Page 317 - Business Principles and Management

Unit 4

business note tant. Managers must communicate with employees in
The language used in communications is very impor-

language they can understand and through their commu-
nication channels. When employees have concerns or are
Most workforces today are very diverse in involved in planning and decision making, managers
terms of age, gender, education, race, nation- must convey their information to upper management.
ality, and culture. Effective interaction and
communication in a diverse environment TEAM BUILDING
can occur if you:
People need to feel that they are a part of a team, that
• are aware that your background may they are important, and that they can count on other
cause you to misunderstand others and team members for help. Team building means getting
that they might misinterpret your actions people to believe in the goals of the company and work
or statements. well together to accomplish them. Teams that take
• get to know people you work with. Social- responsibility for work and pride in the results reduce
ize with and work to involve everyone. the amount of time managers must spend monitoring
Treat everyone and their work with respect the team’s work.
and high expectations.
• communicate with others in ways that
they understand and make them most DEVELOPING JOB SATISFACTION
comfortable. Most people who work at a job for a reasonable length
• encourage open dialogue about diversity of time are not totally satisfied or dissatisfied with their
issues. Don’t hide or ignore them. jobs. However, some people enjoy their work much
• avoid offensive actions and language more than others. An employee’s feelings about work
and don’t tolerate them from anyone. may be very different from one day to the next. There
• learn more about others’ cultures and are many reasons for these differences. Job satisfaction
backgrounds through reading, travel, can be influenced by factors such as the personal char-
and attending cultural events.
acteristics of employees and managers, individual needs,
the people with whom the employees work, and the
actual work itself.
Managers must be aware of the differences among their employees to help
them maintain a high level of job satisfaction. For example, when two people
with different backgrounds, values, and needs must work together, they may
have trouble relating to each other. Managers must consider those differences
when making job assignments to keep personal differences from interfering
with the work. Managers may offer training and development opportunities to
improve the human relations skills of employees to decrease the number of job
problems.
People should be carefully matched with the kind of work they perform,
because personal characteristics can affect job performance. A shy person, or
one who enjoys working alone, might perform better as a computer data entry
operator than as a salesperson. A person who does not pay close attention to
details may not be an effective quality inspector on a production line. Human
resources departments often test new employees or those seeking a promotion
in order to match people with appropriate jobs. Whenever possible, managers
should match the job tasks with the needs and interests of the employees and
watch people when they begin new tasks to identify possible problems.

CHECKPOINT
What are five important human relations skills?

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