Managing People - All Notes PDF

Week 1 - Job Crafting and Time Management Monday, 26 June 2023 10:32 PM Managing People Page 1 Lecture Saturday, 15 July 2023 2:23 PM Link: https://1drv.ms/p/s!Avqcu-_gQmL_geMH7rqT06QAq1_XLQ?e=X1I1eP • Key Concepts ○ Jobs are an investment of time and energy ○ Jobs are malleable. Managers and...

Week 1 - Job Crafting and Time Management Monday, 26 June 2023 10:32 PM Managing People Page 1 Lecture Saturday, 15 July 2023 2:23 PM Link: https://1drv.ms/p/s!Avqcu-_gQmL_geMH7rqT06QAq1_XLQ?e=X1I1eP • Key Concepts ○ Jobs are an investment of time and energy ○ Jobs are malleable. Managers and employees can change their boundaries. ○ Many factors influence how time / energy are invested, and ROI • Key Skills ○ Job crafting • Lot of time spent at work (50 to 150K hours) with about 60% doing work about work (e.g. communicating about work, searching for information, switching between apps, managing shifting priorities and chasing status updates) • Less time spent on strategy (~9% in 2022 down from 14% in 2021) and more time spent on skilled work (33% in 2021 up from 26% in 2021) • Work design - Job characteristics model (JCM) to enhance motivation, satisfaction, performance and presenteeism • What is a job? A job is a set of task elements grouped together under one job title and designed to be performed by a single individual • Whole day spent ~30% skilled work, ~8% strategic work and 62% work about work • Job Characteristics Model ○ Focuses on task variety, autonomy, feedback, significance and identity ○ Enhances internal work motivation, satisfaction, performance and presenteeism ○ Cultivates meaningfulness, responsibility and knowledge of results. • Why don’t employees just do what they were hired to do? ○ Managers re-design jobs ○ Employees craft their jobs • The Expanding Job ○ Each organization has to ask itself: What is the work we want, and need, to do? ○ If you are unwilling to hire more people or decrease the amount of work, you are fine with human wreckage, moral injury, snow capped organisation, enduring wage gap and corporate toxicity ○ Jobs are expanding --> Support is declining—inequitably --> This comes at a substantial human cost --> Solution is to start over with how we arrange work • Job Crafting ○ redefining your job to incorporate your motives, strengths, and passions ○ Focused around changing task boundaries, cognitive tasks boundaries (how you view work) and relational boundaries (who you interact with and nature of work) ○ Can done naturally/informally, intentionally, encouraged or discouraged and has benefits and costs for both organisation and employees ○ Diagram how you would like to invest your time, attention, and energy — either in your current job or a desired future position — based on your strengths, passions, and values ○ Alters tasks, relationships, and perspectives ○ Is done naturally / informally (e.g., Candice Billups) ○ Can be done intentionally (i.e., the job crafting exercise) ○ Can be encouraged or discouraged ○ Has benefits and costs for both orgs and employees • Types of task elements Managing People Page 2 • Types of task elements ○ Established  Defined primarily by managers  Objective (i.e., there is consensus these tasks are part of the job)  Bureaucratic (i.e., they are tied to the role, not the individual)  Quasi-static (i.e., relatively constant) ○ Emergent  Defined by multiple sources, including the employee  Subjective (i.e., not necessarily consensus about their relevance)  Personal, as in they are tied to the particular employee  Dynamic • Time Management ○ All time management skills may not help you if certain factors relate to your workplace or boss ○ If you just look at an individual's ability to manage time well, that is not enough to understand if that person will be able to manage time well. You need to look at context. ○ Need to take into account time norms. e.g. if norm is to work long hours, it does not matter if you manage your time well, you will be rated as underperforming ○ We're not all the same so there is no one size fits all. ○ Effectiveness depends on practices, individual differences, surrounding environment and how time management is taught ○ Time structure  Driven by HR  Explicit, formal systematic  e.g. business hours, holidays, deadlines ○ Time norms  Driven by organisational behaviour  Implicit, intangible, social  e.g. punctuality, email responsiveness, work hours expectation  Often revealed when someone gets it wrong Managing People Page 3 More than half of the working day is spent kinda, sorta working Thursday, 29 June 2023 8:47 PM Link: W1 - More than half of the working day is spent kinda, sorta working.pdf • White-collar workers devote more than half their day to "work coordination," which includes following up on things, searching for information and communicating about work • Only about a third of the workday is spent doing what we were actually hired to do, and that hasn't changed much since 2019. • The workday has become complex enough that we have to spend more time just managing work and a host of competing priorities rather than actually doing work • Many meetings are wholly performative • Less time spent on strategy due to difficulties in getting disparate, asynchorio • Many companies found long-term forecasting difficult amid a global pandemic and its impact on office life • Folks are genuinely loath to admit they're doing performative work with literally zero value Managing People Page 4 The Expanding Job Thursday, 29 June 2023 8:47 PM Link: W1 - The Expanding Job - by Anne Helen Petersen - Culture Study.pdf • every academic would be able to off -load the most time-consuming of tasks to their assistants (similar to wives) • Technology does simplify an existing task — but they also add a new, complex layer of additional work • Domestic support liberates them from the work of balancing the mental load — and, again, allows them to focus the bulk of their attention towards the work they do for pay and glory. • The “rockstars” of any profession usually have another secret: they’ve found themselves in a situation in which they’re able to still do one job. They’re not trying to do thework that three or four people • The over-filled jobs are legion in “passion” occupations (non-profits, education, caregiving) where the maxims of vocational awe make doing more with less a badge of honor. • Trimming fat - The jobs that ensured that work was performed smoothly and without overload have been eliminated, the essential components of their job descriptions added onto those that remained. Fat has an essential purpose. • We’ve reached a point of diminishing returns when it comes to productivity ,creativity, concentration, cooperation, plus all of the other skills we try to cultivate alongside the labor we do for pay. • In pursuit of growth, we have whittled our systems down to the most lean versions of themselves • The bar for acceptable and expectable work loads will just keep moving higher, as everyone else keeps stretching themselves as thin as possible to reach it before collapsing on the ground, convinced the failure was theirs alone • Solution: Each organization has to ask itself: what is the work we want, and need, to do? Managing People Page 5 Turn the job you have into the job you want Thursday, 29 June 2023 8:47 PM Link: W1 - Turn the job you have into the job you want.pdf • “Job crafting” can be a powerful tool for reenergizing and reimagining your work life. It involves redefining your job to incorporate your motives, strengths, and passions. The exercise prompts you to visualize the job, map its elements, and reorganize them to better suit you. In this way, you can put personal touches on how you see and do your job, and you’ll gain a greater sense of control at work—which is especially critical at a time when you’re probably working longer and harder and expecting to retire later. Exercise is driven by you, not your supervisor. • Job crafting involves assessing and crafting one or more of the following core aspects: ○ Tasks. You can change the boundaries of your job by taking on more or fewer tasks, expanding or diminishing their scope, or changing how they are performed ○ Relationships. You can change the nature or extent of your interactions with other people. ○ Perceptions. You can change how you think about the purpose of certain aspects of your job; or you can reframe the job as a whole • Job crafting often end up more engaged and satisfied with their work lives, achieve higher levels of performance in their organizations, and report greater personal resilience. Most job redesign models put the onus on managers to help employees find satisfaction in their work; in reality, leaders rarely have sufficient time to devote to this process. • When pay resources are constrained or promotions impossible, job crafting may give companies a different way to motivate and retain their most talented employees. It can even help transform poor performers. • Limits of Job Crafting ○ It can be stressful if as a result you take on too much or alter tasks without understanding your manager’s goals. ○ To win others’ support for your job crafting, do these three things:  Focus on deploying an individual or organizational strength that will create value for others.  Build trust with others (typically your supervisor)  Direct your job-crafting efforts toward the people who are most likely to accommodate you Managing People Page 6 Why Your Time Management Skills Might Not Be Working Thursday, 29 June 2023 8:48 PM Link: W1 - Why Your Time Management Skills Might Not Be Working.pdf • All the time management skills in the world may not help you if certain factors related to your workplace or your boss stand in the way • You need to look at context to see if someone can manage time well, not only individual abilities. • The “formal systems” that can affect employees’ time management effectiveness are ○ Time structures: Systems used to manage time, such as performance appraisal and reward systems that reward individuals for working long hours ○ Time norms: Informal rules about how to do things right and wrong about time at work • How to build a time management friendly organisation ○ Employees need to have a work environment that is conducive to using these skills at work. ○ Leadership is critical in terms of creating time structures and norms that are conducive to good time management  Lead by example  Implement performance management and reward systems to promote good time management ○ Use technology to minimize commuting time, allow flexible hours and telecommuting ○ Do not create committee and task forces that study issues endlessly without taking actions • Use situational interviews to screen out candidates whose attitudes about time do not match those of the organization • Time is more than money. It is the most fundamental resource that allows people and organizations to get other resources. • Without sufficient time, we cannot get any of these other resources that allow a firm to get ahead of the competition. Managing People Page 7 Week 2 - Evidence-Based Management and People Analytics Thursday, 29 June 2023 8:49 PM Managing People Page 8 Lecture Thursday, 20 July 2023 6:05 PM Link: W2 - People Management - Term 3 2023.pptx • Key Concepts ○ Management is bullshit-friendly (beware!) ○ Drawing on multiple sources of evidence  better odds of good outcomes ○ People analytics provides a rich, ongoing source of relevant high-quality evidence • Key Skills ○ Asking better questions ○ Searching for diverse sources of evidence ○ Identifying useful management measures • What is Management? Management is bullshit ○ Bullshit is speech intended to persuade without regard for truth and is also intended to be functional, achieve a goal ○ Management is bullshit friendly  There’s no shortage of management “experts” marketing their opinions  Managers often don’t have certain knowledge, but are required to speak  So eager to get it right / not wrong that they’ll consider any advice ○ Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what they are talking about ○ Thee bias of blind spot. Beware of the "I'm not biased bias". ○ Existing explanations: BS is common in organisations due to characteristics of bullshitters, nature of the audience and social structural factors which encourage bullshitting. ○ Alternative explanation: social practice that organisational members engage with to become part of a speech community, to get things done in that community and to reinforce their identity. ○ How BS spreads  Someone makes an empty or misleading claim  The audience only does shallow processing  They respond with surface-level agreement ○ Lying is different from BS-ing due to concealment and deception • Evidence-based Management - can be used to stop the spread of BS, ○ What and why - Evidence-based practice is about making decisions through the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of the best available evidence from multiple sources to increase the likelihood of a favorable outcome. ○ Gather info and test hypotheses ○ Need to ask better questions that help with EBM ○ Gather a range of evidence, not only one type ○ The How  Asking better questions □ Population □ Predictor □ Preferred outcome □ Possible alternative hypotheses □ Relevant context  Acquiring evidence (scientific reseaarch, professional experience and judgement, organisational data, stakeholder concerns) Managing People Page 9 organisational data, stakeholder concerns)  Appraising  Aggregating  Applying  Assessing • People Analytics ○ What to consider  Organisational data - what internal data could you analyse  Stakeholders concerns - what do employees/customers/other relevant stakeholder think? ○ How to practice ethics when using people analytics? ○ ○ Questions that matter  When business leaders ask how they can make better decisions (e.g., attrition, engagement, internal mobility)  When HR leaders ask how they can design and deliver better programs (e.g., compensation, training, benefits)  When employees ask how to make this an amazing place to work (e.g., new initiatives, employee concerns) ○ Solve problems through partnership ○ Agoda Case  Like many orgs, Agoda embraced analytics in some parts of the business — but not for people decisions  Adoption of people analytics requires not just software and technical skills, but also culture change  It may be worth trading off some technical precision to give managers / employees some autonomy  Mostly, analytics should inform decisions — not automate them Outcomes Processes Lagging indicators Leading indicators Wins Hits/Runs Managing People Page 10 The Rise of the Worker Productivity Score Thursday, 29 June 2023 8:49 PM Link: https://1drv.ms/b/s!Avqcu-_gQmL_geBBxtN1aK9j5ywHUw?e=p6CnVZ • Being tracked can be “demoralizing,” “humiliating” and “toxic". • Current tools are inept at capturing offline activity, unreliable at assessing hard-to-quantify tasks and prone to undermining the work itself. • Productivity tracking has become valuable, perhaps inevitable • Tracking, they say, allows them to manage with newfound clarity, fairness and insight. • Human resources, once reliant on more subjective assessments, was becoming more of an analytics business • The software was warping the foundations of time and trust in their work lives. • It can be an inethical practice. e.g. chaplaincy where your productivity points would be impacted by someone dying. So you would avoid people with risk of dying, or pretend to see people. Managing People Page 11 Evidence-Based Management Thursday, 29 June 2023 8:51 PM Link: https://1drv.ms/b/s!Avqcu-_gQmL_geBEF92jUcLC25v0gQ?e=4vKHD5 • Physicians traditionally plies their trade instead of learning and using recent studies. Same or even worse can be said of managers trying to cure their organisational ills. • "cure" developed under certain settings might not work somewhere else due to the varying size, age, form of the companies. • Management is and will likely always be a craft that can be learned only through practice and experience • Managers can practice their craft more effectively if they are routinely guided by the best logic and evidence from both inside and outside their companies to keep updating their assumptions, knowledge and skills. • Lots of managers import without sufficient thought, performance management and measurement practices from their past experience. • Another alternative to using evidence is making decisions that capitalise on the practitioner's own strengths. • Numerous decisions are driven by dogma and belief (e.g. using stock options as a compensation strategy) • Uncritical emulation/casual benchmarking/copying other high performers. ○ Best you can do is perfect imitation which means it will only be as good ○ By the time you mimic them, they have moved on which means you are still playing catch up ○ It can save time and money by learning from experience of others. If you can consistently implement best practices better than your rivals, you will beat the competition. ○ Benchmarking is most hazardous to organisational health, however, when used in its casual form, in which the logic behind what works for best performers, why it works and what will work everywhere else is barely unraveled. • In work that requires cooperation, performance suffers when there is a big spread in remuneration • Becoming a company of evidence based managers ○ Ask for evidence of efficacy every time a change is proposed ○ Demand evidence. e.g. DaVita use facts not brags. Metrics based decision. ○ Examine logic. Managers need to understand the limitations and think critically about the results. ○ Treat the organisation as an unfinished prototype  use the company's own data and experience.  A big barrier to using experiments to build management knowledge is that companies tend to adopt practices in an all-or-nothing way. ○ Embrace the attitude of wisdom  The attitude people have towards business knowledge is very important  Evidence-based management is conducted best not by know-it-alls but by managers who profoundly appreciate how much they do not know  Encourage inquiry and observation even when rigorous evidence is lacking and you feel compelled to act quickly ○ Will it make a difference  Evidence-based practice changes power dynamics, replacing formal authority, reputation and intuition with data. • What makes it hard to be evidence based? ○ There's too much evidence, like magazines, journals, books, websites, etc… and the recommendations are rarely integrated in a way to make them accessible and memorable There's not enough good evidence Managing People Page 12 ○ There's not enough good evidence ○ The evidence does not quite apply. Managers are often confronted with half-truhhs-advice that is true some of the time, under certain conditions. ○ People are trying to mislead you. A big part of the problem is consultants, who are always rewarded for getting work, only sometimes rewarded for doing good work, and hardly ever rewarded for evaluating whether they have actually improved things. ○ You are trying to mislead you. Many practitioners and their advisers routinely ignore evidence about management practices that clashes with their beliefs and ideologies, and their own observations are contaminated by what they expect to see ○ The side effects outweighs the cure. ○ Stories are more persuasive - when used correctly, stories and cases are powerfull tools for building management knowledge • Seasoned practitioners sometimes neglect to seek out new evidence because they trust their own clinical experience more than they trust research • Hype and marketing play a role in what information reaches the busy practitioner ○ Some vendors muddy water in chase of profit ○ Other products do not have advocates and thus do not reach practitioner (e.g. duct tape for plantar warts) • Dogma and belief also impact decisions ○ Stock options seems to be based on belief instead of evidence • • Beliefs rooted in ideology or in cultural values are quite sticky, resist dis-confirmation and persist in affecting judgements and choice • Uncritical emulation/casual benchmarking/copying other high performers. ○ Best you can do is perfect imitation which means it will only be as good ○ By the time you mimic them, they have moved on which means you are still playing catch up • Obsolete knowledge, personal experience, specialist skills, hype, dogma and mindless mimicry • High disparity in pay leads to lower productivity, inequity, skepticism, decreased employee engagement, reduced collaboration, damage to morale and mistrust in leadership. • Managing People Page 13 Agoda - People Analytics and Business Culture Thursday, 29 June 2023 8:52 PM Link: W2 - AGODA_ PEOPLE ANALYTICS AND BUSINESS CULTURE (A).pdf • What is Allen’s challenge at Agoda? ○ Incremental investments on top of Workday and Greenhouse ○ Allen's focus was to empower frontline managers to make decisions typically carried out by HR and this empowerment will come from data ○ Changing the HR team from ugly duckling to as technologically advanced as other departments ○ Integrating new people management system and getting people to use it ○ Employees' view of the role of HR in the organisation, resistance of people to change ○ Employee performance is more subjective than financial transactions • What are the potential benefits and risks of the proposed people analytics tools? ○ Benefits  Attracting and retaining of top talent through compensation policies  Improved performance management platform (instead of spreadsheets)  Less red tape/bureaucracy due to changed role of HR  Empowerment of employees (to manage up) and managers (to hire, evaluate, reward and discipline)  Redefining HR function with data similar to the other functions of the organisation  Reduction in employee benefit abuse. ○ Risks  Survey fatigue  Sensitive data that needs to be stored in compliance with regulations  Constant iteration and customisation of surveys will be hard to benchmark across units  Resistant to change (i.e. using data driven people management)  Unethical or improper use of data (i.e. longer orientation, teach to test)  Many companies have not been able to leverage data collected  Data has a lifespan and cost money (storage, electricity, security and data compliance)  Privacy concerns with collection of data  Datasets might not be integrated (survey, performance reviews, interviews, etc…) and consolidation would require significant investment  Not typical roles for managers to do this outside of Agoda  Risk in firing an employee. HR typically provides a 3rd party, independent presence. • What else should they consider? • Managers will have more load and need to be trained on HR • Some managers might not want to do the HR management • Complete reliance on manager to performance manage • Compensation policies will likely lead to friction • What advice would you offer? • Go all in and for a few years to give people time to accept the technology and learn how to use it. Managing People Page 14 • Workday - HR information system • Greenhouse - applicant tracking system for recruitment (additional insights on how effective recruitment is) • Managers to own outcomes of the talent management rather than people team • Agoda faced threats from new entrants, regulatory changes, competitors, new technology. They had to remain nimble to stay competitive by attracting and retaining top talent. • Relationship between managers and employees was critical to building the strongest company and getting the best out of employees • Till 2012, Agoda HR was small and responsibilities for recruiting and managing payroll, not staff development • Our approach is based on a few core principles: ○ Managers, not HR, should define, live, and develop the company’s leadership. ○ Managers, not HR, should do the hard work of managing people—hiring, evaluating, rewarding, and disciplining employees—and managers should be evaluated on their results. ○ Employees, not HR, should “manage up” and take responsibility for solving problems directly with their managers. • Vision was not just about ensuring data could be digitized, centralized, and available in real time; it involved a fundamental change in the organizational role of the HR department—from one that established, monitored, and enforced HR policy to one that empowered managers to manage better. • Implementing Data Analytics  Persuade managers and his team in the people department to rethink how data was collected, analyzed, interpreted, and presented. ○ Compensation and Benefits  Compensation decisions based on unit's needs not by salary bands for roles and positions. This was supported by real-time market rates on compensation  Managers were also given correlations between performance and bonuses for decisions on bonus payments  Compensation reviewed once a year, salaries inconsistent but ability to attract and retain talent  Analytics to track employee benefit use. Question was how to prevent from abuse ○ Performance evaluation  done via peer evaluation of work habits, cognitive abilities and interpersonal skills  Different set of criteria used for different units • Challenges ○ The opportunity to gain a competitive advantage through data had to be tempered with the fact that many companies still had not become competent at leveraging the data they were collecting. ○ Data has a lifespan ○ Collection and storing of data cost money - storage, electricity, security and compliance due to sensitivity of information ○ Concerns regarding collection methodology (adequate questions? Correct frequency? Survey fatigue?) ○ How to encourage managers to pay attention to the data as a basis for change ○ Privacy concerns ○ Consolidation of data requires a significant amount of resources Managing People Page 15 Week 3 - Influence and Persuasion Wednesday, 12 July 2023 9:00 PM Managing People Page 16 Lecture Friday, 21 July 2023 6:36 PM Link: W3 - Managing People - Term 3 2023.pptx • Key Concepts ○ Influence is a skill ○ People who effectively use a range of influence tactics have the most impact on organisations ○ Persuasion depends on your ability to make your ideas clear, to make people care, and to make people trust you ○ Beware the curse of knowledge • Key Skills ○ Develop your use of different influence tactics ○ Develop your use of persuasive communication skills • Power and Influence ○ Power: Asymmetric control over valued resources ○ Influence: Ability to produce willful, intrinsic changes in others’ beliefs, attitudes, and behavior ○ There is only one way to become more effective in building power and using influence: practice ○ Just like the principle of compound interest, becoming somewhat more effective in every situation can, over time, leave you in a very different, and much better, place.” • Wharton Leverage Inventory: peoplelab.wharton.upenn.edu ○ Purpose is to illuminate your overall influence activity and the particular tactics you favour ○ Most effective at wielding influence by using the full range • Leverage inventory ○ Platform for learning and development ○ Purpose is to illuminate your overall level of influence activity and the particular tactics you favour. ○ Most effective at wielding influence by using the full range of tactics available. ○ Impacts capacity to influence • Influence ○ Power: Asymmetric control over valued resources ○ Influence: Ability to produce willful, intrinsic changes in others’ beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors ○ Types of Powers  Hard Power - fundamentally coercive. Using force or coercion to change people's behaviour. Unyielding in the face of other people's coercive attempts  Soft Power - fundamentally relational. influencing others by connecting with them. Operates at multiple levels: one-on-one, team cohesiveness and larger group through emotions  Smart Power - fundamentally analytical. working out which tactic to use. ○ People who effectively use a range of influence tactics have the most impact on organisations ○ Impact  Nascent - below average  Single style - average Managing People Page 17  Single style - average  Multi - above average • Persuasion ○ Curse of knowledge is the biggest obstacle to persuasion ○ How to  Simplicity  Unexpectedness  Concreteness  Credibility  Emotions  Stories ○ Persuasion depends on your ability to make your ideas clear, to make people care, and to make people trust you Managing People Page 18 To Sell Is Human Wednesday, 12 July 2023 9:00 PM Link: W3 - To Sell Is Human Introduction.pdf • To the smart set, sales is an endeavor that requires little intellectual throw weight—a task for slick glad-handers who skate through life on a shoeshine and a smile. • To others it’s the province of dodgy characters doing slippery things—a realm where trickery and deceit get the speaking parts while honesty and fairness watch mutely from the rafters. • We’re persuading, convincing, and influencing others to give up something they’ve got in exchange for what we’ve got • we’re devoting upward of 40 percent of our time on the job to moving others. And we consider it critical to our professional success. • "attunement”—bringing oneself into harmony with individuals, groups, and contexts. • “buoyancy”—a quality that combines grittiness of spirit and sunniness of outlook. why actually believing in what you’re selling has become essential on sales’ new terrain. • “clarity”—the capacity to make sense of murky situations. It’s long been held that top salespeople—whether in traditional sales or non-sales selling—are deft at problem solving. Here I will show that what matters more today is problem finding. • “Improvise,” covers what to do when your perfectly attuned, appropriately buoyant, ultra-clear pitches inevitably go awry. • "serve" - Make it personal and make it purposeful Managing People Page 19 Made to Stick Wednesday, 12 July 2023 9:05 PM Link: W3 - Made to Stick Chapter 1.pdf Use SUCCESs to make it stick Principle 1 - Simplicity • To strip an idea down to its core, we must be masters of exclusion. We must relentlessly prioritize • We must create ideas that are both simple and profound • The Golden Rule is the ultimate model of simplicity: a one-sentence statement so profound that an individual could spend a lifetime learning to follow it. Principle 2 - Unexpectedness • We need to violate people’s expectations. We need to be counterintuitive. • Generate interest and curiosity Principle 3 - Concreteness • explain our ideas in terms of human actions, in terms of sensory information. • Speaking concretely is the only way to ensure that our idea will mean the same thing to everyone in our audience Principle 4 - Credibility/Credential • Sticky ideas have to carry their own credentials. • Help people test our ideas for themselves (e.g. Reagan - “Before you vote, ask yourself if you are better off today than you were four years ago.” Principle 5 - Emotions • Make them feel something • We are wired to feel things for people, not for abstractions. Sometimes the hard part is finding the right emotion to harness. Principle 6 - Stories • The Curse of Knowledge ○ plays against sticky stories ○ e.g. Music tappers v/s listeners ○ Two ways to beat it  Not learn anything  Take your ideas and transform them Managing People Page 20 TED's secret to great public speaking Wednesday, 12 July 2023 9:00 PM Link: Chris Anderson: TED's secret to great public speaking • Key common ingredient to great public speaking is transferring an idea to the public you are talking to • An idea is a pattern of information that helps you understand and navigate the world • Ideas that make your worldview are crucial and you need them to be as reliable as possible • Guidelines to a great talk ○ Limit your talk to just one major idea/give context/share examples/make it vivid. ○ Get into the minds of your audience by stirring curiosity. Give your listeners a reason to care by curiosity/ask vivid, intriguing, provocative questions. bridge the knowledge gap. ○ Build your ideas piece by piece. Start where they are. e.g. metaphors ○ Make your idea worth sharing. Who does this idea benefit? Managing People Page 21 Week 4 - Diversity and Individual Differences Wednesday, 12 July 2023 9:01 PM Managing People Page 22 Lecture Thursday, 27 July 2023 6:09 PM • Key Concepts ○ Among other things, diversity is a source of useful information ○ Differences impose time and energy taxes (on some more than others) ○ Personality reflects someone’s defaults – not their destiny • Key Skills ○ Considering the pros and cons of favours and accommodations ○ Identifying trait regulation strategies • Diversity+ ○ Diversity is the same as representation ○ Equity is the same as fairness ○ Inclusion is the same belonging ○ Diversity makes us more creative, more diligent and harder working ○ Scott Page video - The diversity bonus  Teams > individuals  Diverse teams > homogeneous teams ○ Diversity programs  The problem - Reliance on the same programs since 1960s that makes matters worse  The reason - most diversity programs rely on controlling managers' behaviour which activate bias. People tend to rebel against rules  Solution - most effective programs engage people in working for diversity, increase contact with women and minorities and tap into desire to look good to others  Tend to create backlash when forced onto employees ○ Slippery Slope  Management practices are often optimised (intentionally and inadvertently) for those similar/familiar to current leadership  This leads to inequitable hiring, pay, recognition, promotions  Perceived or observed inequities can further erode a sense of belonging ○ Being different affect the way you invest your time, attention and energy ○ Working with someone different affects the way you invest your time, attention and energy ○ Time tax  Women and minorities tends to take on more non-promotable tasks (diversity board, take notes, etc…)  Men get more reputational credit for staying late and women more reputational harm if they do not.  It can be harder to separate work from life when societal events affect members of an identity group. (e.g. mass shooting of asians, police killing of african american)  People who are “different” sometimes spend a lot of time and energy on fitting in.  Curation - setting your environment up to make people think higher of you so you can avoid wasting the time to re-credentialising yourself in front of other people. ○ Different in assumptions in competence  Lose time to re-credentialise themselves in front of other people because of their looks. • Bias ○ Tech-Enabled De-biasing ○ Two focus areas  Reducing defensiveness Managing People Page 23  Reducing defensiveness □ Members of majority groups also can struggle with belonging, and can be harmed by stereotypes. □ Intersectionality and loosening social categories are two reasons to be cautious about assumptions  Overcoming sub-optimal information ○ Use BIAS to fight bias  Blinding - from the influence of stereotypes  Individuating - from their identity group  Articulating - clear expectation so people can safely break from stereotype  Substituting - make a mental substitution to check if you would make the same decision ○ Accommodation  Ways of giving time, attention and energy "credits"  Formal, public, systemic  Takes more time and resource to implement and control ○ Favours  Informal, private, ad hoc  can be considered investment by letting people make their life around work, making it hard for them to leave for another company  Less time and resources to implement and control ○ Any favours has some inherent cost (manager will have to spend more time to attend adhoc requests) • Individual differences ○ Disability  Thinking about people in binary categories vs. at different points on a continuum  Differences between people and differences within people over time  Often an assumption that “atypical” means “worse”  Good intentions to accommodate differences can easily go wrong  People with disabilities include affected by long term illness, work accidents or life accidents ○ More likely to not be promoted and getting paid less ○ Able-ism  Definition - prejudice, stereotype and discrimination experienced by people with disabilities or who are thought to be part of that group.  Also comes in positive forms when people overcompensate and believe disabled people needs more pity  Disability can be considered as a minority group ○ Personality  distinguishing patterns in people's thoughts, feelings, behaviours and desires  Predicts job satisfaction and job performance in general  High conscientiousness are weaker in high complexity versus low to moderate complexity occupations. Therefore match their motivation and behavioural restraint to more predictable environment  It is a default, not your destiny  Traits can change over time, via development & intervention.  Some paths to personality development (new roles, practice & repetition and learning trait-relevant skills) ○ Trait regulation  Trait expression varies considerably.  Counter-dispositional behaviour  Strategies □ Situation selection/modification □ Goal clarification Managing People Page 24 □ Goal clarification □ Interpersonal regulation □ Resource management ○ Working with other's personalities  Personality traits can shape how often and what kinds of conflict people tend to experience  Personality on a team influences whether conflict is productive or counter-productive  Use If-Then profile - if you learn about the triggers of other people, then you can reduce conflict and deepen relationships  Need "User Manual" □ What gives you energy and what depletes you? □ What’s the best way to communicate with you? □ What are your pet peeves? □ What do people misunderstand about you?  Can use favours/benefits to work around work preferences Managing People Page 25 Attitude vs behaviour Wednesday, 13 September 2023 4:40 PM Attitude and behavior are two distinct but related aspects of human interaction in the workplace. Understanding the difference between them is essential for effectively managing and fostering a positive work environment. Attitude: Definition: Attitude refers to a person's feelings, beliefs, and opinions about something or someone. It represents a predisposition or mental state that can influence how individuals perceive and respond to situations, people, or events. Nature: Attitudes are internal and subjective. They exist within an individual's mind and are not directly observable by others. Attitudes can be positive, negative, or neutral and can encompass a wide range of emotions and thoughts. Formation: Attitudes are shaped by a combination of personal experiences, values, upbringing, cultural influences, and social interactions. They can be relatively stable over time but may change with new information or experiences. Examples: Attitudes in the workplace can include an employee's attitude toward their job, colleagues, superiors, company policies, or the overall workplace culture. For instance, an employee may have a positive attitude toward their job, indicating job satisfaction and enthusiasm. Behavior: Definition: Behavior refers to the observable actions, reactions, or conduct of individuals in the workplace. It encompasses what people do, how they interact with others, and the tasks they perform on the job. Nature: Behaviors are external and objective. They can be directly observed and measured by others. Behaviors are the tangible manifestations of an individual's attitudes, intentions, and motivations. Determinants: Behaviors can be influenced by various factors, including attitudes, emotions, personal values, social norms, organizational culture, and situational factors. While attitudes can influence behavior, they do not always dictate it, and people may act contrary to their attitudes in certain situations. Examples: Workplace behaviors can include punctuality, productivity, teamwork, communication style, attendance, adherence to company policies, and how employees interact with customers or colleagues. For example, an employee who consistently arrives on time and actively participates in team meetings is demonstrating positive workplace behavior. In summary, attitudes represent a person's internal thoughts and feelings, while behaviors are the outward actions and interactions that others can observe. Attitudes can influence behavior, but they do not always lead to specific actions, as behaviors are influenced by a complex interplay of internal and external factors. In the workplace, fostering positive attitudes and promoting desired behaviors are both important for creating a productive and harmonious work environment. Managing People Page 26 How Diversity Makes Us Smarter Wednesday, 12 July 2023 9:02 PM Link: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/ • Being around people who are different from us makes us more creative, more diligent and harderworking • The first thing to acknowledge about diversity is that it can be difficult • Research has shown that social diversity in a group can cause discomfort, rougher interactions, a lack of trust, greater perceived interpersonal conflict, lower communication, less cohesion, more concern about disrespect, and other problems • simply being exposed to diversity can change the way you think • if you want to build teams or organizations capable of innovating, you need diversity. Diversity enhances creativity. • The key to understanding the positive influence of diversity is the concept of informational diversity (different information, opinions and perspectives) • It encourages the search for novel information and perspectives, leading to better decisionmaking and problem-solving. Diversity can improve the bottom line of companies and lead to unfettered discoveries and breakthrough innovations • How Diversity Provokes Thought ○ Large data-set studies have an obvious limitation: they can show only that diversity is correlated with better performance, not that it causes better performance. Research on racial diversity in small groups, however, makes it possible to draw some causal conclusions ○ Being with similar others leads us to think we all hold the same information and share the same perspective. ○ When disagreement comes from a socially different person, we are prompted to work harder. ○ geographical diversity is a reflection of more intellectual diversity • The Power of Anticipation ○ people work harder in diverse environments both cognitively and socially. They might not like it, but the hard work can lead to better outcomes. • This is how diversity works: by promoting hard work and creativity; by encouraging the consideration of alternatives even before any interpersonal interaction takes place Managing People Page 27 Micro-aggressions Wednesday, 12 July 2023 9:02 PM Link: https://theconversation.com/micro-aggressions-are-repeated-acts-that-send-women-backwardsheres-how-micro-accommodations-can-fight-back-195570 • Discrimination as a more complex phenomenon, involving a mix of big and small, intentional and unthinking, acts. Racism can be a large “not welcome” sign, but it can also be a series of microaggressions that leave racial minorities feeling marginalised, stigmatised or emotionally exhausted from repeated attempts to claim their rightful place on the team or at the table. • Performed repeatedly, these small acts can have systematic consequences for the choices women make about their lives and their sense of where they belong • These acts can also have broader ripple effects on those witnessing them or walking alongside those affected. They are one way racism and sexism become systemic – baked into our social and legal structures. • Laws hurt, but they can help ○ equal funding for male and female sports teams ○ wheelchair access and Braille signage and paid sick and carer’s leave. ○ Laws cannot do everything • Micro-Accommodations ○ employers, managers and co-workers need to go further and provide small but meaningful accommodations to individual employees to help them thrive, rather than just survive, at work ○ acts that seems small to those making them, but if repeated can have much larger positive consequences for those they target ○ e.g. Start or finish time by a few minutes to accommodate school or daycare drop offs and pick ups ○ micro-accommodations could take any form – so long as they go beyond what’s required by law, and impose only modest costs on those providing them • Favours are not micro-accomodations ○ But asking has costs – it can cause anxiety and stress, it can be exhausting, and it can rereinforce “not belonging”. ○ why it had become my responsibility to make things work rather than my employer’s (e.g. small baby and working at night) ○ a favour is inter-personal and ad hoc; a micro-accommodation is formalised so that all employees in the situations can benefit for as long as they are in that situation ○ micro-accommodations are public rather than private – not something workers have to keep quiet or minimize • Favours are private, micro-accommodations are public ○ Private favours and quiet forms of “personal workarounds” are less effective because wellmeaning colleagues can misunderstand and undermine them, and they are unlikely to have larger, systemic benefits. • How to create micro-accommodations ○ Micro-accommodations are best when targeted to specific need and work best when initiated by managers. ○ They take an emotional load off workers and sends a powerful signal of inclusion • Diverse leaders have responsibilities ○ e.g. Sheryl Sandberg at google regarding pregnancy car park and female legislators requesting family friendly sitting times Managing People Page 28 Why Diversity Programs Fail Wednesday, 12 July 2023 9:04 PM Link: W4 - Why diversity programs fail.pdf • Idea in brief The Problem The Reason The Solution To reduce bias and increase diversity, organizations are relying on the same programs they’ve been using since the 1960s. Some of these efforts make matters worse, not better Most diversity programs focus on controlling managers’ behavior, and as studies show, that approach tends to activate bias rather than quash it. People rebel against rules that threaten their autonomy. Instead of trying to police managers’ decisions, the most effective programs engage people in working for diversity, increase their contact with women and minorities, and tap into their desire to look good to others. • Introduction ○ Arbitration contracts agreeing to not join in action classes and expanded training and other diversity programs. ○ Firms have long relied on diversity training to reduce bias on the job, hiring tests and performance ratings to limit it in recruitment and promotions, and grievance systems to give employees a way to challenge managers. Those tools are designed to preempt lawsuits by policing managers’ thoughts and actions. ○ laboratory studies show that this kind of force-feeding can activate bias rather than stamp it out. ○ Targeted college recruitment, mentoring programs, self-managed teams, and task forces have boosted diversity in businesses • Why you can't just outlaw Bias • You won’t get managers on board by blaming and shaming them with rules and reeducation. ○ Diversity training  Effects of diversity training only lasts a few days and even activate bias or spark backlash  75% uses negative messaging (i.e. financial cost) which do not win converts  Compulsary training does not show any improvement while voluntary training leads to better results  People often respond to compulsory courses with anger and resistance and many participants actually report more animosity toward other groups afterward.  Voluntary training evokes the opposite response (“I chose to show up, so I must be pro-diversity”), leading to better results  Training is also treated as remedial (when there is a complaint or harassment case) ○ Hiring tests  40% of companies now try to fight bias with mandatory hiring tests assessing the skills of candidates for frontline jobs  Used selectively (e.g. for black people but not white people)  Little attention paid to white male failing the tests but not for other groups ○ Performance ratings  Companies sued for discrimination often claim that their performance rating systems prevent biased treatment  Raters tend to lowball women and minorities, some managers give high marks to Managing People Page 29  Raters tend to lowball women and minorities, some managers give high marks to everyone to keep options open  Ratings do not boost diversity ○ Grievance procedure  This is meant to identify and rehabilitate biased managers.  Many managers—rather than change their own behavior or address discrimination by others—try to get even with or belittle employees who complain  Once people see that a grievance system isn’t warding off bad behavior in their organization, they may become less likely to speak up. • Tools for getting managers on board ○ A number of companies have gotten consistently positive results with tactics that don’t focus on control ○ Engagement  When managers actively help boost diversity in their companies, something similar happens: They begin to think of themselves as diversity champions.  College recruitment, mentoring,  Cognitive dissonance ○ Contact  whites and blacks had to be working toward a common goal as equals  working side-byside breaks down stereotypes, which leads to more equitable hiring and promotion.  Rotating management trainees through departments is another way to increase contact. This kind of cross-training allows people to try their hand at various jobs and deepen their understanding of the whole organization. Plus, it exposes both department heads and trainees to a wider variety of people.  College recruitment and mentoring have a bigger impact on diversity—perhaps because they activate engagement in the diversity mission and create intergroup contact ○ Social Accountability  Encouraging social accountability, plays on our need to look good in the eyes of those around us.  The idea that they might have to explain their decisions led them to judge the work by its quality.  Transparency is needed to activate social accountability (e.g. posting average performance rating for all units and pay raise by race and gender).  Corporate diversity task forces help promote social accountability.  Close monitoring from CEO and other managing partners  Task forces are the trifecta of diversity programs. In addition to promoting accountability, they engage members who might have previously been cool to diversity projects and increase contact among the women, minorities, and white men who participate.  Diversity managers, too, boost inclusion by creating social accountability. Simply having a diversity manager who could ask them questions prompts managers to step back and consider everyone who is qualified instead of hiring or promoting the first people who come to mind  When people know they might have to explain their decisions, they are less likely to act on bias. ○ The problem is that we can’t motivate people by forcing them to get with the program and punishing them if they don’t. • The downside of diversity label ○ Program branded/promoted as diversity can be less effective as they can sound "mandatory". Managing People Page 30 "mandatory". Managing People Page 31 Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Saturday, 22 July 2023 10:09 AM Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/are-you-an-introvert-or-an-extrovert-whyknowing/id1080219372?i=1000563094157 • Personality how we perceive situations, making choices, responding to stress • Personality affects how we perceive situation, how we react to certain scenarios • Personality traits can be a good predictor of how you will perform in the workplace and of what we care about • Interviews are less reliable and accurate than personality test on how one would perform in their work. • Important to pay attention to extrovert people who talks more, while introvert talks less but can still pass on the right amount of information. • Can be used for team development, leadership development, blind spots Managing People Page 32 Counter-dispositional Behaviour Wednesday, 13 September 2023 5:07 PM Counter-dispositional behavior, in the context of personality psychology, refers to actions or behaviors that are inconsistent or contrary to a person's typical dispositional traits or personality characteristics. It represents instances where individuals behave in ways that go against the usual patterns associated with their personality traits. Here are some key points to understand about counter-dispositional behavior: Personality Traits: Personality traits are enduring, stable characteristics that describe how individuals typically think, feel, and behave. These traits are relatively consistent over time and across various situations. Examples of personality traits include extraversion, introversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. Counter-Dispositional Behavior: Counter-dispositional behavior occurs when an individual exhibits actions or responses that are inconsistent with their primary personality traits. For instance, an introverted person who usually prefers solitude and quiet might engage in highly social and extroverted behavior at a party. Context and Situational Factors: Counter-dispositional behavior is often influenced by the specific context or situation in which a person finds themselves. Individuals may adapt their behavior to fit the demands of a particular situation or social setting. For example, a typically shy and reserved person might become more outgoing and sociable when required to make a presentation at work. Motivation and Goals: Counter-dispositional behavior can also be driven by a person's goals, values, or motivations. They may choose to act in ways that contradict their usual traits because they believe it will help them achieve a specific objective or align with their personal values. For instance, a risk-averse individual might take a calculated risk in their career if they believe it will lead to significant rewards. Flexibility and Adaptability: Counter-dispositional behavior highlights the flexibility and adaptability of individuals in responding to different situations and challenges. It suggests that personality traits do not rigidly dictate behavior but rather provide a general framework within which individuals operate. Authenticity vs. Role-playing: While counter-dispositional behavior can be adaptive and functional in certain situations, it also raises questions about authenticity. Some individuals may engage in roleplaying or "putting on a facade" to meet social or professional expectations, which can sometimes lead to feelings of incongruence or dissonance if it conflicts with their true self. In summary, counter-dispositional behavior is a concept within personality psychology that acknowledges the capacity of individuals to act in ways that deviate from their typical personality traits. It highlights the dynamic nature of human behavior and the role of context, motivation, and situational factors in shaping how people respond to different circumstances. Understanding counter-dispositional behavior can provide insights into the complexity and adaptability of human personality. Managing People Page 33 Week 5 - Culture and Wellbeing Wednesday, 12 July 2023 9:03 PM Managing People Page 34 Lecture Thursday, 3 August 2023 6:02 PM Link: W5 - Managing People - Term 3 2023.pptx • Key concepts ○ Culture and employee experience are related but different ○ Employee experience can be a talent magnet/repellent and a time credit/tax ○ Cultures vary in kind, strength and effectiveness • Culture ○ Hard to talk about culture  Can be described in many different ways  Easy to get stuck on surface characteristics ○ Definition (related but different)  Culture - Values, beliefs and norms that shape how a group works together  Employee experience / wellbeing - largely qualitative evaluation of what it is like to work somewhere ○ A fun culture may not equal a good experience.  Some employees might not fully relate and enjoy to the "fun" culture that the company wants to implement. E.g. French suing employer  Hard to find the right balance to get everyone included ○ Why invest in employee experience  Attract and retain talent  Good experience - leads to more energy, attention and maybe time  Bad experience - a tax on time, attention and energy ○ Perceived organisation support  Has multiple benefits for employee and employer  Based on fairness, HR practices and work conditions and leadership  Supported by discretionary treatment and perception of leader as organisational agent  Leads to □ Orientation toward the organisation and work (e.g. commitment, engagement, trust) □ Behavioural outcomes (e.g. performance, citizenship behaviors, withdrawal behaviours) □ Employee well-being (e.g. reduced stress, strain, enhanced positive affect) ○ What employees say matters: Trust, transparency, inclusion and Caring ○ What is culture?  System of shared values (defining what is important) and norms (defining appropriate attitudes and behaviours).  Functions as a guide to how group members should invest their time, attention and energy ○ Schein's Iceberg model  Artifacts - visible organisational structures and processes □ Visible symbols of culture □ Communicates values, beliefs and norms □ Best case: reinforce and facilitate culture-consistent behaviour □ Worst case: background noise or evidence of hypocrisy  Values (guiding principles), beliefs (descriptions of how things are) and norms (guides to how to think, act and feel) Managing People Page 35 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ to how to think, act and feel)  Assumptions - unconscious, taken for granted beliefs, habits of perception, thought and feeling Values  Espoused values - explicit statement about what is important  Enacted values - revealed by where you invest your time, attention and energy  They can be clashing Beliefs  e.g. "Technology is most powerful when it empowers everyone"  Descriptions of how things are / the way the world works  Sometimes explicit but often implicit Norms  Descriptive - what people typically do/think/feel  Injunctive - what you should do/think/feel What kind of culture do you hav