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Understanding "people" people.

Timothy Butler1, James Waldroop

  • 1Harvard Business School, Boston, USA. tbutler@hbs.edu

Harvard Business Review
|June 19, 2004
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Managers can boost productivity by aligning employees' relational skills with job tasks. Understanding four key dimensions of relational work—influence, interpersonal facilitation, relational creativity, and team leadership—optimizes performance and career development.

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Area of Science:

  • Business Psychology
  • Organizational Behavior

Background:

  • Interpersonal skills, or relational know-how, are crucial across all business functions, not just sales and HR.
  • Relational expertise encompasses diverse aptitudes, including conflict resolution, communication, and team management.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify and define key dimensions of relational work.
  • To provide managers with strategies for leveraging employee relational skills to enhance productivity and career development.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of psychological tests from over 7,000 business professionals.
  • Identification of four core dimensions of relational work.

Main Results:

  • Four dimensions of relational work were identified: influence, interpersonal facilitation, relational creativity, and team leadership.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Matching employees' relational interests and skills to assignments can increase productivity.

    • Conclusions:

    • Understanding and utilizing the four dimensions of relational work aids in optimal employee performance, reward, and career goal setting.
    • Managers can improve hiring and team composition by assessing candidates' relational skills.
    • An online assessment tool is available to measure relational work orientation and interests.