How Managers Influence The Behavior Of Employees

In management, there are many functions a manager has, and even more skills a manager must possess. Managers must have technical skills, conceptual skills, and especially human skills. For a manager to have human skills, it means that they can understand, communicate, support, and motivate their employees, helping them to reach high levels of productivity. Employees who are managed by someone who genuinely cares about them, are more happy and more productive, therefore benefitting the company as a whole. A manager must understand their employees because it is important to be able to correctly read their employees’ feelings. This is also known as emotional intelligence, which is the ability to recognize how one feels, and knowing how others feel while using verbal and nonverbal cues. Someone with high emotional intelligence can easily understand their own feelings, and other peoples’ feelings as well; they can control their tempers and are self-motivated. Managers need to be able to gauge employees’ moods and feelings. This emotional recognition is especially important in the workplace, because feelings often cloud peoples’ judgments and moods can affect behavior

Being supportive as a manager means being aware and sensitive of employees’ feelings. Emotions are often ignored in the workplace, because of emotional labor. However, according to the affective events theory - which suggests that workplace events cause emotional reactions from employees, which then influence workplace attitudes – emotions should not be ignored. Emotions can determine how an employee may perform and their satisfaction from their job. Satisfied workers are more likely to go beyond normal expectations in their jobs, and more likely to engage in helpful behaviors with their coworkers. Emotions can also accumulate. A way a manager can be supportive is by encouraging their employees to express their emotions and find ways to neutralize negative