Unit 1 - Unit 3

Unit 1: Self-Awareness

➢ Personality

  • a combination of characteristics that make you unique from others.

  • Personality traits and characteristics can make workplaces more productive.

  • Knowing what your personality trait is can help you pick the best job for you

➢ Myers Briggs

  • Extraverted vs Introverted (extraversion vs Introversion)

    • Naturally drawn to the outer world of people and things

    • Tend to prefer being alone and recharging

  • Sensing vs Intuitive

    • Use facts and knowledge to take in information based on what they learn from their senses.

    • Take in information based on what one feels without conscious reasoning

  • Thinking vs Feelings

    • Gives more weight when making decisions to logical thinking and thinking things through

    • Gives more weight when making decisions to personal human concerns and emotions

  • Judging vs Perceiving

    • Individuals who perceive tend to absorb more information over a longer period of time and are more flexible in making decisions

    • Adaptable and flexible, takes longer to make decisions and can tend to procrastinate

➢ Big 5 Personality Types/Traits:

  • Conscientiousness

    • The tendency and ability to exercise self-discipline and be able to work on a goal for long-term achievements rather than immediate gratification.

  • Emotional stability (Neuroticism)

    • describes a person who is more likely to react to situations with more negative emotions like fear, sadness, guilt, and shame.

  • Extraversion

    • Someone who seeks stimulation from others or the outside world. Extroverts tend to engage with others to earn friendship, admiration, excitement, and romance.

  • Agreeableness

    • The tendency to put others before themselves and get pleasure out of caring for others. They have a great deal of empathy.

  • Openness to experience

    • Describes a person who thinks in abstract, complex, and creative ways. They enjoy playing with ideas and tend to be adventurous and intellectual.

➢ Motivation

  • The forces within the individual account for the level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work.

➢ Extrinsic reward: Type of Motivational Reward

  • valued outcomes are given to someone by another person – Pay, praise and recognition, promotion, time off

  • Example: Pay; Bonuses; Promotions; Time Off; Special Assignments; Office Fixtures; Awards;Verbal Praise; Profit sharing; Stock options; Impressive titles; Preferred work assignments; Praise and recognition

➢ Intrinsic reward: Type of Motivational Reward

  • valued outcomes that occur naturally as a person works on a task – Feeling of competency, personal development, self-control

  • Example: Feelings of Competency; Personal Development; Self- Control; Participation in decision making; Increased responsibility; Opportunities for personal growth; Greater job freedom & discretion; More interesting work/Diversity of activities; Training opportunities

➢ Content motivational theory

  • help managers understand human needs and how people with different needs may respond to different work situations

➢ Process motivational theory

  • help managers understand how people give meaning to rewards and then respond with various work-related behaviors

➢ Reinforcement motivational theory

  • helps managers understand the environment as a major source of rewards and how these environmental consequences influence people’s behaviour

➢ Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

  • Physiological → Food, water, sleep, warmth

  • Safety → Security, stability, freedom, comfort

  • Social → Affection, belonging, love

  • Esteem → Self-respect, prestige, status

  • Self Actualisation → Growth, Advancement, creativity

  • You need the basic needs to be met before going up

➢ ERG theory – Clayton Alderfer

  • States that humans have 3 core types of needs:

  • Growth→ Self-esteem and Self Actualisation

  • Relatedness→ Social and Self-Esteem

  • Existence→ Physiological and Safety

  • You can have multiple at a time in no order.

➢ Two-factor theory – Frederick Herzberg

  • States that the factors that affect one satisfaction and needs

  • Hygiene factors → found in the job context, such as working conditions, interpersonal relations, organizational policies, and salary.

  • Motivator factors → found in job content such as a sense of achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, or personal growth.

➢ Acquired needs theory – David McClelland

  • Need for Achievement → The desire to do something better or more efficiently, to solve problems, or to master complex tasks.

  • Need for Affiliation → The desire to establish and maintain friendly and warm relations with other people.

  • Need for Power → The desire to control others, influence their behaviour, or be responsible for others.

Unit 2: Communication 

Four Functions of Management

  • Planning 

    • Setting performance objectives and deciding how to achieve them

  • Organizing

    • Arranging tasks, people, and other resources to accomplish the work

  • Leading 

    • Inspiring people to work hard to achieve high performance

  • Controlling 

    • Measuring performance and taking action to ensure desired results

➢ Communication 

  • An interpersonal process of sending and receiving symbols with messages attached to them 

  • Key elements of the communication process: Sender, Message, Communication channel, Receiver, Interpreted meaning, and Feedback

➢ Non-verbal communication 

  • takes place through gestures, facial expressions, body posture, eye contact, and the use of interpersonal space. 

➢ Distractions 

  • Include interruptions from cellphones/phones, drop-in visitors, a lack of privacy, etc. 

  • Can interfere with the effectiveness of a communication attempt 

  • This can be avoided or at least minimized through proper planning

➢ Status effect 

  • Occur when an organization’s hierarchy of authority creates a barrier to effective communication 

    • Filtering: the intentional distortion of information to make it appear favourable to the recipient

➢ Active listening 

  • The process of taking action to help someone say exactly what he or she really means.

  • Listen for message content, Listen for feelings, Respond to feelings, Note all cues, Paraphrase and restate, and Feedback 

  •  Sender →Message →Communication channel (rich/poor) →Receiver →Interpreted meaning → Feedback 

➢ Noise 

  • Poor choice of channels

  • Poor written or oral expression 

  • Failure to recognize nonverbal signals 

  • Physical distractions

➢ Effective communication

  • Occurs when the intended meaning of the sender is identical to the interpreted meaning of the receiver 

➢ Efficient communication 

  • Occurs at a minimum resource cost to convey a message in the least amount of time

➢ Non-verbal message

  • takes place through gestures, facial expressions, body posture, eye contact, and the use of interpersonal space. 

➢ Mixed messages 

  • occur when a person’s words and nonverbal signals communicate differently. 

  • The growing use of communication technologies causes important nonverbal communication to be lost

  • Workspace layout is often overlooked as a form of nonverbal communication but is being increasingly recognized for its impact on communication and behaviour. Interpersonal space is an important nonverbal cue

➢ Perception Barriers to communication 

Perceptions can clearly influence how people communicate and how they actually behave toward others.

Think about the following perceptual tendencies that can  cause adverse effects on working relationships:  

  • Stereotypes 

    • Occurs when  attributes  commonly  associated  with a group  are assigned to  an individual

  • Halo Affects 

    • Occur when one attribute is used to develop an overall impression of a person, situation or product. 

    • The halo effect is often used in business communication processes with consumers.

    • The halo effect is quite often used in marketing, and namely in advertising messages.

  • Selective Perception 

    • Tendency to define problems from one’s own point of view.

    • Is the process by which  individuals perceive  what they want in  media messages while  ignoring opposing  viewpoints

  • Projection 

    • The assignment of personal attributes to other  individuals

      • Example: When an individual, threatened by his  own angry feelings, accuses another of harbouring  hostile thoughts

➢ Feedback vs Constructive Feedback 

  • Feedback — The process of telling others how you feel about something they said or did or the situation overall 

  • Constructive Feedback — gives someone ideas to the employee or person about what they can do to improve. 


Written channel: (memos, emails, letters)

  • Simple 4 easy to convey.

  • require information to spread quickly

  • Convey forma policy

Spoken Channels: (face-to-face, conference call, speeches, lecture )

  • complex &  hard to convey where immediate feedback is needed

  • attempt to create supportive & inspirational climate.

Consumer: a person who purchases goods & services for personal use.

Halo effect - used in business communication processes with Consumers.

  • Is often used in marketing & advertising messages

5 rules for Good listening (used for active listening)

• listen for message content

• listen/respond to feelings

• Note all cues

• Rephrase & Restate

• Feedback

Ethnocentrism - tendency to consider one’s culture superior to all others.

→ can cause people to

• Not listen to others

• Address or speak to Others in different ways that alienate them

• use inappropriate stereotypes in dealing with someone from another culture.

Technology Utilization

  • Information technologies facilitate communication

  • Speeds messages and information from one person to another.

  • Functional - if the information is accurate and useful

  • Dushunchonal - if the information is false, distorted or based on a rumour

Unit 3: Leading  

➢ Leader 

  • the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country

➢ Leadership 

  • the process of inspiring others to work hard to accomplish important tasks

➢ Servant Leader

  • Commitment to serving others – followers more important than leader 

  • “Other centered,” not “self-centered” 

  • Focuses on empowerment, not on power

➢ Administrators 

  • Individuals who are responsible for the planning and implementation of overseeing the operations of an organization. 

  • Administrators work in many different workplaces, including businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and non-profit organizations. 

➢ Integrity 

  • Having honesty, credibility, and consistency in putting values into action

  • Having integrity allows your followers to gain trust 

  • When your actions coincide with your values, you are exercising integrity

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Leadership Styles 

➢ Human Relations Leadership Style 

  • Emphasizes people over work

  • Concern for others is high; concern for the task at hand is low

➢ Laissez-faire Leadership Style 

  • Shows little concern for the task at hand 

  • Let the group make decisions

  • Acts with a “do the best you can and don’t bother me” attitude

  • Concern for the task is low; concern for the people is low

➢ Democratic Leadership Style 

  • Committed to task and people

  • Getting things done while sharing information

  • Encouraging participation in decision-making 

  • Helping people develop skills and competencies

➢ Autocratic Leadership style  – Task-Oriented 

  • Emphasizes work over people

  • Keeps authority and information within the leader’s tight control

  • Acts in a unilateral command-and-control fashion 

  • Concern for the task is high; concern for the people is low

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➢ Visionary leader

  • a leader who brings to the situation a clear and compelling sense of the future as well as an understanding of the actions needed to get there successfully

  • Principles: 

    • Challenges the process – are a pioneer, encourage innovation, support people who have ideas

    • Shows enthusiasm - inspires others through personal enthusiasm to share in a common vision.

  • Challenges: 

    • Helps others to act by being a team player and supports the  efforts and talents of others

    • Sets the example by being a consistent role model of how  others can and should act

    • Celebrates achievements by bringing emotion into the workplace. They rally “hearts” and “minds”

➢ Contemporary Theory – Servant Leadership 

  • Commitment to serving others – Followers more important than leader

  • “Other-centered,” not “self-centered”

  • Focuses on empowerment, not on power

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➢  Transactional leadership style 

  • Focuses on the accomplishment of tasks and good

  • Transactional leaders use conventional rewards and punishments to gain compliance from their followers. 

  • Guide and/or motivate their followers toward established goals by clarifying role and task requirements.

  • Transactional leadership is a building block that helps support transformational leadership.

  • By itself, transactional leadership is insufficient to meet contemporary leadership challenges 

  • Example:

    • Coach Carter

➢ Transformational leadership style 

  • Persons whose vision and strength of personality have an extraordinary impact on others 

  • Once believed to be born with this talent, today, we believe that it can be developed with careful planning and practice.

  • Leaders provide individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation and possess charisma.

  • Example: 

    • Steve Jobs 

    • Elon Musk 

    • Jeff Bezos 

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➢ Power and different types of power (eg expert power) 

  • Power of the Position

  • Reward power: power is earned when you offer something of value as a means of influencing others – Example: "If you complete your homework before dinner, I'll let you go out with your friends after" 

  • Legitimate power: you influence others because of your authority in the office – Example: "I am your parent; what I say goes" 

  • Coercive power: punishment or withholding something as a means of influencing others – Example: "If you don't complete your homework before dinner, you do not get to go out with your friends"

  • Power of the Person

  • Relational power: you can work well with others to achieve a goal 

    • Example: "In order for us to achieve our vision, we need to get this done by the end of this week." 

  • Referent power: you can influence others because they want to connect with you. 

    • Example: "I just really look up to this person, I connect with them and their story." 

  • Expert power: you can influence others because of your knowledge  

    • Example: "I have years of experience in the field of motivation, I can help you learn the tools to live a better life."

➢ Empowerment 

  • enable others to gain and use decision-making power

  • distributes decision-making power throughout an organization

➢ Emotional Intelligence 

  • is the ability of people to manage themselves and their relationships effectively 

  • Self-Awareness:  understand one’s own moods and emotions; understand the impact of one’s work on others

  • Self-Regulation:  think before acting and have control of otherwise disruptive impulses

  • Motivation:  work hard with persistence and to work for reasons other than money or status

  • Empathy: understand the emotions of others and use this understanding to better relate to them

➢ Organization 

  • group of individuals working together to achieve a goal/satisfy an objective to fulfill their purpose (mission) 

➢ Productivity 

  • An overall measure of the quantity and quality of outputs relative to the cost of inputs

➢ Performance Effectiveness 

  • An output measure of task or goal accomplishment (“Doing the right things”) 

➢ Performance efficiency 

  • An input measure of the resource costs associated with goal accomplishment - (“Doing things right")