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"ART OF MANAGING PEOPLE." (PHILLIP HUNSAKER & ANTHONY ALESSANDRA).
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Ideas of 1980 book & its relevance for workplace behavior & manager & worker satisfaction.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Ideas of 1980 book & its relevance for workplace behavior & manager & worker satisfaction.
Paper Introduction:
This research examines The Art of Managing People by Phillip L. Hunsaker and Anthony J. Alessandra. The research will discuss the ideas in the work and then go into detail about how those ideas are articulated, with a view toward evaluating whether and to what extent this book, originally published in 1980, continues to have relevance for workplace behavior and manager and worker satisfaction.
What must be acknowledged by anyone who opens The Art of Managing People is what it does not do, which is present a densely argued, theory-driven historiography of American management methods. From first to last, the text is action oriented, not oblivious of theory but not overly concerned to analyze theory for its own sake. The assertion of a dynamic approach (p. xi) to management sets the stage for a concept of manag
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213) to use feedback as aninstrument of communication and relationship building is a worthy one. xi) to management sets the stage for a concept of managementthat will be open, as far as possible, to new information, in an "everchanging and evolving" workplace. The subtitle of the first chapter, "Constructive Manipulation," mighthave served as the title of the entire work, were it not that the wordmanipulation has a pejorative connotation. Alessandra. 159) and physical configuration of one's employees isseen as a key to decoding or at any rate interpreting their personalitystyles (p. But the importance of an organization's ability toassign and/or censor territory as well as desk, chair, working materials,and the like should not be ignored. 21), learn and respond differently to thewash of experience, including the unexpected problems that experiencepresents from time to time. In a chapter that gives a summary of transactional analysis,the authors provide a strategy for understanding one's own behavior leveland that of others, with a view toward reaching adult-adult transactionsand toward diminishing trust-destroying psychological "games" involvingsocial-role assertion, manipulation, and acquiescence, as victim,persecutor, or rescuer (p. Inorder for mutual commitment and stakeholding to take hold, all of thefeatures of interactive management styles must be brought to bear onspecific problems, with the manager as committed to checking in andreadjusting plans based on employee feedback as employees may be tocompleting assigned tasks. 166). The ground rules are as follows: modeling (manipulation bybehavioral example), giving feedback (praise for good work in addition tocriticism for bad, information about competition), confronting (correctingmistakes), valuing others (treating people with respect), setting highexpectations (i.e., not too-low expectations that may limit performance),and positive stroking (personal praise). 194) has an antique quality about it. Just as learning styles are graphically represented, so are behavioralstyles. The "trust bond" (p. One consequence of doingthis would be to make optimal assignments of compatible coworkers. In an eight-chapter section on developing strong interactivecommunications skills, The Art of Managing People focuses on highlyspecific techniques for getting results consistent with the objective ofinteractive management. That is also a part of the interactive-management process. Just as behavioral and learning styles of employees can bedecoded with a little effort, so can decision-making styles of subordinatesand colleagues. Butthese attributes also go to the very qualities by which one is evaluated.The authors advise managers to make a project of improving themselves sothat they can project an appropriate image, which will be instrumental indetermining how effectively they can manipulate/manage/lead employees. 111ff) that questioning tends to initiate, rather than dispose of,communication, and they explain several highly specific methods for keepingthe lines of communication between manager and subordinate open. It is at this point that a chapter on feedback positioned at the endof the communications section, might have been better placed. The authors' declaration that bigger isbetter than smaller and that very old (antiques) or very new (cutting edge)are better than recent (p. 14) might have been usedfor the same activity. The content ofthat effort is a text that aims to show managers how to read and manipulategroups of people in the service of an organization's project or product,and with an eye on continuous goodwill and organizational stabilitythroughout the process. Art of managing people. Theproblem with management directions and slogans is that managers may setimpossible or faulty production goals or fail to empower the workforce toreach them--and fail to listen to employee concerns about an idea, sloganor work rule. The Artof Managing People makes this point by providing a series of checklists andworksheets designed to help a manager be silent and give time to theutterances of employees. Even if that remainstrue, it seems unlikely that, in the wake of a couple of decades of femalepresence in management suites and the persistence of loaded issues ofsexual harassment and identify politics, the discussion of male-femaleoffice-space communications dynamics would be formulated in quite the sameway. In a subtle chapter titled "Projecting the Appropriate Image," theauthors develop the view that nonverbal communication speaks as loudly toemployees as anything a manager can say. The authors note that lead,motivate, manage "or some other polite name" (p. What has to be appreciated is that theattention to image and comportment are a feature not only of how onedresses in the morning but also of the comportment in any giveninterpersonal transaction, whether mass meeting or one-on-one interview.The authors' attributes of an appropriate image are a bit vague and includefirst impressions, depth (technical) and breadth (general) of knowledge,flexibility in accommodating others' personality styles, personal as wellas on-the-job concerns, enthusiasm, and sincerity in interactions. 184) makes perfect sense if the text is directedsolely at executive managers or at middle managers so highly paid they canafford to have a decorator in to create an appropriate image. As far asthe manager's self-awareness in the matter of body and voice language isconcerned, the authors shop short of advising managers to obtainprofessional voice and/or movement training, but in fact, it was during the198 s, after publication of The Art of Managing People, that the image-consulting industry emerged as a force among the Fortune 5 . The book is organizedaround the principle that if a manager accounts for six ground rules,whether in respect of organization in general or project/product inparticular, then effectiveness and goodwill are more likely to bemaintained. Feedbackentails creative questioning and listening, and this chapter might havefunctioned better as a kind of laboratory for testing one's skills in thisarea. Moreuseful are descriptions of group working or meeting arrangements andcautions against cliquish and sex- or race-segregated configurations. The chapter on the use of time as a communications indicator also hasan antique quality as of 2 , since after 198 the term time management,together with a whole range of electronic and hard-copy management aids,decisively entered the business lexicon. Although the very factof questioning implies an interactive style of management, the quality ofinteraction may vary markedly depending on how the subordinate perceivesthe purpose and tone of the questions actually posed. To devote entire chapters to the management of one's voice tones andbody language may seem only tangentially related to effective management.But in fact, voice quality and body language are really special cases ofnonverbal communication. In other words, the would-be interactive manager must look to hisor her own house first. The book devotes four chapters to the projectof understanding or at least being able to recognize distinct personalitytypes, then proceeds to enhancement of skills that will allow managers tocommunicate and manipulate effectively. 85), on the part of subordinates or managers.The benefit of the TA chapter is that it exposes the negative potential ofpsychological gamesmanship, and also offers "interventions" designed tobreak the pattern and reconstitute relationships on an adult-to-adultlevel. Onthe other hand, it is of course possible to over interpret or misinterpretnonverbal cues, which is why a manager has to be alert to the person inwhole, not just as a mass of symptoms waiting to be categorized. What must be acknowledged by anyone who opens The Art of ManagingPeople is what it does not do, which is present a densely argued, theory-driven historiography of American management methods. Within these categories, additional behavioralcharacteristics can be identified, as can both positive and negativeformulations of those characteristics. The fact that The Art of Managing People is a guide to interactivemanagement implies that a manager will be obliged to become accustomed notonly to projecting and enacting a certain managerial style but also toabsorbing and responding creatively to a whole range of personality typesamong the corps of workers being managed. Butin that regard, the statement that research has revealed "that maleemployees permit female supervisors to get closer to them than malesupervisors" (p. In the interactive management environment, managers work withemployees to identify a problem and plan an effective response.Specifically, managers do not work with each other and then impose a plan,in the process assigning duties and responsibilities and checking in everyonce in a while to see if assignments are being carried out properly. This research examines The Art of Managing People by Phillip L.Hunsaker and Anthony J. The actual production line is not the properlaboratory for the manager to implement a hitherto untried managementstyle. But themore pressing matter is for the manager to adapt to an appropriatebehavioral style, with a view toward treating the individual involved asthat person would prefer to be treated, and with a view toward enhancingproductivity and job satisfaction. The authors citetwo general behavioral styles--assertive and responsive, which may be highand low--and four patterns (also sometimes called styles) that cut acrossthose more comprehensive categories--amiable, expressive, analytical, anddriving (p. 26 ) to "apply some of theinteractive problem-solving processes to your own situation," includingassessing their listening and communications skills, their flexibility, andso on. Looks and first impressions domatter--from voice quality to body language to grooming--and can affect howa manager is perceived by staffers. To be sure, it is possible to create a phony persona byway of voice training, but insincerity of voice is just as easy to spot asinsincerity of physical comportment, and just as easy to identify withdishonesty--an attribute with which no good manager wants to be identified.Similarly, just as voice quality can make meanings that extend beyond thecontent of the words being voiced, body language also "speaks." The managerwho avoids eye contact, whose focus is always on content and rarely onform, should not claim to be a practitioner of interactive management. The authors' task appears to have been to make astraightforward commercial success out of a business book. No less significant than the art of questioning is the art oflistening. What survives that is useful foran interactive manager is a commitment to acknowledging that employees'personal use of time will be a factor of reaction to managers' suddenshifts in schedules, particularly at holiday time. The result can be a rise in labor grievances and a poorworking environment and a fall in quality production or motivation. Meaningful, long-term application of effective diagnosis of employeepersonality styles and the techniques of good communication come togetherin the third part of The Art of Managing People, which focuses oninteractive problem solving. But amore practical application of the project of making such identifications isthat they may help the manager allocate duties to existing staff orevaluate job candidates (internal or external) on the basis of thequalities they appear to bring to the work situation. Ofall the chapters in the book, this one seems most open to manifestchallenge, as far as real-world, post-198 management is concerned. The utility of The Art of ManagingPeople is that it organizes common sense in a way that is meant to inure tothe benefit of the organization, the project, and the people implementingit. 3 ). Why it is important for the managerto recognize these various attributes is that inappropriate teaming ofindividuals with incompatible styles can result in "toxic relationships" onthe line and unproductive behavior more generally, not only with coworkersbut also with the manager and/or organization and/or project. But it is also possible torush into creating trust bonds and camaraderie without a full understandingof the implications of adopting an interactive management style withoutabsorbing the structures and knowledge base of that management strategy.That is why the authors advise managers (p. Just as the changing marketplaceobliges organizations to be flexible enough to respond to innovation, sodoes the fact that individuals, whose abilities, life experiences, andeducation are always unique (p. But if, asone senses, The Art of Managing People has as its main readership peoplewho are in the corporate race and who may just be touching the managerialwaters, then it is difficult to see how highly prescriptive tips onfurniture choice can be of practical assistance. (198 ). The series of graphical representations of learning styles(accommodator, diverger, converger, assimilator) might be useful to amanager who is trying to identify personality types within his staff. Indeed,there is a difference between a manager's "open" and "closed" question, theformer inviting feedback and engagement, and the latter tending towardprescription (did you know you were supposed to do this?) or some kind oflimitation of employee response options (pp. Just as a human being's body language can speak, so, according to TheArt of Managing People, can the visual cues of one's work environment. From first to last,the text is action oriented, not oblivious of theory but not overlyconcerned to analyze theory for its own sake. In the 199 s, what with the influx of high-tech equipment and downsized physical plants and staffs, it is a rare real-world middle manager's office that measures much more than 12'x12'. Learning thevocabulary of personal styles is undoubtedly useful, but beyond that is theneed for a manager to make careful observation of individual behaviorpatterns and locate them on the behavioral scale. Unlike the chapters on decision and behavior styles, the authorssuggest that a manager need not become a TA expert; however, awareness ofpsychological game playing and of ways that people fit intosocial/psychological roles can be useful. The style taxonomies can be matched, such that the amiable-style person is likely to have high responsiveness and low assertiveness,while the analytical-style person will likely have low assertiveness andlow responsiveness. To besure, it may be the case that "the kinds of things that are in yourassigned territory also communicate meaning about your status in theorganization" (p. 35). 32-3). Being able to identify the typical or habitualvoice qualities (p. There are very few footnotes and parentheticalreferences. 183). The authors point out(pp. However, the more general injunction (p. Equally, identifyinglearning styles and matching them, as far as possible, to one's existingstaff may enable them to see and fulfill the needs of a given project andimprove their own and the organization's productivity (p. 224) is the name theauthors give to the employee's sense of being understood and accepted nomatter what challenge presents itself on the job. References Hunsaker, P.L., & Alessandra, A.J. This is even moreproblematic if a given organization is highly budget conscious or socramped for space that distinctions between intimate and public zones (p.186) are completely irrelevant. NewYork: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, Inc. The better prepared aquestioning manager is to vary questions depending on the situation, theindividual employee's personality style, and organizational need, the morelikely the manager is to be perceived as truly engaged by and interested inthe employees, as well as organizational or project objectives. The overarching requirement for effectivenessin defining a problem, creating and acting on an action plan, andcontinually following through and testing solutions, is one of mutual trustbetween manager and employees. But within that subhead is contained a fairlyspecific method for enhancing the likelihood that a manager can beeffective in balancing projects and personalities. All of this may seem self-evidentcommon sense, and of course it is. Instead, the text is very much in the vein of a how-to book ormagazine that provides background information and prescriptive to-dos,crediting experts from whom prescriptions have been derived in chapter-by-chapter reference lists. Properly "diagnosed" decision-making styles can enableoptimal assignment of duties and cope with styles different from themanager's own. The book is aimed at the new manager orat a manager who might be looking for ways to reinvigorate a possiblydemoralized staff. It is possible, of course, to make too much of the "trust bond" andtoo little of the specifics of a given problem. The Art of Managing People provides additional models for effectivemanagement. 1 3-4). One chapter advises managers to treat employees "as they wish tobe treated" and to recognize that some behavior patterns can indeed bepredicted if they have been properly observed (pp. The assertion of a dynamicapproach (p. The research will discuss the ideas inthe work and then go into detail about how those ideas are articulated,with a view toward evaluating whether and to what extent this book,originally published in 198 , continues to have relevance for workplacebehavior and manager and worker satisfaction. The chapter dealing with the "art of questioning"tacitly sends the message that declaring and explicating may be lesseffective methods for enabling employees to open up and provide sufficientinformation than inquiring or asking for information. On the theory that no twoindividuals are likely to respond identically to a single message, theauthors describe various learning, behavior, decision-making, andtransactional (transpersonal) styles.
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