A Simple People Address System

In any group of people there are bound to be people problems- whether- at the heart of it all – our family, the apartment we live in, or in the neighborhood or (last but not the least) our workplace. At the workplace a manager can ignore problems only at his peril.

As an example, someone may be outright lazy while someone may be short fuse by nature. While at a mundane perspective such people can be “poison” to the working environment; on the other hand these descriptions may not be very helpful on the long run when it comes to addressing the problem.

Instead, one should concentrate upon specificities- tangible actions. “Sunil is lazy” should be transformed to “Sunil is normally late while submitting reports and ends up achieving less than his colleague Vineet.

Thus, we have got a starting point and most importantly, something, which can be quantified.

Stage 1

Monitor the problem and check out whether the problem exists at all. Sunil may be delayed on the past couple of occasions for being preoccupied with something, which may have added value to the organization.

Stage 2

Seek his own solutions. However, one needs to be careful not to make personal criticism. The idea shall be to focus on specific events. A good manager can use Stage 2 to motivate the person concerned. He may actually end up pointing out a loophole or two in the existing system (eg. the reporting system which is causing the delay) and/or what’s more… might even suggest a friendlier system.

Stage 3

Analysis of Problem

Good behavior may be “blocked” by negative payoffs. If at home Anil Mehta’s teenager son is frowned upon every time he suggests his father a new savings plan from his favorite mobile service provider Mehta Jr. shall be less inclined to share information/views in the future.

Once the problem has been analyzed the Stage 4 is to find a solution.

Stage 5 is necessary because such plans do not always work. One must continue to monitor the problem and review the progress.

(Credits: G M Blair, Senior Lecturer, and University of Edinburgh, UK; MW Resource Center)

Rajib Kumar, Offline (The Material World Online Management Journal) Volume-4, No- 5, April 2006