Chap09 Notes

CHAPTER 9 GETTING ALONG WITH YOUR MANAGER, COWORKERS, AND CUSTOMERS CHAPTER OUTLINE AND LECTURE NOTES Developing effective relationships with work associates is regarded by many as having good political skills, an interpersonal style that combines awareness of others with the ability to communicate well. DEVELOPING A GOOD RELATIONSHIP MANAGER OR TEAM LEADER

WITH

YOUR

A. Achieve Good Job Performance Among the factors that contribute to whether you can become a competent performer are your education, training, personality characteristics, job experience, and special skills such as being able to organize your work. An advanced way of displaying good job performance is to assist your manager with a difficult problem he or she faces. B. Displav a Strong Work Ethic Six suggestions for demonstrating a strong work ethic are: 1. Work hard and enjoy the task. 2. Demonstrate competence even on minor tasks. 3. Assume personal responsibility for problems. 4. Assume responsibility for free-floating problems. 5. Get your projects completed promptly. 6. Accept undesirable assignments willingly. C. Demonstrate Good Emotional Intelligence A worker who deals effectively with the emotional responses of coworkers and customers is impressive because feelings and emotions are a big challenge on the job. D. Be Dependable and Honest

E. Be A Good Organizational Citizen An effective way of being a good organization citizen is to step outside your job description. If people only do work included in their job description, a mentality of "It's not my job" pervades. An impressive way of stepping outside your job description is to anticipate problems even when the manager had not planned to work on them. Anticipating problems reflects an entrepreneurial, take-charge attitude.

F. Create a Strong Presence Get involved in high visibility projects such as launching a new product. Joining a team is effective as is getting involved in community activities of interest to top management. Also, take on tasks your manager dislikes. G Find Out What Your Manager Expects of You H Minimize Complaints It is unwise to continually complain about various aspects of the work environment. A better tactic than frequent complaining is to make constructive suggestions to improve substandard situations. I Avoid Bypassing Your Manager A good way to embarrass and sometimes infuriate your manager is to repeatedly go to his or her superior with your problems, conflict, and complaints.

COPING WITH A PROBLEM MANAGER A challenge to ambitious people is to cope with a difficult manager, yet remain well regarded by that person. Suggestions follow: A. Reevaluate Your Manager Some problem bosses are not really a problem. Instead, they have been misperceived by one or more group members. You and your boss may simply have a difference in roles, goals, or values. When evaluating your manager, judge slowly and fairly. B. Confront Your Manager About the Problem A general-purpose way of dealing with a problem manager is confront the problem, then look for a solution. C. Learn from Your Manager's Mistakes Even a bad boss contributes to our development-he or she serves as a model of what not to do as a boss.

BUILDING GOOD COWORKER RELATIONSHIPS A. Develop Allies through Being Civil People who are courteous, kind, cooperative, and cheerful develop allies and friends in the workplace. Being civil helps make you stand out because many people believe that crude, rude, and obnoxious behavior has become a national problem. B. Make Other People Feel Important C. Maintain Honest and Open Relationships Giving coworkers frank, but tactful, answers to their requests for your opinion is one useful way of developing open relationships. D. Be a Team Player An essential strategy for cultivating peers is to function as a team player. A team player is one who emphasizes group accomplishments and cooperation rather than individual achievement and not helping others. E. Follow Groups Standards of Conduct To be a good coworker, one has to adhere to group norms, the unwritten set of expectations for group members-what people ought to do. Yet conforming too closely to group norms leads to a loss of individuality. Norms are a major part of the organizational culture, or values and beliefs of the firm that guide people's actions. Group norms also influence the social aspects of behavior on the job. F. Express an Interest in the Work and Personal Life of Others G. Use Appropriate Compliments Compliments can be a very good relationship builder but they should be appropriate to the good deed. H. Deal Effectively with Difficult People A major challenge in getting along well with coworkers is to deal constructively with difficult people. A coworker is classified as difficult if he or she is uncooperative, touchy, defensive, or very unfriendly. The following tactics are designed to deal with difficult people: 1. Take Problems Professionally. Not Personally. 2. Give Ample Feedback. 3. Listen and Respond. 4. Use Tact and Diplomacy in Dealing with Annoying Behavior. 5. Use Humor. 6. A void Creating a Dependency On You. 7. Reinforce Civil Behavior and Good Moods. It may be necessary to use a combination of the seven tactics described in this section to deal effectively with a difficult person. In dealing with difficult coworkers and bosses, it is important to recognize that their problems could be serious. They could be suffering from one or more personality disorders, which are pervasive, persistent, inflexible, maladaptive patterns of behavior that deviate from expected cultural norms.

Face Maturely the Challenge of the Office Romance Office romances can be disruptive to morale and productivity. Coworker romances are the most tolerated. Strive to keep the relationship confidential and restricted to after hours. Use good judgment and be discreet.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS Success on the job also requires good relationships with both external and internal customers. External customers fit the traditional definition of customer that includes clients and guests. Internal customers are the people you serve within the organization or those who use the output from your job, such as your team members. An employee whose thoughts and actions are geared toward helping customers has a customer service orientation. Good service is the primary factor that keeps customers coming back. Profits jump considerably as the customer is retained over time. An overall approach to dealing effectively with customers is to be a good organizational citizen with respect to customer relationships. See Figure 92 for a list of Service-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behaviors. Suggestions for achieving high-level customer service are as follows: 1. Establish customer satisfaction goals. 2. Understand your customer's needs and place them first 3. Show care and concern. 4. Communicate a positive attitude. 5 Make the buyer feel good. 6. Display strong business ethics. 7. Be helpful rather than defensive when a customer complains. 8. Invite the Customer back