Chapter 7
Managing the Individual Within the Team (Management Competency 3)
The third competency we are going to explore is called ‘Managing the individual within the team’. This competency points specifically to the human side of people management. Traditional leadership models generally assume that leaders treat all employees the same, based on the idea that there are a core set of behaviours that leaders need to demonstrate to all their employees. The implication from this approach is that the same behaviours will work, or be effective, for every employee. What we know however from a wide research base (for example, that focusing on individual differences, moderators of leadership effectiveness, and the stress process) is that not all employees react the same way to the same stimulus, and not all employees want the same thing at work.
For instance:
- One employee in a team may want a manager to give them very clear guidance and instructions in their work; whereas another might want to take a much more independent approach.
- One employee might find the concept of hot desking (not having one particular desk but moving according to availability) unsettling and stressful; whereas another may enjoy the change and the opportunity to meet and socialize with a wider base of colleagues.
- One employee in a team might come to work purely to earn money to spend socially; whereas another may see their job as their vocation and gain personal satisfaction from their work.
The behaviours covered ...
