological activity: moving, speaking, thinking, feeling, reasoning, problem-solving, and
so on. It does not matter whether the action is publicly observable or observable only to the
person engaging in it. Even private events can be studied scientifically, for reasons we will
describe later.
Reinforcement and Punishment as Principles of Learning
Although contingency analysis in a broad sense existed before the work of B. F. Skinner, he
formalized this approach in 1938 and added a focus on whether specific contingencies
resulted in an increase or decrease in the frequency of behaviour over time. Reinforcement
and punishment contingencies are distinguished by their effects on behaviour. Any behaviour
occurs in a given situation (the antecedent) and is followed by particular consequences. If
over time, the behaviour increases in frequency (due to the contingency among antecedents,
behaviour, and consequences), the consequences are characterized as reinforces and the
operation is called reinforcement. If the behaviour decreases in frequency (due to the
contingencies), the consequences are characterized as punishers. “Reinforcement” and
“punishment” are thus contingent relations (or dependencies) linking the frequency with
which a behaviour occurs, its antecedents, and its consequences. These “three-term-
contingencies” constitute the simplest unit of analysis in behavioural psychology. It is
important to remember that this unit encompasses not only the events preceding and
following the behaviour, but the dependent relations between them and resulting changes in
the frequency of that behaviour over time. Any one of the three terms (antecedents,
behaviour, or consequences) may be verbal.
Reinforcement
The terms rewards and reinforcers are often used interchangeably and loosely, but in
behavioural performance management have very precise definitions and usage. An often cited
circular definition of reinforcement says that it is anything the person finds rewarding. This
definition is of little value because the words reinforcing and rewarding are used
interchangeably, but neither one is operationally defined. A more operational definition can
be arrived at by reverting to the laws of behaviour. Specially, reinforcement in behavioural
management is defined as anything that both increases the strength and tends to induce
repetitions of the behaviour that preceded the reinforcement. A reward, on the other hand, is
simply something that the person who presents it deems to be desirable.
Reinforcement is functionally defined. Something is reinforcing only if it strengthens the
behaviour preceding it and induces repetitions. For example, a manager may ostensibly
reward an employee who found an error in a report by publicly praising the employee. Yet
on examination it is found that the employee is embarrassed and chided by co-workers and
error-finding behaviour decreases in the future. In this example, the “reward” is not
reinforcing. Besides clearing up differences between reinforcers and rewards, behavioural
management also requires making the distinction between positive and negative reinforcers.
Positive and Negative Reinforcers
There is much confusion surrounding the terms positive reinforcement, negative
reinforcement and punishment. First of all, it must be understood that reinforcement, positive
or negative, strengthens the behaviour and increases the probability of repetition. But positive
and negative reinforcers accomplish this impact on behaviour in completely different ways.
Positive reinforcement strengthens and increases behaviour by the presentation of a desirable
consequence. Negative reinforcement strengthens and increases behaviour by the threat of the
use of an undesirable consequence or the termination or withdrawal of an undesirable
consequence. The following figure briefly summarizes the differences between positive and
negative reinforcement and punishment. Giving recognition and attention to an employee for
the successful completion of a task could be an example of positive reinforcement (if this
does in fact strengthen and subsequently increase this task behaviour). On the other hand, a
worker is negatively reinforced for getting busy when the supervisor walks through the area.
Getting busy terminates being “chewed out” by the supervisor.

Reinforcement Punishment
(Increase/maintain behaviour ) (Decrease behaviour )
Add pleasant stimulus
Positive Add aversive stimulus to
to
( Add Stimulus ) Decrease behaviour
Increase/maintain behaviour
Remove aversive stimulus Remove pleasant stimulus
Negative
to to
(Remove Stimulus )
Increase/maintain behaviour Decrease behaviour
Negative reinforcement is more complex than positive reinforcement, but it should not
be equated with punishment. In fact, they have opposite effects on behaviour.
Negative reinforcement strengthens and increases behaviour, whereas punishment
weakens and decreases behaviour. However, both are considered to be forms of
negative control of behaviour. Negative reinforcement is really a form of social
blackmail, because the person will behave in a certain way in order not to be punished.

Punishment
Punishment is one of the most used but least understood and badly administered
aspects of behavioural management. Whether rearing children or dealing with
subordinates in a complex organization, parents and supervisors or managers often
revert to punishment instead of positive reinforcement in order to modify or control
behaviour. Punishment is commonly thought to be the reverse of but equally effective
in altering behaviour. However, this simple analogy with reinforcement is not
warranted. The reason is that punishment is a very complex phenomenon and must be
carefully defined and used.
Meaning of Punishment
Punishment is anything that weakens behaviour and tends to decrease its subsequent
frequency. Punishment usually consists of the application of an undesirable or noxious
consequence, but as shown in the above figure, it can also be defined as the withdrawal
of a desirable consequence. Thus, taking away certain organizational privileges from
the manager who has poor performance record could be thought of as punishment.

Many people confuse negative reinforcement with punishment in operant conditioning, but
they are two very different mechanisms. Remember that reinforcement, even when it is
negative, always increases behaviour. In contrast, punishment always decreases behaviour.
Punishment, especially when it is immediate, is one way to decrease undesirable behaviour.

Administering Punishment
However, there is little doubt that the use of punishment tends to cause many
undesirable effects. Neither children nor adults like to be punished. The punished
behaviour tends to be only temporarily suppressed rather than permanently changed
and the punished person tends to get anxious or uptight and resentful of the punisher.
Thus, the use of punishment as strategy to control behaviour is a lose - lose approach.
Unless the punishment is severe, the behaviour will reappear very quickly, but the
more severe the punishment, the greater the side effects such as hate and revenge.
To minimize the problem with using punishment, persons administering it must always
provide an acceptable alternative to the behaviour that is being p unished. If they do
not, the undesirable behaviour will tend to reappear and will cause fear and anxiety in
the person being punished. The punishment must always b e administered as close in
time to the undesirable behaviour as possible. Calling subordinates into the office to
give them a reprimand for breaking a rule the week before is not effective. All the
reprimand tends to do at this time is to punish them for getting caught. The punishment
has little effect on the rule-breaking behaviour. When punishment is administered, it
should be remembered that there is also an effect on the relevant others who observing
the punishment.

Behavioural Performance Management or Organizational Behaviour Modification

Behavioural performance management is based on behaviouristic, social learning and social

cognitive theories and especially the principles of reinforcement. The following discussion
summarizes the steps of applying the O.B modification approach to behavioural performance
management.
Modern behaviourists lay great emphasis on operant conditioning for moulding behaviour of
individuals and motivating them. Behaviour modification, popularly known as OB MOD
makes use of various reinforcements to influence the behaviour of individuals. OB Mod is
derived and developed from the work of B.F. Skinner. This technique helps the managers in
modifying or eliminating undesirable behaviour and replacing it with behaviour that is more
compatible with goal attainment.
OB Mod in simple words can be defined as a technique for modifying the behaviour of the
organisational members so that they are engaged in desirable behaviour and replacing it with
undesirable behaviour. It can be used for motivating the employees as well as for enhancing
organisational effectiveness.
According to Stephen P. Robbins:
“OB Mod is a programme where managers identify performance related employee
behaviours and then implement an intervention strategy to strengthen desirable behaviour and
weaken undesirable behaviours.”
According to Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn:
“OB Mod is the systematic reinforcement of desirable work behaviour and the non
reinforcement or punishment of unwanted work behaviour. It includes four basic
reinforcement strategies. Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment and
extinction”
A-B-C’s of Behaviour Modification:
Behaviour modification as has been just explained helps the manager in eliminating or
modifying undesirable behaviour and replacing it with behaviour that’s more compatible. It
further helps us to understand how environmental contingencies influence behaviour.

There can be two contingencies of behaviour:

 The Antecedents. These are the events preceding the behaviour.
 The consequences i.e. the events that follow a particular behaviour.

Both these variables put together form the A-B-C model. The main aim of this model is to
change Behaviour by managing its antecedents and consequences as is shown in the
following diagram:
A-B-C’s Of Behaviour Modification
Steps in OB Modification:
Fred Luthans and R. Kreitner developed and used OB Mod to represent a behavioural
approach to the management of human resources for performance improvement.

The steps given by them in applying the OB Mod are summarized in the following figure:

These steps are discussed as follows:

1. Identification:
The first step in the OB Mod is identification of performance related behaviours. First of all
the behaviour should be identified as desirable or undesirable from the point of view of the
organisation. Then in the next stage, critical behaviours, that have significant impact on the
employees’ performance, should be given due attention. The critical behaviours can be
identified through discussions with the particular employee and his immediate superior as
both are closely intimated with the job behaviours.

Some of the critical behaviours which affect job performance are absenteeism or attendance,
tardiness or promptness, complaints or constructive criticism, listening to or not listening to
the instructions, etc. If such behaviours are modified, good results could be expected. Due
attention should be given to the critical behaviour because they get repeated again and again.

2. Measurement:
After the critical behaviours of the employees have been identified, the next step for the
manager is to measure the frequency of the critical behaviour over time. The measurement
can be done by observation and by extraction of information from records. If the frequency is
within the acceptable limit, it will require no action, but if it exceeds the acceptable limit,
it will need immediate attention. The measurement of behaviour will also help the managers
in determining the success in changing the employees’ behaviour.

3. Analysis:
At the next step, the managers will have to do a functional analysis of the behaviour that
requires modification. This analysis will determine what circumstances lead to a particular
type of behaviour, what are the consequences of such behaviour etc. Contingent
consequences of behaviour should be identified because these consequences have impact on
subsequent behaviour. Moreover, some contingent consequences appear to be affecting the
critical behaviour on the surface only, the functional analysis should try to find out the
competing contingencies for every behaviour also.

4. Intervention:
Once the critical behaviour has been identified and the circumstances which cause such
behaviours have been determined, the next step will be to develop an effective intervention
strategy. There are several strategies that can be used at this stage. These include positive or
negative reinforcement, extinction or punishment.

The use of a particular strategy will depend upon the type of situation faced. After developing
and implementing a particular strategy, the frequency of resulting behaviour is measured. If a
behaviour change has occurred in the right direction, the manager will select a reinforcement
schedule that will maintain the desired behaviour.

5. Evaluation:
The last stage in OB Mod is the evaluation whether the intervention strategies are working
properly or not. The basic purpose of OB Mod is to bring change in undesirable behaviours
so as to improve performance. Evaluation will reveal whether the undesirable behaviours
have been substituted by desirable behaviour or not. If there has been a change in behaviour,
whether it is permanent or just temporary.
Further, the evaluation will also show whether there is improvement in the performance or
not. If there is a positive change, it suggests that the interventions are successful. However, if
the change is not significant, it may call for adoption of alternate and more appropriate
strategies.

Utilities of OB Modification:
OB Mod has been applied successfully in many organisations, service as well as
manufacturing, to improve organisational effectiveness and understand human behaviour in
organisations. It is an important technique of human resource management.

The major strengths and utilities of OB Mod are as follows:

1. Can be Put to Testing:
OB Mod concentrates on a person’s external behaviour and this allows a manager to
realistically observe and deal with outward manifestations of behaviour. Since it deals with
observed behaviour it can be put to testing.

2. Development of Employees:
OB Mod presents a set of tools by which people can learn new behaviours and skills and
thereby replacing undesirable behaviours. Positive reinforcement could be used to encourage
desirable behaviour by the employees. Social learning theory can be of great use in the
effective implementation of any training programme for the employees. Thus, OB Mod is a
great technique of developing the employees.

3. Control and Regulation of the Employees’ Behaviour:

OB Mod provides various tools to the managers for effectively controlling and influencing
the behaviour of employees in the organisation. Most behaviour in the organisation are
learned, controlled and changed by the consequences. The managers can use operant
conditioning to control and regulate the behaviour of subordinates by manipulating the
reward system.

The behavioural consequences that are rewarding increase the probability of desired
behaviour whereas aversive consequences decrease the probability of desired response.

4. Easy to Understand and Use:

The understanding of OB Mod techniques is comparatively easy. Managers can use these
without many problems. OB Mod has received great attention from several organisations in
the recent years. It is widely applied in large organisations in the areas of human resource
management, executive development, motivation, introduction of change and organisational
development.

Criticism of OB Modification:
OB Mod has been applied in many organisations and has actually benefitted organisations
also. Still some people criticise it on the grounds that it is unethical and manipulative in
character and so it should not be used by the managers to regulate the behaviour of others.

The main objections raised against OB Mod are as follows:

1. The basic criticism against OB Mod is that Skinner’s operant conditioning principles were
developed after a series of experiments with white rats. The critics suggest that this technique
is an applied rat morphism and tends to equate human beings with rats, but organisations are
more complex than Skinner’s boxes.

2. Operant conditioning techniques ignore the individuality of person and constitute a threat
to the concept of personal autonomy. These techniques are employed by managers to
manipulate and control the human beings into another person’s concept of ideal person.

3. OB Mod techniques restrict freedom of choice of behaviour. This works against the basic
concept of creativity and innovation; which are required for successful working of the
organisations.

4. OB Mod is based on the assumption that individual behaviour is a function or is controlled

by his environment and that forces internal to the individual have little effect on operant
behaviour. However, empirical evidence suggests that operant behaviour is also a function of
certain cognitive and affective variables residing in the individual. It does not take care of
people’s perception, beliefs, needs and expectations.

5. OB Mod is an exercise in over simplification. It cannot be considered as an innovative and

new technique of management. It is just a new name given to the old concepts. In past, many
techniques of behaviour modification have been in practice.

6. The idea of changing employees’ behaviour through reinforcement under OB Mod is in

conformity with the traditional thinking that people need to be directed to get the work done.
In the modern world, where the people are enlightened, and self motivated, this view cannot
be accepted.

7. External awards under OB Mod amounts to bribery as some rewards are presented when
the person shows the behaviour according to the wishes of the changing agent. OB Mod
ignores the internal causes of behaviour. It ignores the fact that intrinsic pleasure of job is
more important to some employees.

8. OB Mod is also criticized on the ground that managers are forced to psychoanalyse the
workers and tie performance to rewards continuously. Quite often, it is too difficult to
measure the complex behaviour most employees engage in. It may be more difficult to teach
reinforcement principles to lower level managers and design reward system that help
creativity and are not manipulative.
9. Behaviour modifications have been applied primarily with groups such as younger students
in schools, delinquents in institutions, patients with behavioural disorders etc. However,
organisational settings are different than laboratory settings and therefore, behaviour
modifications cannot be applied in organisational settings, as applicable to laboratories.

In-spite of the criticisms levied against OB Mod, it has been increasingly used in business
organisations. It is being utilized as a practical tool for shaping, improving and motivating
behaviour of organisational members. OB Mod should not be treated as a technique to be
applied indiscriminately as panacea for all organisational behavioural problems. Rather the
management should keep in mind its shortcomings and to apply it within the context of its
limitations and shortcomings.

Organizational Leadership Theories

Leadership can be defined as the ability of the management to make sound decisions and
inspire others to perform well. It is the process of directing the behaviour of others towards
achieving a common goal. In short, leadership is getting things done through others.

A leader is someone who influences others to attain the goals of a group or organization. As a
small business owner, you are the leader of your organization and would probably like to
know what makes some leaders successful while others have less success. This is
where theories of leadership in organizational behaviour come in.
Importance of Leadership
Leadership is very important in a firm as it leads to higher performance by the team
members. It improves motivation and morale within the members, and helps to respond to
change.
Leadership facilitates organizational success by creating responsibility and accountability
among the members of the organization. In short, it increases value in an organization.

Leader Vs Manager
A leader is someone whom people follow or someone who guides or directs others. A
manager is someone who is responsible for directing and controlling the work and staff in an
organization, or of a department within it.
The main difference between the two is that a leader works by example, while a manager
dictates expectations. If a manager goes against the rules, that will tarnish his position as a
manager. If a leader goes against the example he or she is trying to set, that will be seen as a
setback. Following are a few subtle differences between the two −
  A leader is an innovator and creator whereas a manager is a commander.
 A leader can’t be a manager but the opposite is possible, a manager is more than a
leader.
 A leader does what is right, while the manager makes things right.
 A leader deals with change whereas a manager plans for a change.
 A leader gives direction to do something whereas the manager plans for everything
that is to be done.
 A leader encourages people whereas the manager controls people.
 A leader handles communication, credibility, and empowerment whereas a manager
deals with organizing and staffing.
Leadership Styles
Different leadership styles exist in work environments. The culture and goal of an
organization determine which leadership style fits best. Some organizations offer different
leadership styles within an organization, depending on the necessary tasks to complete and
departmental needs.
The truth is that there is no magic formula. There is no fixed set of characteristics that make
one a better leader in all circumstances. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t be a successful
leader. When you have an understanding of leadership theories and concepts, then you should
be able to pick the approach that works for you, depending on your unique circumstances.
The following are the most well-known organizational leadership models in the corporate
world. They are as follows −
The Trait Theory of Leadership
According to trait theory, there are specific traits that are shared by all successful leaders. In
fact, when the earliest forms of this theory were declared, leadership was considered to be an
innate quality; a trait in and of itself, that some people are born with. However, over time, the
theory was refined to show that many of these leadership traits can be acquired by those who
have not had the good fortune of being born with them.
Traits that are common to leaders include empathy, integrity, likeability, critical thinking,
decision making, assertiveness, and many others. All of these are traits that prove important
when helping others and can be developed.
No Guarantee
A disclaimer must be made here. Having any of these traits, in any given combination, does
not guarantee that the owner of the traits is going to succeed as a leader. It should be
understood that a trait isn’t an internal quality; a trait is an external manifestation of our
internal mental processes. It is the beliefs and perspectives we hold within ourselves that
make for our ability to be effective and successful leaders.
Certain traits will, therefore, manifest themselves as a result of these internal processes. To
work on the trait rather than the internal process that generates it is to put the cart before the
horse.
The Behavioural Theory of Leadership
According to behavioural theory, a leader is as a leader does, so the focus is on the common
behaviour of leaders. In that case, there are many types of behaviour exhibited by leaders all
around the world and throughout history. There are leaders whose word is law, and there are
those that prefer to allow the people to have a hand in the decision-making process.
Which are better? Again, it all depends, and there is no magic formula even here.
According to the framework developed by Kurt Lewin in the 1930s, there are 3 types of
leadership under behavioural leadership theory:
i. Autocratic Leadership: These are the leaders who do not consult their subordinates
when making decisions in the workplace. Once the decisions have been made the
subordinates are expected to cooperate with them with no objections. This type
of leadership certainly has an environment where it is highly effective. When decisions
have to be made fast, and the leader has extensive knowledge and experience, needing
little input, then they can use autocratic leadership to their advantage. Autocratic
leadership also works in situations where goals and outcomes are quite clear, and the
agreement of the team with the leader’s decisions is not necessary for the outcome to be
successful.
ii. Democratic Leadership: A democratic leader seeks the input of their subordinates
before making a decision. The exact degree of input that the leader wants from their team
will vary with the leader. Democratic leadership works in situations where the agreement
of the team is necessary for a successful outcome. It also works when the team is cohesive
and well-aligned with its goals. There should also be a time for deliberations
before decisions are made. This kind of leadership can be difficult in situations where the
team is so diverse as to have too many different ideas and perspectives.
iii. Laissez-Faire (Participative) Leadership: This type of leader does not involve
themselves in the dealings of their subordinates. They give their subordinates the leeway
to make their own decisions and direct their own work. To be sure, this type
of leadership can work in certain situations, such as where a team is composed of highly
skilled and experienced individuals who are competent, motivated, and capable of taking
initiative, therefore not requiring any kind of supervision.
 It doesn’t work very well outside of this very particular environment. In fact, most of
the time, laissez-faire leadership is the result of a lazy and distracted leader, and it
fails more often than not.
  The behavior of a leader will directly affect a team's performance. According to
studies that have been conducted over the years, each of these leadership styles is
appropriate in different situations. A good leader is one who can use the right style in
the right circumstances.
The Functional Theory of Leadership
According to this theory, the leader has one main responsibility: to assess the needs of their
followers and then meet those needs. They are also tasked with other functions that relate to
this one main responsibility:
 To monitor the environment within which their subordinates work.
 To organize activities for their followers so that everyone always has something to do.
 To train their subordinates and increase their knowledge and skill sets.
 To motivate and inspire their followers.
 To participate in the activities of the group. This is important as it forces them to have
skin in the game and builds trust in them among their followers.
The Transformational Theory of Leadership
According to this theory, the leader is tasked with seeing the bigger picture in every situation
and motivating their followers to attain greater goals and execute the group’s vision. This
type of leadership demands that the leader be clearly visible to followers and that they are
accessible at all times. They should constantly look for new ideas and ways to realize the
goals of the group.
The Transactional Theory of Leadership
According to this theory, a leader is defined by an ability to reward those who perform well
and to punish those who do not. A leader should have a specific goal for followers to work
toward. A leader should also have the ability to train followers to give them the ability to
work towards that goal. From there they should evaluate their followers’ performance and
determine whether it is satisfactory. They should also have the authority to reward those
followers who meet their objectives and punish those who do not.
The Environmental Theory of Leadership
According to this theory, it is the work of a leader to create the right kind of environment,
where their followers will flourish. By using psychological principles, they should be able to
build the right kind of environment for the motivation of their followers and then make that
environment self-sustaining.
According to this theory, a good leader will give the group the right kind of culture that
motivates followers to meet their objectives out of care for the benefit of the group, rather
than from coercion. Environmental leaders do not lead, as much as they create the right kind
of environment, in which workers work toward group goals, out of their own will.
Situational Contingency Theories
Situational contingency theories maintain that the situation is the ultimate factor in the
leadership style adopted by a leader. With that in mind, there is no single ultimate leadership
style. Autocratic leadership works in times of intense crisis, whereas democratic leadership
works in times of relaxation. Situations dictate the most appropriate type of leadership style
for other leadership styles, as well.

Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid

The treatment of task orientation and people orientation as two independent dimensions was a
major step in leadership studies. Many of the leadership studies conducted in the 1950s at the
University of Michigan and the Ohio State University focused on these two dimensions.

Building on the work of the researchers at these Universities, Robert Blake and Jane Mouton
(1960s) proposed a graphic portrayal of leadership styles through a managerial
grid (sometimes called leadership grid). The grid depicted two dimensions of leader
behaviour, concern for people (accommodating people’s needs and giving them priority) on
y-axis and concern for production (keeping tight schedules) on x-axis, with each dimension
ranging from low (1) to high (9), thus creating 81 different positions in which the leader’s
style may fall.
The five resulting leadership styles are as follows:

1. Impoverished Management (1, 1): Managers with this approach are low on both the
dimensions and exercise minimum effort to get the work done from subordinates. The
leader has low concern for employee satisfaction and work deadlines and as a result
disharmony and disorganization prevail within the organization. The leaders are
termed ineffective wherein their action is merely aimed at preserving job and
seniority.
2. Task management (9, 1): Also called dictatorial or perish style. Here leaders are
more concerned about production and have less concern for people. The style is based
on theory X of McGregor. The employees’ needs are not taken care of and they are
simply a means to an end. The leader believes that efficiency can result only through
proper organization of work systems and through elimination of people wherever
possible. Such a style can definitely increase the output of organization in short run
but due to the strict policies and procedures, high labour turnover is inevitable.
3. Middle-of-the-Road (5, 5): This is basically a compromising style wherein the leader
tries to maintain a balance between goals of company and the needs of people. The
leader does not push the boundaries of achievement resulting in average performance
for organization. Here neither employee nor production needs are fully met.
 4. Country Club (1, 9): This is a collegial style characterized by low task and high
people orientation where the leader gives thoughtful attention to the needs of people
thus providing them with a friendly and comfortable environment. The leader feels
that such a treatment with employees will lead to self-motivation and will find people
working hard on their own. However, a low focus on tasks can hamper production and
lead to questionable results.
5. Team Management (9, 9): Characterized by high people and task focus, the style is
based on the theory Y of McGregor and has been termed as most effective style
according to Blake and Mouton. The leader feels that empowerment, commitment,
trust, and respect are the key elements in creating a team atmosphere which will
automatically result in high employee satisfaction and production.

Advantages of Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid

The Managerial or Leadership Grid is used to help managers analyze their own leadership
styles through a technique known as grid training. This is done by administering a
questionnaire that helps managers identify how they stand with respect to their concern for
production and people. The training is aimed at basically helping leaders reach to the ideal
state of 9, 9.

Limitations of Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid

The model ignores the importance of internal and external limits, matter and scenario. Also,
there are some more aspects of leadership that can be covered but are not.

Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum-Delegation and Team Development

The Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum is a simple model of leadership theory which
shows the relationship between the level of freedom that a manager chooses to give to a team,
and the level of authority used by the manager. As the team's freedom is increased, so the
manager's authority decreases. This is a positive way for both teams and managers to
develop. While the Tannenbaum and Schmidt model concerns delegated freedom to a group,
the principle of being able to apply different levels of delegated freedom closely relates to
the 'levels of delegation' on the delegation page. As a manager, one of the responsibilities is
to develop the team. A manager should delegate and ask a team to make its own decisions to
varying degrees according to their abilities. There is a rising scale of levels of delegated
freedom that you can use when working with your team. The Tannenbaum and Schmidt
Continuum is often shown as a simple graph:
Over time, a manager should aim to take the team from one end to the other, up the scale, at
which point you should also aim to have developed one or a number of potential successors
from within your team to take over from you. This process can take a year or two, or even
longer, so be patient, explain what you're doing, and be aware constantly of how your team is
responding and developing.
When examining and applying the Tannenbaum and Schmidt principles, it's extremely
important to remember: irrespective of the amount of responsibility and freedom delegated by
a manager to a team, the manager retains accountability for any catastrophic problems that
result. Delegating freedom and decision-making responsibility to a team absolutely does not
absolve the manager of accountability. That's why delegating, whether to teams or
individuals, require a very grown-up manager. If everything goes well, the team must get the
credit; if it all goes horribly wrong, the manager must take the blame. This is entirely fair,
because the manager is ultimately responsible for judging the seriousness of any given
situation - including the risks entailed - and the level of freedom that can safely be granted to
the team to deal with it. This is not actually part of the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum,
but it's vital to apply this philosophy or the model will definitely be weakened, or at worse
completely back-fire.
Here are the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum levels of delegated freedom, with some
added explanation that should make it easier to understand and apply.
1. The Manager decides and announces the decision.
The manager reviews options in light of aims, issues, priorities, timescale, etc., then decides
the action and informs the team of the decision. The manager will probably have considered
how the team will react, but the team plays no active part in making the decision. The team
may well perceive that the manager has not considered the team's welfare at all. This is seen
by the team as a purely task-based decision, which is generally a characteristic of X-
Theory management style.
2. The manager decides and then 'sells' the decision to the group.
The manager makes the decision as in 1 above, and then explains reasons for the decision to
the team, particularly the positive benefits that the team will enjoy from the decision. In so
doing the manager is seen by the team to recognise the team's importance, and to have some
concern for the team.
3. The manager presents the decision with background ideas and invites questions.
The manager presents the decision along with some of the background which led to the
decision. The team is invited to ask questions and discuss with the manager the rationale
behind the decision, which enables the team to understand and accept or agree with the
decision more easily than in 1 and 2 above. This more participative and involving approach
enables the team to appreciate the issues and reasons for the decision, and the implications of
all the options. This will have a more motivational approach than 1 or 2 because of the higher
level of team involvement and discussion.
4. The manager suggests a provisional decision and invites discussion about it.
The manager discusses and reviews the provisional decision with the team on the basis that
the manager will take on board the views and then finally decide. This enables the team to
have some real influence over the shape of the manager's final decision. This also
acknowledges that the team has something to contribute to the decision-making process,
which is more involving and therefore motivating than the previous level.
5. The manager presents the situation or problem, gets suggestions, then decides.
The manager presents the situation, and maybe some options, to the team. The team is
encouraged and expected to offer ideas and additional options, and discuss implications of
each possible course of action. The manager then decides which option to take. This level is
one of high and specific involvement for the team, and is appropriate particularly when the
team has more detailed knowledge or experience of the issues than the manager. Being high-
involvement and high-influence for the team this level provides more motivation and freedom
than any previous level.
6. The manager explains the situation, defines the parameters and asks the team to
decide.
At this level the manager has effectively delegated responsibility for the decision to the team,
albeit within the manager's stated limits. The manager may or may not choose to be a part of
the team which decides. While this level appears to gives a huge responsibility to the team,
the manager can control the risk and outcomes to an extent, according to the constraints that
he stipulates. This level is more motivational than any previous, and requires a mature team
for any serious situation or problem. (Remember that the team must get the credit for all the
positive outcomes from the decision, while the manager remains accountable for any
resulting problems or disasters. This isn't strictly included in the original Tannenbaum and
Schmidt definitions, so it needs pointing out because it's such an important aspect of
delegating and motivating, and leadership.)
7. The manager allows the team to identify the problem, develop the options, and decide
on the action, within the manager's received limits.
This is obviously an extreme level of freedom, whereby the team is effectively doing what
the manager did in level 1. The team is given responsibility for identifying and analysing the
situation or problem; the process for resolving it; developing and assessing options;
evaluating implications, and then deciding on and implementing a course of action. The
manager also states in advance that he/she will support the decision and help the team
implement it. The manager may or may not be part of the team, and if so then he/she has no
more authority than anyone else in the team. The only constraints and parameters for the team
are the ones that the manager had imposed on him from above. (Again, the manager retains
accountability for any resulting disasters, while the team must get the credit for all successes.)
This level is potentially the most motivational of all, but also potentially the most disastrous.
Not surprisingly the team must be mature and competent, and capable of acting at what is a
genuinely strategic decision-making level.

Activities and Skills of Leaders

Leaders are uniquely poised to increase their company’s value by guiding and inspiring employees
to attain greater achievements. Leadership activities are exercises that can strengthen and promote
these critical skills. Strong leadership motivates employees to do their best. Leaders initiate
action, offer guidance, promote coordination and build morale. An organization with strong
leadership will enjoy purposeful forward momentum that helps the company achieve critical
goals in a timely manner. Every business needs to identify and position leaders to help guide
the direction of the other employees who work with them. Leadership activities promote
skills such as critical thinking, communication and creativity. These activities help existing
 leaders hone their abilities while identifying leadership potential in other individuals to help
position them for future promotions.
The best leadership development exercises encourage problem solving and critical thinking.
These leadership training exercises place participants in situations that help them expand their
thought processes and address topics in original ways that inspire growth and innovation. The
following leadership activities to promote positive traits within team members:
1. Planning and Coordinating 7. Monitoring/Controlling Performance
a. Setting goals and objectives a. Inspecting work
b. Defining tasks needed to accomplish goals b. Walking around and checking things out,
c. Scheduling employees timetables touring
d. Assign tasks and providing routine instructions c. Monitoring performance data (e.g., computer
e. Coordinating activities of each work group printouts, products financial reports)
member to keep work running smoothly d. Preventive maintenance
f. Organizing the work 8. Motivating/Reinforcing
2. Staffing a. Allocating formal organizational rewards
a. Developing job descriptions for position opening b. Asking for input, participation
b. Reviewing applications c. Conveying appreciation, compliments
c. Interviewing applicants d. Giving credit where due
d. Hiring e. Listening suggestions
e. Contacting applicants to inform them of being f. Giving positive performance feedback
hired or not g. Increasing job challenge
f. Filling in where needed h. Delegating authority and responsibility
3. Training and Developing i. Letting work group members determine how to
a. Orienting employees, arranging for training do their own work
seminars, etc j. Sticking up for the group to managers and
b. Clarifying roles, duties, job descriptions others, backing a work group members
c. Coaching, mentoring walking work group 9. Disciplining/Punishing
members through task a. Enforcing rules and policies
d. Helping work group members with personal b. Nonverbal glaring, harassment
development plans c. Demotion, firing, layoff
4. Decision Making/Problem Solving d. Any formal organizational reprimand or notice
a. Defining problem e. “Chewing out” a work group member,
b. Choosing between two or more alternatives or criticizing
strategies f. Giving negative performance feedback
c. Handling day-to-day operational crises as they 10. Interacting with outsiders
arises a. Public relations
d. Weighing the trade-off; cost-benefit analysis b. Customers
e. Deciding what to do actually c. Contacts with suppliers, vendors
f. Developing new procedures to increase efficiency d. External meetings
5. Processing Paper Work e. Community service activities
a. Processing mails 11. Managing Conflicts
b. Reading reports, a. Managing interpersonal conflicts between
c. Writing reports, memos, letters, etc. work group members or others
d. Routine financial reporting and bookkeeping b. Appealing to higher authority to resolve a
e. General desk work dispute
6. Exchanging Routine Information c. Trying to get cooperation or consensus
a. Answering routine procedural questions between conflicting parties
b. Receiving and disseminating requested d. Attempting to resolve conflicts between a work
information group member and self
c. Conveying results of meetings 12. Socializing/Politicking
d. Giving or receiving routine information over the a. Non-work-related chitchat (e.g. family or
phone personal matters)
e. Staff meetings of an informational nature b. Informal “joking around”
(status update, new company policies, etc.) c. Discussing rumors, hearsay, grapevine
d. Complaining, gripping, putting others down
e. Politicking, gamesmanship
Skills of Leader
The question of what makes a good leader—in other words, what are leadership skills—is
widely debated. It is clear that the ability to lead effectively relies on a number of key skills,
but also that different leaders have very different characteristics and styles. There is, in fact,
no one right way to lead in all circumstances and one of the main characteristics of good
leaders is their flexibility and ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Leadership skills are
highly sought after by employers as they involve dealing with people in such a way as to
motivate, enthuse and build respect.
Whether or not leadership itself can be taught, there is no question that there are a number of
core skills that most great leaders have. These skills can be learnt like any others.
Skills (Great) Good Leaders Need
There are a number of broad skill areas that are particularly important for leaders. These
include strategic thinking, planning and delivery, people management, change management,
communication, and persuasion and influencing.

1. Strategic Thinking Skills: Perhaps the most important skill a leader needs—and what
really distinguishes leaders from managers—is to be able to think strategically. This means,
in simple terms, having an idea or vision of where you want to be and working to achieve
that. The best strategic thinkers see the big picture, and are not distracted by side issues or
minor details. All their decisions are likely to be broadly based on their answer to the
question ‘does this take me closer to where I want to be?’
Creating a vision is not simply a matter of having an idea. Good strategic thinking must be
based on evidence, and that means being able to gather and analyse information from a wide
range of sources. This is not purely about numbers, but also about knowing and
understanding the market and the customers, and then—and this is crucial—using that
information to support the strategic decisions.
For particular types of analysis that may be helpful in gathering information, SWOT
Analysis, PESTLE Analysis, Porter's Five Forces, The Boston Matrix and The Ansoff
Matrix, The McKinsey 7 S Model of Organisational Alignment, Value Chain
Analysis, Scenario Analysis, and Understanding Game Theory are some tools useful for
strategic thinking. Some strategic thinking skills are more specific: for example, in
marketing, where you may find the 7 Ps and customer segmentation are vital tools.

2. Planning and Delivery Skills: Alongside strategic thinking, go organising and action
planning, both essential for delivery of vision and strategy of the organization. Project
management and project planning are also helpful skills for both managers and leaders. Good
risk management is also important to help you avoid things going wrong, and manage when
they do.
Good leaders also often have very strong facilitation skills, to manage groups effectively.
Leaders also need to be able to make good decisions in support of their strategy delivery, and
solve problems. With a positive attitude, problems can become opportunities and learning
experiences and a leader can gain much information from a problem addressed.
3. People Management Skills: Without followers, there are no leaders. Leaders therefore
need skills in working with others on a one-to-one and group basis, and a range of tools in
their armoury to deal with a wide range of situations. Many of these skills are also vital for
managers.
In particular, leaders are expected to motivate and encourage their followers, both directly
and by Creating a Motivational Environment.
One of the first skills that new leaders need to master is how to delegate. This is a difficult
skill for many people but, done well, delegation can give team members responsibility and a
taste of leadership themselves, and help them to remain motivated. See our page
on Delegation Skills for more.
There are further challenges to delegating work within a team, including balancing
workloads, and ensuring that everyone is given opportunities to help them develop. See our
page on Overseeing Work for more. Leaders and managers both need to understand how to
build and manage a team. They need to know how to recruit effectively, and bring people ‘on
board’ through induction processes. They also need to understand the importance of
performance management, both on a regular basis, and to manage poor performance.
4. Change Management and Innovation Skills: Change management may seem like an odd
companion to people management and communication, but leadership is often particularly
important at times of change.
A leader needs to understand change management in order to lead an organisation through the
process. For example, change management requires the creation and communication of a
compelling vision. It also requires the change to be driven forward firmly, and leadership to
make it ‘stick’ if the organisation is not to revert within a very short period.
One particular element of change management is innovation. Good leaders know how to
innovate, and also how to encourage innovation in others.
5. Communication Skills: While communication skills are important for everyone, leaders
and managers perhaps need them even more. These skills are general interpersonal skills, not
specific to leadership, but successful leaders tend to show high levels of skill when
communicating.
Good leaders tend to be extremely good listeners, able to listen actively and elicit information
by good questioning. They are also likely to show high levels of assertiveness, which enables
them to make their point without aggression, but firmly. They know how to build
rapport quickly and effectively, to develop good, strong relationships with others, whether
peers or subordinates. These skills come together to help to build charisma, that quality of
‘brightness’ which makes people want to follow a leader.
Leaders also need to know how to give others their views on personal performance in a way
that will be constructive rather than destructive, and also hear others’ opinions of them. See
our page on Giving and Receiving Feedback for more.
Leaders, usually, should very good at effective speaking, equally skilled at getting their point
across in a formal presentation or Board meeting, or in an informal meeting or casual corridor
conversation. They also hone their ability to communicate in difficult situations, usually by
practice over time.
6. Persuasion and Influencing Skills: Another particular area of communicating that is
especially important for leaders is being able to persuade and influence others.
Good leaders use a range of tools for this. Leaders also need tools to help them understand
the way that others behave, and create positive interactions. As a first step, it may be helpful
to understand more about emotional intelligence—another vital quality for leaders to
possess—but there are a number of other tools that may also be useful,
including Transactional Analysis, and Myers-Briggs Type Indicators.