LEADERSHIP: CULTIVATING PEOPLE SKILLS

LEADERSHIP: CULTIVATING PEOPLE SKILLSErnest Alonza Norris, Kaplan University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USAABSTRACTAs the world economy continues its transformation process, organizations are rushing to implementchanges in structure and design to weather the economic storm. Noted activities include downsizing,mergers, acquisitions, and the proliferation of multinational organizations solidifying the globalizationconcept. The changes are creating diverse workplace populations containing differences in ideas, beliefs,cultures race, religions, among other variables. Leaders leading in a diverse population couldinadvertently form inaccurate perceptions, which can result in poor leader-follower relationships and adecrease in performance levels. Leaders can increase leadership effectiveness through improved peopleskills leading to increased organization performance and employee job satisfaction. In a literature review,many articles mentioned the value of good people skills in leadership. However, few articles presented amodel on how to improve people skills or on the conceptual framework underlying people skills. Theauthor presents a conceptual model designed to improve people skills.Keywords: Attributes, Heuristics, Nonverbal communication, People skills, Social intelligence, SocialPerception, Social Awareness, Social Learning Theory1. INTRODUCTIONThis research paper focused on the concept of people skills. The concept of people skills exists inleadership literature in reference to social skills possessed by effective leaders. Plato defined a (ruler) asan individual with innate abilities to lead people but required training to develop the skills. In addition,based on Weber’s (1947) definition of charismatic authority, a leader with charismatic qualities wouldpossess high levels of people skills. Covey (2004) stated, “Leadership is communicating to people theirworth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves” (p. 98). Robbins (2001) describedleadership as the ability of the leader to influence people to achieve goals. Burns (1978) definedleadership as, “Leaders inducing followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and themotivations—the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations—of both leaders and followers” (p.19). Morand (2001) referred to people skills as a managerial socio-emotional competency relative to theleader or manager’s supportive and accommodative behaviors in assisting employees and others inachieving objectives and goals. As observed in review of literature surrounding research on people skills,the primary focus is on emotional intelligence as the underlying theory of people skills. The intendedaudiences for this paper on people skills are various levels of organization leaders, managers, and teamleaders.1.1 First ImpressionsFirst impressions of people are prone to error based on mental shortcuts, personal or situationalattributes, stereotyping, and prejudice. Willis and Todorov (2006) using a sample of 245 participantsnoted that first impressions formed within 100 milliseconds of exposure to a face in the study. When thetime increased from 100 to 500 milliseconds, the participants’ responses increased relative to perceivednegativity observed in the facial expressions. The response times decreased, but confidence injudgments concerning the individual pictured increased. This outcome suggested the sample populationfocused on using personal beliefs and attributes to confirm initial impressions whether or not accurateproviding support for the phrase first impressions have a lasting effect. The obvious problem is the marginof error whereas trained detectives and other “experts” have low measures of accuracy in correctivelyconfirming the personality of an individual simply on perceptions.In organizations, inaccurate perceptions could lead to unfair assessments, flawed performanceevaluations, and poor working relationships. Research indicated that 60-70% of employees have stressfulrelationships with their leaders resulting in high turnover levels of key employees (Abraham, 2007; Vugt,Hogan, & Kaiser, 2008). The costs associated with re-hiring and re-training to replace employees couldresult in as much as 100% of the exiting employee’s salary combined with the new salary for theREVIEW OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, Volume 9, Number 4, 2009 67replacement (Abraham, 2007). The costs and potential loss of productivity, effectiveness, and efficiencylevels enhanced through key staff members and employees is reason alone to address employeeretention in organizations. A key area to start is in examining leadership behaviors that account for amoderate number of employee complaints or job dissatisfaction. Atwater and Brett (2006) noted inleadership research using a 360-degree instrument that improved leadership behaviors, based on multiraterfeedback, led to improved employee attitudes. Covey (2004) and his associates conducted researchto identify the essential qualities of a leader. Over 54,000 people completed the survey consisting of 12qualities. The survey findings ranked the qualities in order and the third top quality was people focused,although the focus on personality traits and types are clearly noted in the ranking, 1) integrity, 2)communicator, 3) people focused, 4) visionary, 5) caring, 6) decision-maker, 7) other, 8) dedicated, 9)model, 10) motivator, 11) expert, and 12) courageous.Gundling (2007) proposed that a significant cause of problems in global business transactions was a lackof people skills in social interaction with people with differences in social, political, and culturalbackgrounds. Using feedback from country and regional experts, Gundling devised a 12-step processfocused on people skills in Doing Business across Borders. The 12-step process is as follows, “1)establishing credibility, 2) Giving and receiving feedback, 3) Obtaining information, 4) evaluating people,5) Global teamwork, 6) training and development, 7) selling, 8) negotiating, 9) strategic planning, 10)transferring knowledge, 11) innovation, and 12) change management” (p.33). In review of the steps, theonly step aligning with the focus of this paper was step 4. In step 4, evaluating people, Gundling notedthat instinctive people skills in the home country might not work in another culture, and suggested,“Constantly look through the eyes of others’ eyes as well as our own” (p.34). The difficulty arising with thisapproach is in comprehending what the others are thinking and perceiving, although Gundling did bring intraining and development in step 6 as a needed tool in meeting corporate objectives, but did not includepeople skill training. As noted in this article and others reviewed, little information exists on how todevelop or improve people skills.Based on the social nature of humans, some level of social interaction, social perception, or socialintelligence must exist. At the same time, some variance concerning preference for interaction withpeople would exist as supported by personality type research (Francis, Craig, & Robbins, 2007; Freidman& Schustack, 2009; Jung, 1971). On this premise, leaders who are introverts might avoid developingpeople skills simply by nature. Peltier (2001) noted that a weakness of interpersonal skills is commonweakness of new leaders who advanced through the leadership pipeline based on strong technical andcontent skills, but must develop significant interpersonal skills in order to excel in the new position.The salient leadership research conducted after World War II, revealed that leaders’ using high levels ofpassive leadership styles does not correlate well with high levels of employee job performance orproductivity. However, leaders’ using high levels of autocratic leadership styles does not result in highlevels of employee job satisfaction (Fleishman, Harris, & Burtt, 1955). The paper intends to provideleaders with a “people skills” model to apply in creating optimum leadership styles influencing increasedproductivity (task) and employee job satisfaction (relations).2. LITERATURE REVIEWThe literature review involved an examination of leadership, social intelligence, social perception,nonverbal communication, attribution, stereotyping, and leadership behaviors contributing to negativeoutcomes between leaders and followers. The underlying conceptual framework of the people skillsmodel presented in this paper includes social intelligence, social perceptions, and social interactions.Through development of people skills, all levels of leaders can increase positive social interactions,effectiveness in managing people, and promote healthy working relationships in the organization. Theprimary purpose of this research paper is to provide leaders with a results-driven people skills model toeliminate potential biases, increase social intelligence, and improve interpersonal skills.2.1 LeadershipTraditional business models are undergoing a transformation or rather a paradigm shift in response to theconstant state of change required in response to increased competition, growth of global businessREVIEW OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, Volume 9, Number 4, 2009 68communities, and aggressive efforts by leaders to meet the challenges and threats proposed by radicalchanges in practices and operating procedures. One of the common practices noted among organizationsis downsizing to increase efficiencies and financial performance. In downsizing, leaders must developgood social interaction skills to maximize productivity with smaller staffs and employees in efforts toincrease organization performance. Of course, Taylor (1911) in developing the scientific managementtheory focused on the development of mutual benefits between the organization, leaders, and theemployees, although business owners/leaders tended to focus on the objective side of the theory toincrease productivity and efficiencies. This “either or” type of polarity management inadvertently created agap between management and the employees later resulting in violent confrontations and influenced theproliferation of unions in the early 20th century.Leadership and social intelligence research can lead to the development of tools and instruments toassist leaders in enhancement of people skills in the workplace. In reflection on the leadership process, asignificant portion of the leadership role is a social process involving a reciprocal relationship between theleaders and other people in the organization. The low performance of the economy in the 21st century isstimulating a constant state of change requiring revisions and modifications in structures, processes, andprocedures. In reviewing leadership literature, limited information existed on the actual development of“people skills” although numerous articles mentioned the importance of people skills in effectiveleadership social interaction skills (Gundling, 2007; Marshall, 2007; Morand, 2001). Marshall (2007) notedthat leaders might possess strong technical skills and knowledge of various business functions andmodels, although a focus on development of people skills is essential in effective leadership. Marshalladded that candidates for promotion and advancement who possess good people skills have competitiveadvantages over others.The Ohio State University and University of Michigan leadership studies conducted in the early 20thcentury sponsored by the U.S. Military theorized that leadership behaviors existed on a leadershipcontinuum between production-centered (task) and employee-centered behaviors (relation) (Northouse,2007). Leaders might use these behaviors at the same time or independently relative to self, theemployee, the situation, or the environment. Empirical studies conducted on task-oriented behaviors andrelationship-oriented behaviors indicated a positive correlation between relationship-oriented behaviorsand employee satisfaction, while task-oriented behaviors and employee satisfaction were inconclusive(Yukl, 2002).The International Harvester Company leadership studies conducted in the 1950s revealed that leadershipstyles consisting of high levels of task behaviors and low levels of relation behaviors related to highturnover, union grievances, and low morale among workers. Leadership styles consisting of low task andlow relation behaviors resulted in ineffective leadership performance and poor relationships withsubordinates (Fleishman, Harris, & Burtt, 1955). Blake and Mouton (1964) suggested that leaders appliedvarious degrees of both behaviors and created the managerial grid to measure the degrees of bothbehaviors used by leaders. Blake and Mouton argued that effective leaders used high levels of taskbehaviors and high levels of relation behaviors in their roles increasing overall employee performance.Groves (2007) conducted extensive research on executive leaders and created a list of six best practicesfor executive leadership development, although all leaders can gain valuable information from the bestpractices. The six best practices include mentoring, coaching, networking, and utilization of the 360-degree instrument, designed to collect data on the followers’ perception of their leaders. The last two bestpractices were job assignment and action learning. In Groves’ (2007) best practices, the focus onrelations outweighs the focus on task, although both dimensions are critical in development of effectiveleadership. Through personal experience and as indicated in early leadership theory research, leaderspossessing effective social skills have significant influence in maximizing employee performance andproductivity.The behavior of leaders could be a result of numerous variables that are either personal or situational. Inthe leadership role, both behaviors will exist because leadership consists of organizing, planning,scheduling, and managing people. This paper focuses on the personal factors relating to socialintelligence. The author’s intention is to provide leaders with an awareness of social intelligence andREVIEW OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, Volume 9, Number 4, 2009 69potential biases resulting in inaccurate perceptions that could have a negative affect on the employeesand organization outcomes.The author proposes that leaders in pursuit of excellence should develop strong working relationshipswith people. However, personal biases, heuristics, and other factors could lead to incorrect perceptions ofpeople hindering social interaction, change programs, and have a negative affect on the organizationculture. Kassin, Fein, and Markus (2008) contended that development of social skills was a daunting task.Kassin et al. suggested that people could increase social skills through 1) experience with particularpeople, 2) recognizing predictable behavior, 3) applying logic and probability, and 5) removing biases touse accurate judgment.2.2 Social IntelligenceSocial intelligence is one of three areas of intelligence proposed by Thorndike in the early 20th century.Thorndike proposed that intelligence consisted of abstract, mechanical and social variables (Thorndike,1937). Different definitions for social intelligence exist, although E. L. Thorndike’s definition, in 1920,simplifies social intelligence as the ability of an individual to manage people. In conducting socialintelligence research, several problems arose. The first problem arose in trying to isolate socialintelligence from other traits and the second in developing accurate instruments to measure socialintelligence. Inconsistencies noted across the instruments with low correlations in some and highcorrelations with others (Thorndike & Stein, 1937). One of the first tests to measure social intelligencewas the George Washington social intelligence test (GWSIT). The GWSIT held promising results,although after critical reviews and testing, researchers lost interest in the GWSIT. Other researchersexpanded on the GWSIT and developed different tests to measure social intelligence. Due toinconsistencies, the focus on social intelligence dropped, although the interest in social intelligenceincreased in the 1960s with other efforts to measure the social intelligence only to again fade away due tothe difficulties in measuring social intelligence (Kihlstorm & Canton, n. d.). Research efforts moved toexplore emotional intelligence noted to have some relationship with social intellection (Andreou, 2006;Goleman, 2006). However, the use of functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI) rejuvenated thefocus on social intelligence. The use of fMRI provided researchers with adequate data to identify theaffect of social interaction on participants in the experiments leading a solution in the problems associatedwith measuring social intelligence (Goleman, 2006).Goleman (2006) contended social neuroscience indicates the human brain is sociable and connects withbrains of others in social interaction. Goleman added that a newly discovered neuron, the spindle cell thatdelivers information for use in decision-making is more prevalent in humans than other species. Anothergroup of brain cells known as the mirror neurons allows a perceiver to anticipate the movements andfeelings of others. The perceiver can then imitate and comprehend the emotions associated with themovements made by the targeted person. Goleman suggested that strong social relationships mold thebiology of each person in the relationship. The social relationship can have a positive or negative effecton people. When a positive relationship exists, this can increase physical and mental health, while anegative relationship can lead to negative consequences on physical and mental health. For instance,people in negative relationships can suffer from high levels of stress, depression, or aggressive behavior.However, Goleman suggested that the human brain seeks positive social interactions and people preferpeaceful and loving relationships with others. Goleman and Boyatzis (2009) postulated that changingsocial intelligence requires an intensive effort to change behaviors.From Goleman’s (2006) perspective, social intelligence consisted of two categories, social awareness,and social facility. Goleman defined social awareness as, “A spectrum that runs from instantaneouslysensing another’s inner state, to understanding her feelings and thoughts, to getting social situations” (p.84). Social awareness includes the development of primal empathy (feeling and sensing emotionalsignals), attunement (attuning to others), empathic accuracy (comprehending the emotional state ofothers), and social cognition (comprehension of the social world). Goleman defined social facility as,“Simply sensing how another feels, or knowing what they think or intend, does not guarantee fruitfulinteractions. Social facility builds on social awareness to allow smooth, effective interactions” [sic] (p. 84).Social facility includes effective interactions in synchrony (interacting comfortably at the nonverbal level),REVIEW OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, Volume 9, Number 4, 2009 70self-presentation (effectively presenting self to others), influence (molding, shaping, social interactionoutcomes), and concern (consideration of others’ feelings).2.3 Social PerceptionSocial perception is a process of shared comprehension that occurs among people (Kassin, Fein, &Markus, 2008). This process is an automated process whereas selective attention occurs in examining,assessing, evaluating, and categorizing another person, especially on first sight of another person. Theenvironment, activities, and behavior collected through selective attention and sensory data affect thesocial cognition process occurring with social perception (Broderick & Blewitt, 2007; Sternberg, 2006;Willis & Todorov, 2006).Kassin et al. suggested that people have a natural tendency to comprehend the behaviors of others. Thisinnate behavior stems from being social creatures, to sense danger, form similarities in species, andattraction. Kassin et al. proposed the explanations as to why people behave as they do are attributions.Heider (1944) posited that explanations fall into two groups, personal (internally driven characteristics,emotion, personality), or situational (external stimuli such as environment, social interaction). Jones andDavis (1965, as cited in Erikson & Krull, 1999 and Kassin et. al.) suggested, in the correspondentinference theory, that people use an assessment, evaluation, and confirmation process to identify, rate,and group (dispositional inferences) people based on correspondence between observations, behaviors,characteristics, situation, and perceptions. The theory proposes people categorize others based on threefactors, degree of choice (free to make inference), expectedness (incongruence between expected andunexpected behavior), and effects of behavior (correspondence is complex when numerous positiveoutcomes exist, but simplified when only one positive outcome exists).Kelley (1973) proposed, in the covariation theory that identifying the cause of a particular behaviordepends on the presence or absence of behavior relative to the given stimuli. Kelley suggested that anindividual has three forms of information to use in analysis, 1) consensus, 2) distinctiveness, and 3)consistency. As stated earlier, people are human and make mistakes and as proposed by Kassin et al.,do people use the processes mentioned or do they use other methods to comprehend people who mightlack many of the “ideal” approaches? Nonverbal communication is a process of communication involvingfacial expressions and body language that can shape the underlying emotions, beliefs, and perceptions ofpeople not discussed in a verbal manner.2.4 Nonverbal CommunicationCommunication is one of the key drivers in social interaction and focuses on the sender- receiverdynamics, a systematic process involving sending information, processing of the information by thereceiver and feedback returned to the sender who processes the feedback resulting in a reciprocalrelationship. The outcome is dependent on the communication skill levels of both parties in speaking,listening, and comprehending the information shared. However, other nonverbal activities are occurringwithin the communication process that can have an effect on the reciprocal relationship.Charles Darwin (1809-1882) conducted some of the earliest studies on nonverbal communication. Darwinproposed that nonverbal communication aligned with human evolution from an animal-like existence.Darwin added that comprehending nonverbal human motions was difficult because due to concealedemotions that surface occasionally such as anger, fear, uncertainty, or happiness. Darwin devisedmethods to study facial expressions using electrodes to stimulate facial muscles. Darwin’s observationssuggested that basic facial expressions were universal deriving from the evolutionary process movingfrom animal-like existence to more civilized human species (Goodwin, 2005).Based on research, Darwin developed a theory on the origins of emotional expressions and constructedthree principles. The three principles were 1) serviceable associated habits, 2) antithesis, and 3) directaction of the nervous system. In serviceable associated habits, Darwin proposed that emotionalexpressions contained utility for survival, and this function could serve as a warning, disgust, or symbolicsignal to other humans such as a disgusting toxic smell that could be dangerous. In antithesis, Darwinproposed that a dual process existed between positive and negative emotional expressions whereas oneopposed the other. For instance, an angry person might scowl and flex his or her muscles, and appear toREVIEW OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, Volume 9, Number 4, 2009 71be very dangerous and defensive, while a happy person would smile and appear to be more relaxed andsubmissive.In the last principle, direct action of the nervous system, Darwin proposed the human body showed signsof the emotions experienced through body language. For instance, a person in a high state of fear maytremble or stand very rigid. Based on Darwin’s principles, a person displaying the facial and bodyexpressions of anger or fear is unlikely a happy person. In reflection, Darwin’s position suggested thatnonverbal communication was an essential form of communication in human adaption and survival.Throughout this section, the influence of Darwin’s seminal research is evident in the literature examined.People form perceptions of others based on a number of factors ranging from verbal communicationrelative to the content and contextual framework in these messages to the nonverbal communicationsigns and symbols. People first learn facial expressions as babies and build on this schema of facialexpressions throughout life attaching emotions and behaviors with certain expressions and bodylanguage. Memory stores or schemas have associated scripts that are templates or rather engrainedinstructions of actions/responses relative to stimuli observed or perceived by an individual (Sternberg,2006). In this sense, an individual might perceive a smiling person as being happy based on storedmemories of happy people. Later, in the attributes and stereotyping sections, the discussion will examinethe negative outcomes associated with this automatic process of using stored memory based onexperiences, observations, and beliefs to interact with other people.In discussing human behavior, Kassin et al. posited that people comprehend the behaviors of othersthrough a type of filtering process. People filter observed behavior through a series of mental picturesstored in schemas used to determine if the observed behaviors are normal or abnormal relative to facialexpressions, gestures, and body language. These behaviors are nonverbal forms of communication thataffect the perceiver’s social cognitive processing of information collected through selective or sensorydata. People use this collected information to form perceptions of other people who are experiencing ahigh state of arousal, depression, or fear (Kassin et al.). However, people are not necessarily accurate intheir perceptions of others and might form false/incorrect perceptions based on experiences, beliefs, orthrough acceptance of other’s perceptions and beliefs relative to the observed behavior or characteristics(Kassin et al.).Waller, Cray, and Burrows (2008) proposed that facial expressions are universal and critical in the socialinteraction process. Some people might use facial muscles in varying degrees to form expressions, butdifferent facial muscles used for verbal and nonverbal facial expression associated with emotions. Theauthors proposed that some facial expressions are universal such as fear, anger, excitement, sadness,and disgust suggesting a nonverbal display of the underlying emotion experienced by the individual.However, the differences among facial muscles of people results in some variation in the degree ofemotion experienced by the individual. For instance, some might use more facial muscles in expressinganger than others. The authors suggested that social interaction requires a standardized set of facialexpressions to facilitate social interaction among people. In this sense, if an individual is experiencing ahigh level of fear, most people observing the nonverbal signs, will recognize the emotion displayed.Pecchinenda, Ferlazzo, and Zoccolotti (2008) suggested the eye gaze direction of people and facialexpression influenced spatial attention. Pecchinenda et al. suggested that people, along with facialexpressions, also collect information from the eyes to infer emotional or mental states of the observedperson. The authors noted that facial expressions could be misleading because the expressions mightlast only a few nanoseconds or change frequently. In conducting research, the authors noted thatparticipants used eye gaze direction (in different pictures of people) to determine if the observed person’sfacial expressions related to what was being viewed or related to the mental state of the individual. Thefinding indicated the participants were able to determine the spatial attention for negative facialexpressions but not for happy facial expressions.Van den Stock, Righart, and De Gelder (2007), proposed that literature contained limited research on thewhole-body expressions associated with emotions and conducted research revealing that whole bodyexpressions plays a role in comprehending people and should be applied with facial and vocalREVIEW OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, Volume 9, Number 4, 2009 72expression. The authors suggested that perceivers could learn about the emotional states and intendedactions of others through body expressions. If an individual is frightened, the facial expression mightsignal fear and verbalize the fear in screaming or yelling. However, the individual’s body expression mightindicate fight, flee, or freeze indicating a relationship between emotions and adaptive behavior. Theauthors added that when a significant distance exists between the perceiver and the individual observed,the ability to use facial expressions is limited although body expressions could provide an indication of theemotional state of the individual. For instance, if an individual is staggering while walking, this bodyexpression is visual from a distance and indicates the mental or emotional state of the individual.Sczesny, Spreemann, and Stahlberg (2006) conducted research to determine if masculine or feminineappearance affected the perceptions of followers of leaders and noted that no significant differenceamong the employees concerning levels of leadership competence based on masculine or feminineappearance or characteristics. In several studies, the authors noted that people perceived female leadersas incompetent in male-oriented positions due to the perceived belief that females were more emotionaloriented than males in decision –making and problem solving. An interesting finding was thatstereotypical belief was more associated with the masculine appearance than actual competencies.Participants perceived females with a masculine appearance were viewed as more competence in theleadership role than females with feminine appearance. When conducting studies absent of masculineappearance, the difference between female and male leaders did not exist.2.5 AttributionAttribution biases occur based on the absence of relevant information, lack of training, or mental shortcuts(Kassin et al.). Shah and Oppenhiemer (2008) suggested people preferred using the shortest path toreach solutions or form perceptions using heuristics (mental shortcuts) rather than using logicalprocesses. Kassin et al. suggested that people might apply the availability heuristic. The availabilityheuristic is a process of overestimating the odds of a particular behavior occurring by easily generatingexamples of similar instances or indentifying people who share the same beliefs. For example, a group ofpeople watching a basketball game might share a belief that tall men play basketball better than men whoare not as tall leading to a false-consensus effect among those in the group.A second error that can occur is the base-rate fallacy such as watching basketball on television andobserving that most men or women basketball players are tall, while ignoring any factual information thatmany tall people never played basketball and would not have the skills of someone not as tall whofrequently played basketball. Another heuristic is the counterfactual thinking whereas an individual appliesthe “what if” mode of thinking (Kassin, Fein, & Markus, 2008, p. 106). In counterfactual thinking, anindividual’s beliefs the outcome would be different if one of the variables were present or absent such asthinking that one is not qualified for an available position due to a lack of experience or training,influencing the individual to refrain from applying for the position.Another attribution theory is the fundamental attribution error whereas an individual targets personalattribution rather than the situational contextual factors that might influence the observed behavior suchas believing that a close friend will fail the test due to low self-esteem observed numerous times before,but the individual passes the test. Kassin et al. suggested that this error occurs based on using limitedinformation or failing to use a more logical approach as illustrated in the two-step model of the attributionprocesses. Langdrige and Trevor (2004) argued the attribution error is an outcome based on social andsituational factors rather than personal attributes. In this argument, the authors proposed that arel