CHAPTER 5: WORKING WITH PEOPLE

COMPETENCIES

 identify ways of analysing differences between individuals

 critically evaluate the management of groups and behaviour of individuals as group
members
 apply principles of assertion and deal with conflict
 devise plans for motivating team members,

DISCUSSION

It is people, people, people

 The hospitality industry is often described as a ’people industry’. As we have seen in

earlier chapters, frontline employees are the means by which an organization
delivers its service to customers, and the management of employees needs to tap
employees’ commitment and enthusiasm to ’delight customers’. The service
interaction in most hospitality retail organizations is ’inseparable’ in that the
customer is present when the service is ’delivered’. Customer reactions and
involvement in the service are also important features of the service. Customer
expectations and moods will form a basis for judging the success or failure of the
service encounter.
Every organization is a mix of individuals with a variety of personalities, values, and
attitudes. Personality and characteristics determine an employee’s behavior and ability to
perform. Organizations hire people on the premise that they have certain knowledge, skills,
abilities, personalities, and values that they bring to the workplace.
Role of Personality and Attitude in Organization
Personality contributes in part to workplace behavior because the way that people think,
feel, and behave affects many aspects of the workplace. Attitude is another major factor to
be considered here. People's personalities influence their behavior in groups, their
attitudes, and the way they make decisions.
Today, at the hiring stage itself many organizations are attempting to screen applicants
who are more likely to fit with their company culture. Organizations want to hire individuals
with positive traits and attitudes to create a healthy environment.
Importance of Personality
Personality is a set of distinctive individual characteristics, including motives, emotions,
values, interests, attitudes, and competencies. It is a stable set of characteristics
representing internal properties of an individual, which are reflected in behavioral
tendencies across a variety of situations.
It determines an employee’s fitment in terms of personality, attitude and general work
style. In managing the day-to-day challenges, it is the personality of the people involved
that affects the decisions taken in an organization. For example, a manager who cannot
motivate his staff positively risks the integrity of the team which directly impacts the
quality of service resulting in low productivity.
A manager’s personality greatly impacts motivation, leadership, performance, and conflict.
The more understanding a manager has on how personality in organizational behavior
works, the better equipped he will be to bring out the best in people and situation.
Personality Traits
Organizations have greatly evolved over the years in the way organizations operate and
react to situations. Today they are leaner with fewer levels and more transparency.
Managers are more participative involving subordinates at all levels. The shift towards more
knowledge-oriented and customer-focused jobs have rendered more autonomy even at
fairly low levels within organizations.
The constant volatility of the environment affecting organizations have made them open to
changes and newness. All of these factors have contributed to personality being seen as
more important now than it was in the past.
Behavior patterns have been a constantly evolving field of study where psychologists
attempt to identify and measure individual personality characteristics, often
called personality traits which are assumed to be some enduring characteristics that are
relatively constant like dependable, trustworthy, friendly, cheerful, etc.
Modern personality theorists, Costa & McCrae, have researched and published their study
of a ‘5 trait’ model which is now widely accepted among psychologists. These 5 aspects of
personality are referred to as the 5-factors or sometimes just ‘the Big 5’.
The Big 5 Personality Traits
There are a number of traits on which persons can be ranked
or measured. However, five core personality traits called the
five factor model have been found to be of value for use in
organizational situations.
Each of these 5 personality traits describes, relative to other
people, the frequency or intensity of a person's feelings,
thoughts, or behaviors. Every individual possesses all 5 of
these traits, but in varying degree.
For example, we can describe two managers as ‘tolerant’.
But there could be significant variation in the degree to
which they exercise their tolerance levels.
The model categorizes people as possessing the following
traits in varying degrees of high scope and low scope.
Conscientiousness
 High Score − Productive and disciplined, rigid
and single tasking.
 Low Score − Less structured, less productive, more
flexible, inventive, and capable of multitasking.
Agreeableness
 High Score − Co-operative, can be submissive, and
empathetic to others.
 Low Score − Demanding, challenging and
competitive, sometimes even argumentative.
Extraversion
 High Score − Energetic, Cooperative, talkative, enthusiastic and seek excitement.
 Low Score − Loners, not sympathetic, difficult to understand, even a bit eccentric.
Openness to Experience
 High Score − Beginners, curious and sometimes unrealistic.
 Low Score − Grounded, practical and sometimes resist change.
Neuroticism
 High Score − Calm, relaxed and rational. Sometimes can be perceived as being
lazy and incapable of taking things seriously.
 Low Score − Alert, anxious, sometimes unnecessarily worried.
The 5 personality traits exist on a continuum rather than as attributes that a person does or
does not have. Each of these 5 traits is made up individual aspects, which can be measured
independently.
The personality traits cannot be studied in isolation. Both positive and negative
associations that these traits imply should be considered. For example, conscientiousness
is necessary for achieving goals through dedication and focus. Conscientious people reach
their goals faster. Conversely, conscientiousness is not very helpful in situations that
require multi-tasking.
Other Personality Traits – Self Variables
In addition to the Big Five, researchers have proposed various other dimensions or traits of
personality. They are called self-variables. People's understanding about themselves is
called self-concept in personality theory and are important self-variables that have
application in organizational behavior. These include self-monitoring, self-esteem, self-
efficacy, etc.
 Self-esteem is the self-perceived competence and self-image. It is related to higher
levels of job satisfaction and performance levels on the job. People with low self-
esteem experience high levels of self-doubt and question their self-worth.
 Self-monitoring is the extent to which a person is capable of monitoring his or her
actions and appearance in social situations.
 Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s abilities that one can perform a specific task
successfully. A person may have high self-efficacy in being successful academically,
but low self-efficacy in relation to his/her ability to fix the car.
Personality thus impacts a person's performance in various dimensions in the workplace.
Not every personality is suited for every job position, so organizations need to carefully
consider personality traits and assign duties/roles accordingly. This can lead to increased
productivity and job satisfaction.
Each one of us has our own belief or attitude towards the food we eat, the place we live,
the clothes we wear, etc. Similarly, work attitude refers to how an individual feels about his
work and shows his commitment towards it.
Attitudes are a way of thinking, and they shape how we relate to the world, both at work and
outside of work. An attitude denotes our opinions, beliefs, and feelings about various aspects
of our environment.

Positive Work Attitude

Positive work attitude is extremely important because it fosters productive thinking and
leads to productive working. A positive person is more approachable and easily builds
constructive relationships, which are essential in building cohesive teams.
The two job attitudes that have the greatest potential to influence how an individual
behaves at work are − Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment.
People consider and evaluate their work environment based on several factors like the
nature of the job, the rapport and relationship they share with their superiors and peers,
how they are treated in the organization and the level of stress the job involves. Work
attitudes that have the greatest potential to influence how an employee behaves are job
satisfaction and organizational commitment.
Job Satisfaction
The feelings people have toward their job. It is probably the most important job attitude
and denotes how satisfied an employee is at his work. A person with high job satisfaction
appears to hold generally positive attitude, and one who is dissatisfied holds negative
attitude towards their job.
Organizational Commitment
Organizational commitment is the emotional or psychological attachment people have
toward the company they work for. A highly committed employee identifies completely with
the organizations’ objectives and is willing to put in whatever effort it takes to meet them.
Such an employee will be willing to remain with the organization and grow with it.
Factors Contributing to Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

Employees tend to associate satisfaction and

commitment in jobs with certain characteristics.
Nature of Job − Employees are satisfied and
committed when they feel that their job provides
the ability to use their inherent skills, having
autonomy at work, performing a seemingly
significant task, having healthy feedback
mechanism, etc. Employees also tend to be more
satisfied when their jobs help them build new
skills and improve themselves.
Job Fitment − It is the degree to which an
employee’s personal beliefs, values and goals are
in synergy with those of the organization. An
employee who sees a healthy synergy will remain satisfied and committed.
Organizational Justice − Every individual likes to be treated fairly in all situations. This
also applies to the workplace and plays a big role in creating and sustaining satisfaction
and commitment levels. How fair the company policies are, how fairly the management and
superiors treat the employees and how fair is the compensation an employee receives in
return for his contribution, are some factors.
Work Relationships − Another major influencer of an employee’s satisfaction and
commitment is the relationship with juniors, peers and managers. Relationship refers to the
way they are treated, whether they are socially accepted in the work group, how
considerate is the manager, how fair he is towards the employees, etc.
Psychological Association − An employee who is emotionally attached with the
organization will be satisfied and willing to commit himself to achieving the organizational
objectives. It is the unspoken informal bond that silently plays a major positive influence.
Personality
There are a number of explanations as to why people do what they do, the trait theory of
personality suggests that people’s actions and personalities can be understood through an
analysis of their personality traits. These traits are reasonably consistent characteristics,
which are probably developed through a combination of inheritance and social and physical
environment. The ’nature versus nurture’ debate amongst various psychologists puts
different influences on the relative importance of each. For our purposes, it is probably true
to say there is most probably a
combination of both.
One simple technique for understanding individual differences involves mapping people
against two axes - extraversion/ introversion and stable/unstable. An extravert person is
most interested in the outside world of people and things, whereas the introvert is more
interested in their own thoughts and feelings. A stable person tends be calm and even-
tempered, whereas the unstable personality is changeable and touchy.

The stable extravert tends to be warm-hearted and outgoing, demonstrates a temperament

which is sociable, outgoing, talkative, responsive, easygoing, lively, carefree and with
leadership qualities.

Shows how these variations might

result in different personality
types depending on their location
on the four quadrants produced by
comparing
introversion/extraversion and
stability/instability.

included against each dimension

of extraversion/introversion, build
a model of personality traits in
which the extreme extravert is
active, sociable, risk-taking,
impulsive, expressive, practical
and irresponsible. The classically
introverted personality on the
other hand is inactive, unsociable,
careful, controlled, inhibited,
reflective and responsible. In reality, few people are purely extravert or purely introvert, or
purely stable or purely unstable.

The stable introvert tends to be listless and slow,

demonstrates a temperament which is calm, even-
tempered, reliable, controlled, peaceful, thoughtful,
careful and passive.
The unstable introvert tends to be more depressed
and sadder, and demonstrates a temperament that
is quiet, unsociable, reserved, pessimistic, sober,
rigid, anxious and moody.

The unstable extravert tends to be easily angered

and quick to react, demonstrates a temperament
which is touchy, restless, aggressive, excitable,
changeable, impulsive, optimistic and active.

Whilst this trait theory approach is attractive

because it is easy to understand and seems to
reflect ’common sense’ - the ancient Greeks
identified four similar types of personality - there
are
several problems with these personality ’types’:
  They tend to assume too much about the person and that people will always react in
the predicted way.
 They tend to assume these types are unchanging over time.
 They take little account of cultural or other environmental influences on
temperament.

That said, the traits identified can be useful in building a more detailed picture of individual
behaviour or the type of person needed for a particular role or job.

Beliefs
Beliefs are a reflection of what people 'know' about the world. Knowledge in this sense is not
just a reflection of factual knowledge, although factual knowledge is a belief system. Beliefs
may include:
 factual knowledge - water is made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of
oxygen
 what a person desires to be true - my favourite football team will win the cup
 how a person identifies themselves in relation to others - political and religious
beliefs play this role
 knowledge which individuals cannot prove but they accept as a matter of faith

Beliefs and perceptions often interact. Perceptions are in part shaped by beliefs - people
perceive things in line with their beliefs. Beliefs are also reinforced perceptions – individuals
perceive things that they notice because of their beliefs.
An understanding that individuals, managers, employees and customers may have different
beliefs is important to you as the customers may have different beliefs is important to you
as the unit manager.
 The manager must be aware that differences in beliefs can be a source of tension
and conflict.

 Differences in beliefs about dress, language and conduct etc. can cause offence.
 Managers must be sensitive to the beliefs of others and that humor or ill-considered
remarks can be offensive.
 The manager must aim. to establish a shared belief in the success of the unit,
standards needed and that effective performance will be recognized.

Values
These are what people want to be true, what individuals value in the long run and from
themselves. There are two types of values:
 End values: how things should be in the long run - a comfortable life, a sense of
accomplishment, a world at peace, equality, wisdom, self-respect, etc.
 Instrumental values: how a person should conduct themselves - broadminded,
cheerful, helpful, obedient, polite, self-controlled.

Tests show that different individuals will rank these differently. Values tend to be bundled. A
person is frequently expressing a view of what they consider to be important through their
values.
Some people give priority to the 'state of the world' whilst others give priority to values
about their relationships with others or about how they themselves should be. In some
aspects, values
reflect tendencies towards extraversion and introversion. In addition, to these general
values which individuals hold, there are several different sets of assumptions which people
make about the values and priorities of others.
As a manager you may have developed fixed ways of thinking about people and the things
they value at work. These stereotypes can cause difficulties when dealing with employees,
because you see what you expect to see rather than what is actually there. This Chapter
identified a widespread tendency for those in higher positions to consider the motives of
people in lower positions to be more concerned with materials than they were themselves.
Using this model, they tend to apply the rational economic stereotype when thinking about
the values and priorities of subordinates. The stereotype favoured by an individual manager
reflects much about the manager’s own values, and less about the values of employees. To
understand people at work it
is necessary to:
 accept that people are different to ourselves
 treat people as individuals and expect the unexpected
 use frameworks and theories as a guide, not as rigid rules

Rational economic stereotype

 This stereotype views people as chiefly motivated by economic incentives and
material rewards. The assumption is that people’s values prioritize material and
personal benefits. Dominant values prioritize ambition, achieving a comfortable life
and obedience for example. Managers holding this view believe that people will act
to maximize material rewards in preference to any other benefits from work.
Frequently this set of manager values prioritizes output efficiency, monetary
incentives, competition between individuals and the close supervision of employees
together with a directive style of management.

Social stereotype
 Social stereotypes view people as being motivated by social needs and being part of
a group. It is assumed that values that focus on the relationships with and obligations
to others are most important to individuals at work. It is assumed that group
membership gives individuals a sense of identity and support. Dominant values will
prioritize true friendship, social recognition and helpfulness. Managers holding this
view place emphasis on the human relationships at work and provide opportunities
for individuals to identify with group needs through team membership, department
and organization identity.

Self-fulfilment stereotype
 This view people as being motivated to a sense of accomplishment, and the need to
develop abilities and skills. It is assumed that dominant values give priority to the
quality of working life and opportunities for personal growth and development.
Dominant values will prioritize a sense of accomplishment, self-respect and self-
control. Managers holding this view place emphasis on job design, employee
satisfaction, and autonomy. The focus is on delegation and participative
management, training and employee development.

Individuals in groups

Group membership, even when people cannot know all the other members, help individuals
define who they are and also, importantly, who they are not. These labels shape behaviour
and expectations, helping to establish codes of expected actions and beliefs. Individuals
belong to two types of groups.

Secondary groups are groups to which people belong, or to which people affiliate, where the
members are mostly unknown to each other. In other words, a person may declare him or
herself to belong to a national group, say English, without knowing all the other people who
make up the nation- the English. Yet membership of this group can result in all sorts of
positive and negative behaviour -supporting the football team, conflict with supporters of
other teams, etc.

Individuals also belong to primary groups. These are small groups, usually not much larger
than ten people, where all the members are known to each other. Typically, individuals
belong to families and work groups that are in the form of primary groups. In a formal way,
the use of team working and autonomous work groups recognizes these social dynamics
but, even in situations where teams and group membership are not part of the management
structure, group membership will influence behaviour at work. Group influences on
individual behaviour:

 provide a sense of identity

 develop a structure including roles such as leader

 establish norms and expectations about how members behave

 pressure individuals to conform to the norms

 provide individuals with a sense of security

 will defend individuals from threats outside the group

 can improve collective output through mutual support

 can result in conflict with other groups

 are able to act in a unified manner

 provide a means of communication and developing shared knowledge

The potential benefits of group membership in providing a selfdisciplining, mutually

supporting framework for guiding individual performance are at the root of the use of work
teams, and autonomous and semi-autonomous work groups. Yet the social psychology of
group influences means that all the positive and negative influences on behaviour are to be
found in the workplace, and as a manager you must be aware of their influence. Individual
employees are members of the formal group structure that the organization sets up:

0 departments within the unit

0 occupational and job role differences

0 different unit membership

0 units in different brands within the group

0 units in other companies, etc.

Managers can use these group memberships arising from the formal structure to develop a
sense of common purpose and shared expectations. Thus, creating a sense of 'us and them'
can assist you to give unit staff a sense of common purpose to see the unit succeed in
comparison to other units in the group or against competitors. At the same time the formal
structure can create a climate in which people in different departments are in conflict with
each other and form as a barrier to effective operation. The traditional conflicts between
kitchen and restaurant are a good example of the negative effects excessive conflict can
produce.
At the same time, individuals belong to informal groupings that are a natural consequence
of people working together. These, too, can have both positive and negative effects.
Informal group membership can provide mechanisms for mutual support and shared
purpose, which lead to high morale and commitment. At the same time, informal groups can
result in norms of behaviour which restrict production and have a conflictual stance with
management. Informal leaders can perform an important role in challenging you, the unit
manager, as the formal leader.

To effectively manage the unit, you have to recognize the influences of informal group
membership on individual behaviour and attempt to work with informal leaders. As was
stated in the earlier chapters, team working and autonomous work group membership
provide techniques. At the very least you can:

 work with group members to reduce staff turnover

 use groups to assist in problem-solving

 encourage a sense of common purpose and shared objectives

 recognize and incorporate unofficial leaders from their groups

 aim incentives at group performance

 provide opportunities for effective group working to be established

Influencing others

Effective unit managers need to be able to exercise a range of skills, attitudes, energies and
behaviours to persuade others to act in a desired way. This book has shown that well-
motivated and committed employees are essential to high-quality hospitality business
performance. Traditional techniques of command and control and authoritarian
management styles are not compatible with the development of employee motivation and
commitment. Managing more involved and participating employees requires persuasion
rather than instruction.

You need to exercise personal power that goes beyond structural power and, even,
expertise. Personal power is used to influence people and actions. It is used to work through
other people. The positive use of power aims to empower others and work through and with
them without diminishing their personal power. By empowering others, more committed
employees deliver better quality decisions in an environment of mutual trust. It produces a
win-win situation in which all benefit.

Having personal power, therefore, involves the exercise of skills in influencing others.
Exercising personal power is not about bullying or threatening others through displays of
aggression and conflict. Influencing others is the process of modifying, effecting or changing
another person’s thoughts, attitudes or behaviour. There are a number of ways this can be
achieved, though this section deals with being assertive. Assertiveness training is about
empowering people and making them more self-confident

Assertiveness

 Assertiveness involves standing up for yourself without damaging other people’s rights.
It is about being aware of the rights and dignity of others without giving up one‘s own
rights and dignity.The approach requires individuals to develop an appreciation of each
other’s views and feelings without being aggressive or non-assertive, in other words,
 without standing up for your rights at the expense of others or allowing other people’s
rights to be expressed at your expense.

Suppose a work colleague keeps giving you some of their work to do. You decide that you do
not wish to do it any more. The person has just asked to you to take on some more.

You say:

1. ‘No Joe I’m not going to do any more of your work. I’ve decided that it’s not right for
either of us for me to do both my work and yours’. Assertive
1. ’Forget it, it’s about time that you did it. You treat me like your slave. You’re an
inconsiderate . . . ’ Aggressive
2. ’I’m rather busy. But if you can’t get it done I think I can help you’. Non-assertive

Dealing with conflict

Conflict occurs when the concerns of two or more people are incompatible. Conflict is an
inevitable feature of hospitality service organization life. Fundamentally, the relationship
between organization and employees; between employees and customers; and between
customers and the organization are all

bound to result in different parties having needs which conflict with others. Even though
customers, employees and the organization’s management may work together in harmony
for much of the time, deep-seated conflicts of interest are always under the surface, for
example, in the:

 employee/organization dimension wages for employees are costs for the organization;

 employee/customer dimension the customer’s service need represents work and effort
for employees

 customer/organization dimension customer service satisfaction is sales revenue for the

organization.

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