Vicarious Learning

Vicarious learning, or modeling, is learning through the experiences of others. For example, a person can learn to do a new job by observing others or by watching videotapes. Several conditions must be met to produce various learning. First, the behavior being modeled must be relatively simple. Although we can learn by watching someone else how to push three or four buttons to set specifications on a machine, we probably cannot learn a complicated sequence of operations without also practicing the various steps ourselves. Second, the behavior being modeled usually must be concrete, not intellectual. We can learn by watching others how to respond to the different behaviors of a particular manager or how to assemble a few components into a final assembly. But we probably cannot learn through simple observation how to write a computer program or to conceptualize or think abstractly. Finally, to learn a job vicariously, we must possess the physical ability needed to do the job. Most of us can watch televised baseball games or tennis matches every weekend.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Organizational Behavior

Organizational behavior is the study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the organization, and the organization itself. Although we can focus on any one of these three areas, we must remember that all three are ultimately relevant to a comprehensive understanding of organizational behavior. We can study individual behavior without explicitly considering the organization. But because the organization influences and is influenced by the individual, we cannot fully understand the individual’s behavior without learning something about the organization. Similarly, we can study organizations without focusing specifically on the people within them. But again, we are looking at only a portion of the puzzle. Eventually we must consider the other pieces, as well as the whole.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

De-Stress Without Distress

Stress is a significant problem in the workplace and many people are searching for effective antidotes. Unfortunately, most look in the wrong places. The answer is not to follow the crowds who take sedatives or tranquilizers, but to take control. It is for this reason that options to control your symptoms are critical to learn. They include:

1. Relaxation Response
2. Biofeedback
3. Music
4. Art
5. Fashion
6. Acupuncture
7. Positive Imagery
8. Placebos (Latin word = I shall please)
9. Hobbies
10. Humor

All these options are easy to master and free from side effects. They will improve your health today, and may even save your life tomorrow.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Learning from Market Leaders

• Customer Market: We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses, and patients, to mothers, and all others who use our products and services. (Johnson & Johnson)
• Product Service: AMAX’s principle products are molybdenum, coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, petroleum and natural gas, potash, phosphate, nickel, tungsten, silver, gold, and magnesium (AMAX)
• Geographic Domain: We are dedicated to total success of Corning Glass Works as a worldwide competitor (Coming Glass)
• Technology: Control Data is in the business of applying micro-electronics and computer technology in two general areas: computer-related hardware and computing-enhancing services, which include computation, information, education, and finance. (Control Data)
• Concern for Survival: In this respect, the company will conduct its operation prudently, and will provide the profits and growth which will assure Hoover’s ultimate success. (Hoover Universal)
• Philosophy: We are committed to improve health care throughout the world. (Baxter Travenol)
• Self Concept: Hoover’s universal  is a diversified, multi-industry corporation with strong manufacturing capabilities, entrepreneurial policies, and individual business unit autonomy. (Hoover Universal)
• Concern for Public Image: Also, we must be responsive to the broader concerns of the public, including especially the general desire for improvement in the quality of life, equal opportunity for all, and the constructive use of natural resources. (Sun Company)

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Advice to Son

I advise my son to make mistakes because I want him to grow by making mistakes

I want him to make mistakes because mistakes are lessons of wisdom; portals of discovery and they show what needs improving

I want my son to make mistakes because mistakes are more honorable than a life spent doing nothing

I want my son to make mistakes, make mistakes, and make mistakes over and over again because mistakes are part of creative process.

I want my son to make mistakes because thus he will learn; and if he stopped making mistakes he will stop learning.

I don’t want my son to avoid situations in which he might make mistakes; rather, I want my son to sit at the feet of mistakes

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Performance Review Discussion

• Review what has been achieved since the last review and examine reasons for successes and failures;
• Agree on actual levels of achievement;
• Stimulate and discuss ideas about what can be done to improve results achieved;
• Agree on future performance goals, the basis of measurement, and timing of review;
• Help the individual analyze personal performance and underlying factors affecting performance such as skills and knowledge, job structure, standards, and resources available;
• Strengthen the individual’s commitment to the job;
• Learn about the individual’s interests, goals, and long-range career plans, and help the individual relate these to the current job;
• Strengthen the understanding between manager and individual, and foster an open line of communication;
• Discuss and resolve specific anxieties, uncertainties or misapprehensions affecting job performance plans and directions for future career development, plan specific activities in  support of these plans and directions;
• Get feedback from the individual on how well you have managed.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Small Business: Causes of Failure

• Plunging in without first testing the waters on a small scale.
• Underpricing or overpricing goods or services.
• Underestimating how much time it will take to build a market.
• Starting with too little capital.
• Starting with too much capital and being careless in its use.
• Going into business with little or no experience and without first learning something about it.
• Borrowing money without planning just how and when to pay it back.
• Attempting to do much business with too little capital.
• Not allowing for setbacks and unexpected expenses.
• Buying too much on credit.
• Extending credit too freely.
• Expanding credit too rapidly.
• Failing to complete, accurate records, so that the owners drift into trouble without realizing it.
• Carrying habit of personal extravagance into the business.
• Mistaking the freedom of being in business for oneself, for liberty to work or not according to whim.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

The Skill and the Will

All training, whether it is provided by the training department or by you, should accomplish two objectives. It should provide people with the skill, meaning the ability, to do the job. Or it should provide them with the will or the desire to do the job. Some training will accomplish both.

The skills training you provide your people will be dictated by the needs of the business and the current skills of the people. First you must determine what your people need to learn. Here are some questions that will help lead you to the answer:

• What are the goals and objectives of the area?
• What are the responsibilities of each job?
• What are the standards the people are expected to meet?
• What are the skills needed to meet the standards, fulfill the responsibilities, and achieve the objectives?
• What are the current skills and abilities of the people?
• What is the deficit between the skills needed and the current skills of the people?

Providing people with the skills to do the job is only half the training job. People must be motivated to apply the skills they have learned; therefore, some of the training should be principally motivational in nature. As you develop plan for motivating your people, you will want to ask yourself these questions:

• What should they know about the company in order to have a sense of pride?
• What I can teach them about the department that will give them a sense of pride?
• What kinds of personal growth training will enhance their self-confidence and personal pride?

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Leader as Teacher

Leader as teacher does not mean leader as authoritarian expert whose job it is to teach people the ‘correct’ view of reality. Rather, it is about helping everyone in the organization, oneself included, to gain more insightful views of current reality. This is in line with a popular emerging view of leaders as coaches, guides, or facilitators. In learning organizations, this teaching role is developed further by virtue of explicit attention to people’s mental models and by the influence of the systems perspective.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Behavioral Consequences

From behavior of people within an organization come such important consequences as productivity, satisfaction, and revitalization. Productivity refers to the quality and quantity of products and/or services, i.e., the output (in relation to inputs) that is ostensibly the organization’s logical or formal purpose. Satisfaction refers to the positive feelings of the people in a group about themselves and their situation. How much of what kind of satisfaction are they getting? Revitalization refers to the increased ability to cope with and adapt to changes in both the internal and external environments. For the individual this includes growth, in terms of emotional health or skill or learning of various kinds. For the social system in which individuals behave, it means the capacity to change internally to permit more productivity and/or satisfaction in the long run.

Productivity, satisfaction and revitalization are collectively referred as collectiveness. This term implies that to be effective a system must purchase all three. The complexity imposed by these multiple criteria for effectiveness demolishes any meaningful idea of maximizing effectiveness—at best, an organization can only approach an optimization of these criteria. The components of effectiveness may be viewed from the vantage point of any of the principal entities; namely, the individual, group, and organization. The consequences of behavior may vary by entity and category.

A second major behavioral consequence of importance to small groups is cohesiveness. By cohesiveness  is meant the tightness of the inter-personal bonds that hold a group together. Cohesiveness and effectiveness are essentially different concepts.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.