How Hiring Process Impacts Performance

One Fine Day.....

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops - a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well.

At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet eight,built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, " Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back.

Did I mention that the driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek? Well, he was. Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it. The next day the same thing happened - Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the next.

This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Big John was taking advantage of him. Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff.

By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself. So on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, "Big John doesn't pay!"

The driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, " And why not?"

With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, " Big John has a bus pass."

Management Lesson: "Be sure there is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one."

Competencies/Skills Essential for Managers

Management Skills

Managers need certain skills in order to perform the duties and activities associated with various functions. Katz found that managers need three essential skills or competencies. They are technical sills, interpersonal skills and conceptual skills. It is reported that the relative importance of these skills varied according to the managers level with in the organization. As managers’ progresses from lower level to senior level, he is expected to acquire more of human relations and conceptual skills.

Managerial Skills

Technical skills

This refers to acquisition of knowledge and proficiency in a certain specialized fields. For example, mechanics work with tools, and their supervisors should have the ability to teach them how to use these tools. Similarly accountants apply specific techniques in doing their job.

First line manger, as well as middle level managers, is required to acquire mastery over the technical aspects of the organizational work operations. Technical skills include knowledge of and proficiency incertain specialized fields, such as engineering, computers, finance, manufacturing etc. Kanz proposed that technical skills becomes less important as manager moves into higher level of management, but even top managers need some proficiency in the organization’s specialty. For example, senior executives with an IT background are required to know the different types of operating systems and the current developments in the software industry to use their IT skills frequently in their position as managers when it comes to handling new projects.

Interpersonal Skills

It is ability to work with people; it is cooperative effort; it is team work; it is the creation of an environment in which people feel secure and free to express their opinions

Human or interpersonal skills represent the ability to work well with and understand others to build cooperative effort within a team to motivate and to manage conflict. These skills are important for manages at all levels. Managers need to be aware of their own attitudes, assumption and beliefs as well as being sensitive to their subordinate’s perceptions needs, and motivations.

It is important to note that theses skills are called as soft skills and it is proved that the organizations nurturing those soft skills within the organization are so successful in their business operations. Some of the important soft skills include communicating, motivating, and leading, delegating and negotiating skills. As managers deal directly with people within as well outside the organization, such types of interpersonal skills are crucial in maintaining effective interpersonal relations. Manager with good interpersonal skills are to get the best out of their people. They know how to communicate, motivate, lead and inspire enthusiasms and trust.

Conceptual Skills

It is the ability to see the ‘big picture’ to recognize significant elements in a situation to understand the relationships among the elements

Managers must also have the ability to conceptualize and to think about abstract situations. They must be able to see the organization as whole with holistic approach and able to see the big picture of he organization. The manager must understand the relationships among various subunits and to visualize how organizations fit into this broader environment. These abilities are essential to effective decision-making, and all managers must involve in making decisions. All managers at all levels need conceptual skills. Katz proposed that these skills become more important in top management positions. The reason for this is that the top management managers often deals with abstract ideas, where as lower-level manager normally spend more time dealing with observable technical day-to-day operational activities.

One Fine Day...

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops - a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well.

At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet eight,built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, " Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back.

Did I mention that the driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek? Well, he was. Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it. The next day the same thing happened - Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the next.

This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Big John was taking advantage of him. Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff.

By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself. So on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, "Big John doesn't pay!"

The driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, " And why not?"

With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, " Big John has a bus pass."

Management Lesson: "Be sure there is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one."

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Definitions of Organizational Development (OD)

Definitions 

The nature and needs of organizations are changing dramatically. Correspondingly, the profession of organization development (OD) has been changing to meet the changing needs of organizations. Therefore, it may be most useful to consider several definitions of organization development.

 “Organization Development is an effort planned, organization-wide, and managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization's 'processes,' using behavioral-science knowledge.” 
-- Beckhard, “Organization development: Strategies and Models”, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1969, p. 9.

"OD is a planned process of developing an organization to be more effective in accomplishing its desired goals."   Human Resources Management & Development Handbook

"OD is a planned intervention aimed at improving individual and organizational health and effectiveness."  Jac Fitz-Enz

"Organization development practitioners help companies manage change and align people, process and practices or success.,, In its simplest form, OD work aims to be a catalyst that helps the organization get from where it is today (point A) to its desired state (Point B)" - ASTD American Society for Training and Development

            "Organizational development is a long-term effort led and supported by top management, to improve an organization's visioning, empowerment, learning, and problem-solving processes, through an ongoing, collaborative management of organizational culture-with special emphasis on the consultant-facilitator role and the theory and technology of applied behavioral science, including participant action research."  Organization Development, [French & Bell, 1999] 

"Organizational development is the application of behavioral scientific principles and methods to increase an organization's effectiveness".  US Government Office of Personnel Management

"Organizational development is a management field that focuses on helping organizations to develop their full potential".  University of Massachusetts

"Organization Development (OD) is the process of improving organizations".  Chicago OD Network

"Organizational development is an effort, planned, organization-wide, and managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization's processes, using behavioral-science knowledge" Richard F. Beckert

"Organizational Development is the field of study and practice that focuses on various aspects of organizational life, aspects that include culture, values, systems and behavior. The goal of O.D. is to increase organizational effectiveness and organizational health, through planned interventions in the organization’s processes or operations. Most often, O.D. Services are requested when an organization (or a unit within an organization) is undergoing a process of change".   University of California

"Our purpose as professionals is to facilitate processes by which human beings and human systems live and work together for their mutual benefit and mutual well-being".   The OD Network

“Organization Development is the attempt to influence the members of an organization to expand their candidness with each other about their views of the organization and their experience in it, and to take greater responsibility for their own actions as organization members. The assumption behind OD is that when people pursue both of these objectives simultaneously, they are likely to discover new ways of working together that they experience as more effective for achieving their own and their shared (organizational) goals. And that when this does not happen, such activity helps them to understand why and to make meaningful choices about what to do in light of this understanding.” -- Neilsen, “Becoming an OD Practitioner”, Englewood Cliffs, CA: Prentice-Hall, 1984, pp. 2-3.

"Organization development is a system-wide application of behavioral science knowledge to the planned development and reinforcement of organizational strategies, structures, and processes for improving an organization's effectiveness."
-- Cummings and Worley, "Organization Development and Change", Sixth Edition, South-Western Publishing, 1997, p.2.

"Organization Development is a body of knowledge and practice that enhances organizational performance and individual development, viewing the organization as a complex system of systems that exist within a larger system, each of which has its own attributes and degrees of alignment. OD interventions in these systems are inclusive methodologies and approaches to strategic planning, organization design, leadership development, change management, performance management, coaching, diversity, and work/life balance."
-- Matt Minahan, MM & Associates, Silver Spring, Maryland

"OD is a field directed at interventions in the processes of human systems (formal and informal groups, organizations, communities, and societies) in order to increase their effectiveness and health using a variety of disciplines, principally applied behavioral sciences. OD requires practitioners to be conscious about the values guiding their practice and focuses on achieving its results through people."- Arnold Minors, Arnold Minors & Associates, Toronto, Canada

Source:

1.      http://www.odnetwork.org/?page=whatisod

2.     http://www.odportal.com/OD/whatisod.htm

3.     http://managementhelp.org/organizationdevelopment/od-defined.htm

Influencing - Characteristics That Differentiate Leaders From Non-Leaders

There are three categories of leadership theories which highlight the key determinants of leadership effectiveness. They are Trait Theories, Behavioral Theories and Situational Theories.

Trait Theories:

There are six traits associated with effective leadership include drive, the desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, intelligence and job-relevant knowledge.

Drive: Leaders exhibit a high effort level. They have a relatively high desire for achievement, they are ambitious, they have a lot of energy, they are tirelessly persistent in their activities and they show initiative.

Desire to lead: Leaders have a strong desire to influence and lead others. They demonstrate the willingness to take responsibility

Honesty and Integrity: Leaders build trusting relationship between themselves and followers by being truthful and non-deceitful and by showing high consistency between word and deed.

Self-confidence: Followers look to leaders for an absence of self-doubt. Leaders therefore need to show self-confidence in order to convince followers of the rightness of goals and decisions.

Intelligence: Leaders need to be intelligent enough to gather synthesize and interpret large amounts of information; and to be able to create vision, solve problems and make correct decision.

Job-relevant knowledge: Effective leaders have a high degree of knowledge about the company, the industry and technical matters. In-depth knowledge allows leaders to make well-informed decision and to understand the implications of those decisions.

Behavioral Theories:

They identified behaviors that differentiated effective leaders’ from ineffective leaders. Based on these people could be trained to be leaders. The following are three types of behavioral styles of leadership

i) Autocratic Style: A leader who tended to centralize authority, dictate work methods, make unilateral decision and limit employee participation

ii) Democratic Style: A leader who tended to involve employees in decision making to delegate authority, to encourage participation in deciding work methods and goals, and to use feedback as an opportunity for coaching employees

iii) Laissez-faire style: A leader who generally gave the group complete freedom to make decision and complete the work in whatever way it saw fit.

Research results revealed that employee-oriented leaders were associated with high group productivity and higher job satisfaction. Leaders who exhibited high level of consideration and high level of task orientation achieved high subordinate performance and satisfaction. Some studies reported that democratic style of leadership was most effective, although later studies showed mixed results

Situational Theories:

Situational theories of leadership studies revealed that choosing the appropriate style of leadership depends upon the situation will yield more effective results than following same type of leadership style across all the time. Among various situational theories of leadership Fiedler’s contingency model and Hersey and

Blanchard’s Life Cycle Model outlined the importance of situational factors while choosing the appropriate style of leadership.

Fiedler’s model highlighted that task-oriented style of leadership will be more effective in both the extreme situations such as highly favorable and highly unfavorable situations. If the situations are moderately favorable, relationship-oriented style will be more effective.

Hersey and Blanchard model reported that if the employees are highly matured Psychologically and possess job competency, the enforcing delegating style will be more effective. Similarly if the employees are not adequately possessing job competency and very low in psychological maturity, the enforcing directing style will be more effective.