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 WITH YOUR

MANAGER OR TEAM LEADER

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 9-
2 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