Project Management (Creating new Products or Services) 1 страница

Business Communication and the Communication Process

First Class Management skills and Trouble Shooting Common Problems.

Effective Leadership Skills Inspiring Excellence Communicating Business Vision.

Negotiation Skills and Closing Deals.

Presentation Skills, Confident Speaking, Handling Audience

Successful Marketing Strategies, Branding Targeted Publicity.

Project Maximisation, Plan Implementation, Monitoring Business Activities.

Key Financial skills Statements, Profit and Loss Accounts, Balance Sheets and Cash Flow.

Project Management (Creating new Products or Services)

End of Course.

Cyprian Lunga 2005

Introduction to Modern Business Issues

Today’s fast moving business environment demands you must be an effective manger, a well organised administrator highly adept in understanding workers’ basic needs and behaviour in the work place. Gaining employees’ commitment, nurturing their talent and ensuring that employees are motivated and productive requires open communication and trust between you the manager and your staff.

Understanding Behaviour. 12

Natural instinctive behaviour is not always appropriate in the work place, because people who work naturally tend to be self protective rather than being open and collaborative. Instinctive behaving people also tend to leap into conclusions and fragment into small warring groups within an organisation.

Companies with natural behavior are highly political; they emphasise status and hierarchy; and generally, they are less pleasant to work with because they are not in tune with the needs of customers in the modern market place.

Behaving Appropriately

Constructive behaviour encourages cooperation, openness and self confidence. Appropriate behaviour skills include ability to communicate positively and confidently with colleagues and staff at all levels; swift and generous recognition of the achievements of others; ability to learn from mistakes and failures and an approach based on collaboration with fellow workers.

Advice for Managers

A business manager can most effectively encourage constructive attitudes in employees by example and reward; a progressive manager must always publicly approve good conduct and positive contributions of employees.

1 As manager you must work hard to influence behaviour change in her or his staff,

2 You must encourage and reward constructive employee behaviour at all times.

3 You should strive to influence people’s behaviour and their personalities.

REPLACING NEGATIVE CHARACTERISTICS TABLE

NATURAL BEHAVIOUR	APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR
Reacting emotionally when information is received.	Establishes the facts using a pragmatic approach without emotions.
Avoiding risks through fear or insecurity	Taking risks in a calculated fashion.
Fighting fiercely and defensively when under threat or when problems occur.	Forms collegiate collaborative non-combative cool working relationships.
Making snap judgments about people and events.	Insisting on detailed analysis before judgment.
Spreading gossip throughout the organisation.	Practises total open communication.
Competing for status and its symbols.	Competes by achievements and not status.
Dwelling on past success.(prisoner of the past) not looking to future success.	Learns from mistakes and failures. Treats mistakes and failures as lessons.
Feeling more comfortable in small groups.	Prefers to work in large co-operative groups.
Always seeking hierarchical superiority and seniority instead of achievement.	Operates within flat non-hierarchical structures and seeks no status authority positions.

Understanding Peoples’ Needs

Employees’ needs go far beyond basic requirements such as good working conditions and fair play by management. A business cannot meet employees’ higher needs of self pride at work and sharing the corporate goals without addressing the above employees’ basic needs.

The classical psychologist Abraham Maslow identified a five stage “hierarchy of needs” starting with basic needs for food and shelter culminating in the higher level need of “self actualization” or “self fulfillment.”

You as modern progressive business manager must understand and appreciate that over and above good working conditions, employees also need food, shelter and warmth at work, they need personal security at work, they need friendly interaction with other workers, they need recognition and praise for their achievements and finally, they need to fulfill their individual potential.

Advice for Managers

1 As managers you should take care that basic employees’ lower needs are met first,

2 You must say thank you to employees whenever they have done a good job,

3 You must add public praise to private words to raise employees’ pride.

IDENTIFYING SOURCES OF EMPLOYEE(S) SATISFACTION.

LOWER LEVEL NEEDS	HIGHER LEVEL NEEDS
Conditions:Reasonable hours, work pleasant environment and adequate equipment. “I approve of the physical working conditions”.	Job Interest: Satisfaction from actual job content and its execution “I like the kind of work that I do”
Supervision:Immediate empowerment and encouragement. “I like the way I am treated by those who supervise me.	Achievement: Motivation to reach targets, to perform tasks at high levels of effectiveness. “I feel I achieve company goals in my work”
Security: Confidence in the company feeling belonging to the company. “I feel good about the future of the company”	Commitment: Feeling pleased to belong to the company and identifying with it. “I am proud I work for this company”.
Management:Good management methods. “I think management makes necessary changes to be competitive.”	Responsibility: Fair and stretching individual tasks and rewards. “I welcome the amount of work I am expected to do here”.
Communication: Full awareness of company plans and involvement in planning. “I understand the company’s strategy”.	Identification:I understand how I fit into the overall plan of the company. “I see how my how work connects in the company’s strategies”.

Open Communication

To understand employees’ attitudes you should open all channels through which employees communicate. Learn to listen and understand what employees mean by what they say and do, and look out for other communication signals and cues such as body language.

Through listening, hearing and understanding what is being communicated, you and your staff can both benefit, both gain greater insight into each others points of view and both exchange useful ideas about how the organisation can be improved. When staff feel that their views are heard, they will respond more positively and openly resulting in increased commitment and ownership of their work.

As a manager you should consider how you listen to your staff. Do you interrupt frequently or cut your staff short to make your point to them? You must work hard to understand employees’ attitudes by careful listening, questioning and giving staff opportunities to express themselves.

Advice for Managers

1 As manager you should ask open questions that encourage total honesty from your staff,

2 You must give ample opportunity for staff to express their feelings and views without fear.

3 You must encourage and reward constructive behaviour and achievements of employees.

4 You should keep asking questions until you understand what employee(s) mean(s) or say(s).

5 You must practise reading employees’ body language. 17.

Body language is the term for the unconscious physical movements that we all make to communicate thoughts and feelings. Interpreting body language correctly is a complex art but you can easily learn how to read broad body language messages.

For example:

1 An open and relaxed posture and good eye contact (in western people) indicate that a person is comfortable with themselves and with what they are saying or hearing. A tense posture, with arms crossed and little eye contact (in western people) can indicate evasiveness, suppressed anger or disagreement.

2 Leaning forwards when seated can indicate interest or agreement, while leaning back can indicate lack of interest or resistance.

3 You should be aware of these signs in yourself as well as in others in order to be able to interpret body language appropriately in different cultures.

4 Learning the “unspoken language” of a culture is often as important as learning to speak a foreign languag e as many politicians or diplomats have discovered.

Cultural faux-pas can be very amusing, but they can also be very insulting Novak, N., Living Language, Ed. by Suffredin, A, Random House, 1998 p15-16. “… Russians tend to stand very close. If their Western business friend or colleague steps back to establish his or her comfort distance level, the Russian will often step closer again, to close the gap between them. The Russian can thus get the impression that the American (Westerner) is unfriendly.

Building Confidence in Business Activities:

In many organisations most people suffer from insecurity and other kinds of anxiety that affect them. You should remember that some people can conceal their insecurity and anxiety better than others; BUT DO NOT BE DECEIVED because everyone needs to be told that they are performing well, that they are respected for what they are and for what they have done. Praise is a very effective and economic way of improving confidence; but you must make sure that praise is deserved, and you must suit the method of praise to the circumstances.

You must bolster the confidence of all individual staff, especially new staff, by allowing everyone to speak in turn during meetings. Encourage your staff to believe in their own abilities by giving them additional tasks – for example, ask them to serve on new committees or to tackle new issues.

You should not accept a response such as “I am not good at that”, because this response is usually an unconscious excuse for not to do something.

Always remember that employees sometimes suffer from many different types of fears: such as fear of personal failure, fear that the organisation will fail or be taken over, fear that jobs will disappear through reorganization or fear of the consequences of change.

As manager you should sometimes accept that such fears are genuine; but, as an informed, progressive, knowledgeable manager, you should know that such fears can only be dealt with by full, frank, open and honest communication with individuals or groups concerned.

Advice for managers

1 Drive out fear and you will find that trust, optimism and enthusiasm will become the work culture of your organisation 18.

2 Avoid giving false reassurances – be frank and honest even if the news is bad, that way you will gain the trust of your staff even in difficult situations.

3 Immediately go to the rescue if employees show that the tasks are beyond their capability.

4 An employee exhibiting defensive body language and negative attitude could be insecure.

5 Insist on employees working together and communicating freely and openly with each other.

6 Remember that stepping back gives you a break and helps your staff to build confidence.

7 Always avoid uncertainty because uncertainty can cause low morale.

8 It is always better to inform employees about company developments quickly and honestly.

9 NBletting your own insecurity show will infect your staff team. You must always appear confident because there is no business organisation without difficulties or problems.

Communicating Clearly 20.

Highly organised or haphazard (unorganised) communication happens all the time in many organisations. As a progressive effective manager it is not possible for you to communicate too much, because you should know when, what, why and how to communicate openly and honestly all the times at all times.

However, some managers like to hide away behind closed office doors keeping contact with their staff to a minimum.

It is far much better for a manager to keep the office door open and to encourage staff to visit. As a progressive manager you should talk the talk and walk the walk.

Contact is made easier by open-plan work spaces. That is why multi-millionaire managers in the Slicon valley in the USA have abandoned the executive office; they now work on desks in open-plan offices. Open plan offices encourage communication and team spirit, and they also make the manager more accessible to staff most of the time.

If you have not talked to a member of staff for some time, make sure you do so, because the more staff see, know and talk to you, the better working relationships will be in your company.

Advice to managers

1 Keep all appointments with members of staff regardless of their status level in your company.

2 Make sure you talk to or acknowledge members of staff as often as you can.

3 On outside visits talk to everyone and not just the boss.

4 Make an effort to meet and talk to your staff rather than using the telephone.

5 Go out of your way to chat informally, thus eliminating bossism and distance

6 Split large working units into several smaller ones with close links to each other.

7 Unchecked bureaucracies can severely impede communication causing low staff morale.

8 Revamp manuals and forms of instructions that are important for company use.

9 Consider one to one communications instead of memos and written instructions.

10 Ask customers for both suggestions and complaints about your company products/services.

11 Use new technology to communicate immediately and more effectively with customers.

12 Act swiftly to deny any inaccurate damaging grapevine rumours about your company.

13 Ensure meetings have a purpose and are attended by people concerned with the meetings.

Question to ask your self as a Manager

1 Do I send messages that are well received and understood by the intended recipient(s)?

2 Do key customers think that I spend enough time visiting them, are my visits productive?

3 Do I end meetings before staff or other people say what they want to say?

4 Do I hear damaging rumours in good time in order to dispel them?

5 Do I meet everyone that I should meet everyday/week/month or every year etc?

CONSIDERING HOW ORGANISATIONS COMMUNICATE

TYPE OF OGANISATIONS	EFFECTS ON COMMUNICATION
Bureaucratic: these are dominated by hierarchies of powerful levels of managers	They are dominated by “who reports to whom” structure, rigid controls, many manuals, systems, reports and paperwork.
Matrix:are divided by product, geography and function.	Such organisations are closely coordinated, leadership is divided and bureaucracy is strong.
Decentralised: and divided into separate units	Individual units function separately, budgets driven, and intra-company communication is difficult.
Market-Oriented: are organised by product or by geography	Dominated by strong sales culture, commands from the head office, communication with outside staff is limited.
Entrepreneurial: have flat structures and are characterised byrisk-taking philosophies.	Dominating “hire and fire” culture causing job loss fear; decisions usually depending on one or two key people.
People-Based: in which employees own shares and enjoy some degree of responsibility for the future of the company	Staff motivated by company shared ownership, participatory culture, limited shared company responsibility by employees.

Communicating to gain Trust and staff Commitment to your Company. 24.

Committed employees are extraordinarily valuable to any company. As a progressive manager you can gain staff commitment by meeting employees’ key needs, paying attention to workers at all levels, trusting and being trusted by workers, tolerating individuality and creating a blame-free “ Can-Do Culture workforce ” in your enterprise.

The quality and leadership styles are major factors in gaining employees’ trust and commitment to your company. As a progressive manager you should have clear decision making strategies coupled with a collaborative and collegiate approach that takes employees into your confidence; explicitly and openly valuing your staff’s contribution to the company.

You should be visible “ walk the walk ”, approachable and willing to listen with the ears of your head and eyes as well as the ears of the brain. You should always remember that employees respond well to a collective ambition that they can identify with; and always remember that to earn trust; you must first learn to trust the people who work for you.

Winning and Nurturing the Trust of Employees. 24.

The following are key managerial qualities that inspire trust and staff-commitment of employees and help to create a fully committed workforce in your organisation.

1 As the manager you must hold personal values consistent with your organisation

2 You must be willing to work smart instead of working hard (long hours).

3 You must take pride in telling others about your company, its ethos, culture and organisation.

4 You must develop a sense of ownership of the company amongst your employees

5 You must create a strong sense of team spirit amongst your employees.

6 You must make employees personally involved in the company’s goals

7 You must instill commitment and loyalty of employees to the company.

To Achieve the above Aims you ask Yourself the Following Questions.

1 Do I trust my employees and others enough so that I can delegate tasks to them?

2 Do I leave the delegates to complete their task without interference after briefing them?

3 Do I show employees that I trust them and that I will not let them down?

4 Do I rely on rules and regulations rather than trust to judge employees’ work performance?

5 Do I always instill trust in employees by being truthful and keeping my promises?

6 Do I allow employees some degree of autonomy in creating their work environment?

7 Do I make employees valued and openly recognising their achievements?

8 Do I empower workers and hand over control for them to take responsibility for their work?

Advice to managers

1 Develop policies that can reach everyone; identify the “ walking wounded ” and “ detractors ”; devise programmes that transform them to champions of your organisation.

2 Make sure you address employees’ intellectual as well as emotional needs.

3 Listen to unhappy employees; they can reveal serious shortcomings in the company.

4 Endeavour to transform all employees into champions of your company.

5 Enrich employees’ by raising their interest levels, providing incentives and create a stimulating work environment.

6 Fully investigate when staff retention figures start to drop down significantly.

7 Never under estimate the value of a simple “ thank you ” to an employee(s).

8 Ensure that you involve everyone in a personal project (see latter, project management).

9 Create a “ Can-Do culture ” built on mutual trust in your organisation.

10 Bolsters self belief, create “ heroes ” of respected employees publicly admired by other staff.

To achieve the above aims you ask yourself the following questions.

1 Have I devised financial schemes to reward excellent staff performance?

2 Have I considered non-monetary staff rewards e.g. badges name-tugs and responsibilities?

3 Do I always say “ thank you ” to staff for a well done job?

4 Do I create “ heroes ” that other staff can admire and emulate in the organisation?

5 Do I allocate achievable tasks depending on the skills and experience for my staff?

Adjusting Management Approach to Maximise the Organisation’s Performance

The way you manage your staff has a great impact on their behaviour. Therefore, it is essential to adjust your management methods and style to suit different staff at different times but, your aim must always be to encourage staff to motivate and manage themselves.

Douglas McGregor’s classical Management theory of ‘X’ “ Order and Obey ” can be an effective way of motivating staff by ‘telling them what to do and how to it’ because you need a standard measure of discipline in any organisation. In contrast to his “ X” theory, McGregor also developed Theory ‘Y’ which states “ that self-discipline ” springs from workers who enjoy the responsibility that comes with self discipline. 28.

Therefore, you should combine McGregor’s ‘X’ and ‘Y’ Theories to achieve the most effective management style to motivate, inspire and continuously challenge staff because:

1 People who enjoy their work will produce the best results in quality products and services

2 Most people prefer to have responsibility rather than too little work without any responsibility.

3 Cut down on many management-layers in your company to avoid too much bureaucracy.

4 Be flexible in your approach and apply self-discipline combined with empowerment and trust.

5 Allocate single tasks to single staff to reduce task-completion time and enhance responsibility

6 Ask your staff what they would like from you, because they sometimes require guidance.

Developing staff. 30.

Helping individuals to achieve their full potential is in the best interests of the individuals concerned as well as the organisation. As a progressive manager you should always aim to train, encourage, coach and provide opportunities for willing staff to advance their skill base. Top-quality training and development are vital to all modern organisations.

Therefore:

1 If you must reduce costs make sure that training is the last cut-back and never the first.

2 Ask staff about their long-term goals and aspirations and assist their realisation.

3 Allocate at least 1.5% of your annual budget for staff training and development.

4 Aim to train your staff in as many relevant specific skills as possible and understand that mental abilities are very important in a modern organisation to master computology.

5 Thinking clearly can be taught and improved on in any staff with basic education.

6 Explain the reasons why you need to cut down your product price because profits fallen.

7 Widen staff skills and keep staff levels down and thus reduce company costs.

8 Coach your staff to think analytically in order to benefit the whole organisation.

9 Get your staff into the habit of constantly improving their range of skills. (Long-life-Learning).

10 Invest strongly on computer skills to improve your company performance.

As a Progressive Modern Manager ask Yourself the Following Questions

1 Have my staff been sufficiently trained in computer skills for the company to be competitive?

2 Is their training both up to-date and up-dated regularly?

3 Do my staff have opportunities to practise their new skills in order to master them?

4 Have I listened to my staffs’ suggestions regarding acquisition of new technology?

5 Does my organisation have sufficient technical support?

6 Is my company using all the modern computer programmes to improve performance?

Guiding Managers and Employers.

You should be able to coach staff because you instruct employees how they should work effectively; which is what foot ball coaches and sports coaches do during and after games.

While sports coaches (managers) start with training sportsmen and women, while managers start with inducting of their new staff that is followed by on-the-job training and supervision. Managers train, retrain and retrain, develop and redevelop, encourage, guide assess staff performance, counsel and sometimes employ mentors for these tasks. All these activities are summed up as training and development aimed at improving staff performance in their work.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16