The office or the workplace is another area where you probably don’t have any options as to who you work with unless you are the boss. Even at that bosses, managers and co-workers can have daily conflict with their employees and fellow workers especially where someone is ‘placed’ into a job involving a close working relationship with others. Replacing a key employee can be a real nightmare and if it is not right, problems can follow.
A few years ago I read an article in a newspaper on business and decision-making, which I found extremely interesting but not surprising. It was reported that new research from Cranfield University, one of the world’s leading business schools, found that personality was the key to decision-making. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2006/0707/1146660098201.html
The researcher found the results were rather surprising. It seems that,” where you have been, what you have trained in, how long you have been around was all rather irrelevant. What did turn out to be important was your personality.” It concluded that “managers need to become more aware of their own personality traits and the likely biases they have on their decision making.”
Most of the classified job ads I have ever seen have all looked for people with “good inter-personal skills” as well as the appropriate qualifications. Psychometric tests are used as a guide to employers but I feel and believe that they are incomplete. Psychometric testing is about ‘individuals’ and their ‘behaviour’ as compared to an accepted statistical norm. They are not about personal compatibility between people but how you are likely to behave or react to a given situation without any help from others.
So you go for a job and before you even get to see the people you could work with you have to get past the interviewer who might not even have anything to do with your prospective new employer. It happened to me many years ago.
My experience
Wanting to change my career direction I went to a job agent I knew socially, for a particular job. With help, I compiled a super CV, did his psychometric tests and was interviewed, but I didn’t get the job. I subsequently found out that the job went to someone less qualified for the position but who was a personal friend of the agent. I have to say that I was annoyed at being treated in such a fashion by someone I knew.
Knowing what I know now I checked back on our personalities and found that I was a conflicting personality to the job agent and therefore there was no supportive connection between us. With hindsight it now doesn’t surprise me that I didn’t get that job.
Another example
I was recently consulted by a managing director whose personal assistant took maternity leave and was temporally replaced, by the human resources department, with another person from within the organization. Unfortunately the replacement, despite being highly qualified, had a conflicting or controlling personality to her temporary new boss. Almost immediately there was tension between the two.
Because of this controlling personality the boss felt that this temporary assistant was showing him disrespect, was treating him with contempt and would even be argumentative with him regarding simple business matters. The director felt the pressure from this person and adopted the attitude of “I am the boss and I will not have anyone talk down to me“.
That lead the personal assistant to take an opposite stance stating “I will not be bullied and I’m entitled to my opinion“. The result was that the stress levels grew and filtered down through the whole company so much so that absenteeism among other employees grew and the business suffered.
Being able to identify and deflect possible conflict by changing reporting structures or selecting people based on supporting personalities can only have a more positive result on business.
John
Very informative. Keep going. TY