Instituition
Emotions_understanding the basics: Keeping one's emotions in check is good. Every human being is unique and behaves uniquely when faced with the similar situation at different times. It is the emotions which decide the behavior. In many companies an aspirant for a job has to score highly technical expertise and emotional intelligence tests. Some people can suppress emotions temporarily. Some others keep the emotions to themselves without expressing them. There are other people who have a low-level of tolerance and behave impulsively according to the situation. Being patient under all circumstances and situations is a very rare occurrence in human beings. Provoked for long time, by continuous insulting questions in the interview, a normally cool individual may lose his temper. In normal circumstances the cool individual would have maintained his composure and taken time to think rationally, before answering provoking questions. But in the scenario of the job interview,he is literally forced to answer quickly without being given the minimum amount of time to think properly. The human brain behaves in a particular way when an individual is hunted by animals and behaves in another way when the individual hunts animals. In today's dynamic business environment there is no sufficient time for the individual to think clearly. Mistakes happen and take their toll,affecting the mental state of the individual. Stress slowly builds up,relationships get strained at workplace and finally the individual breaks down in all aspects(Kofman,2001).
Why smart people under perform :No person can travel in two boats at the same time. Multitasking is a myth. Due to cost cutting/economy measures adopted in many organizations one person has to do the work of at least three persons. It may also be due to the self projected image of the executive that he can perform many jobs at the same time. The reality is quite different. Gradually with the passage of time, multitasking takes its toll. Activities keep on arriving at regular intervals of time. Stress slowly starts to build up. The executive can't perform even the routine tasks assigned to him. He becomes a mental wreck and can't concentrate on his duties. Doctors call the condition Attention Deficit Trait. There is another condition 'Attention Deficit Disorder ' which has links with ADT. The top-level management in many companies are insensitive to the problems faced by executives in the form of ADT/ADD. The executives are either fired or asked to resign since they lack concentration at work place and are not performing the jobs as expected by the top management. The executive must search for solutions to his problems. Managing the available time effectively, planning for any given activity become critical in any given context. The hard-working executive has to keep himself healthy physically and mentally through various proven methodologies(Hallowell,2005).
Teaching smart people how to learn: Continuous learning is needed for survival in the market place. People who are basically smart, are affected by ego which prevents them from learning further. When right things are not happening with respect to the projects, they tend to blame the clients or the managers instead of gracefully accepting their mistakes. To protect themselves from any kind of backlash,they adopt defensive,offensive strategy. The so-called smart professionals become proud,arrogant,haughty,disrespectful with the passage of time. They hinder learning process in the company's environment. They avoid all situations in which their performance is analyzed by the senior managers. They feel threatened,vulnerable by the manager's critical assessment of their work. They dread of the situation when the manager judges their work to be below the required standards. The root cause for the professional to revolt against learning is because he has not experienced failures earlier. It is a well-known fact that an individual learns by failures. If there are no failures, no learning can ever takes place. A solution is, to assign a real life business problem, as a case study for the learning averse professionals. They need to suggest effective solutions. The solutions are then discussed in-depth and logically analyzed by all in the presence of senior managers. The entire process is time consuming but gives the desired results for the organization. An outside consultant's services can be used effectively. The professionals need to give up their confrontational posture, to enable learning. Age or years of work experience has nothing to do with the learning process. These kinds of attitude need to be discarded once and for all(Argyris,1991).
Unilateral control: Leaders achieve goals by having the situation completely under their control. Leaders influence others without being influenced by any one. There are circumstances when the executives view a given situation differently. However the leader asserts that he alone understands the situation correctly. Others are bluntly told that they are wrong in their thoughts and do not understand the situation fully. The company's business suffers losses due to these types of situations. The team working environment suffers,with the team members stressed out, highly dissatisfied and thoroughly unmotivated.(Schwarz).
The mutual learning model assumptions can be summarized as follows: The leader accepts the fact, that he has a subjective point of view. Others who disagree with the leader state facts to improve the perspective on the current situation. Learning by mistakes provides an opportunity to improve the existing process. These assumptions have led to five strategies:Defining goals and strategies by consensus,winning with others through the process of open communication,information sharing between leaders and executives, encouraging people to shoulder responsibility and accountability for the choices made,creating an environment where emotions are expressed freely without inhibition (Kofman,2013)
References
Kofman, F. (2001).Metamanagement (Vol. III, Ed.). Granica.
Hallowell, E. M. (2005, January). Why Smart People Underperform. HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, 55-62.
Argyris, C. (1991, May/June). Teaching Smart Peple How To Learn. HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, 99-109.
Schwarz, Roger.(Year, Month. Day ). In How Unilateral Control Undermines Team Results and Relationships. Retrieved Jun. 29, 2016, from http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/
Kofman, Fred. (2013, Apr. 26 ). Retrieved Jun. 29, 2016, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130426144318-36052017-are-you-a-unilateral-control-freak
