BUILDING GOOD RELATIONS WITH CO-WORKERS:Make Co-workers feel important, Maintain Honest and Open Relationships

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Human Relations MGMT611

Lesson 22

BUILDING GOOD RELATIONS WITH CO-WORKERS

Quotations

People will perform their potential only when they know almost everyone around them.

Ricardo Semler (Brazilian business executive)

The only irreplaceable capital an organization possesses is the knowledge and ability of its people. The

productivity of that capital depends on how effectively people share their competence with those who can

use it.

Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919) Scottish-born U.S. industrialist and philanthropist.

Building Good Relations with Co-workers

In this lesson we will learn the importance of healthy relationships with the co-workers and colleagues. We

shall learn the techniques of building good, productive and congenial relationships. Developing good

synergetic relationships for personal and organizational success will be focused here. If we are unable to

work cooperatively with others, it will be difficult to hold on to our job. We need their cooperation and they

need ours.

Develop Allies through Being Civil

Be polite, be kind, be candid and sincere with your co-workers. People who are courteous, kind,

cooperative, and cheerful develop allies and friends in the workplace. Being civil helps make you stand out

because many people believe that crude, rude, and obnoxious behaviour has become a national problem.

Closely related to being civil is to maintain a positive outlook.

Make Co-workers feel important

Another thing that plays an important role in bringing people closer is to make them feel important. Giving

importance by acknowledging their work helps building good relations. Therefore acknowledge

accomplishments and good things of others.

Let us try to measure whether we have the skill to make people feel important through a quiz.

Human Relations MGMT611

Source: DuBrin, Andrew J. `Human Relations: Career and Personal Success', Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005.

Maintain Honest and Open Relationships

Honest and trustworthy relationship may be very helpful for building good relationships. Giving co-workers

frank, but tactful, answers to their requests for your opinion is one useful way of developing open

relationships. Accurately expressing your feelings also leads to constructive relationships.

Be a Team Player

When you are working with people then show team spirit. An essential strategy for cultivating peers is to

function as a team player by such means as:

1. Share credit with co-workers.

2. Display a helpful, cooperative attitude.

3. To establish trust, keep confidential information private and give honest opinions.

4. Share information and opinions with co-workers.

5. Provide emotional support to co-workers.

6. Follow the golden rule (It means try to treat others the way you like to be treated by others)

7. Avoid actions that could sabotage or undermine the group in any way.

Human Relations MGMT611

8. Attend company-sponsored social events.

9. Share the glory.

Avoid backstabbing

A special category of disliked behaviour is backstabbing, an attempt to discredit another person by

underhanded means such as innuendo, accusation, or the like.

Follow Groups Standards of Conduct

To be a good co-worker, one has to adhere to group norms, the unwritten set of expectations for group

members--what people ought to do. Yet conforming too closely to group norms leads to a loss of

individuality. Norms are a major part of the organizational culture, or values and beliefs of the firm that

guide people's actions.

Group norms also influence the social aspects of behaviour on the job.

Express an Interest in the Work and Personal Life of Others

Almost everyone is self-centered to some extent. Expressing an interest in the work and personal lives of

others can therefore help build good co-worker relationships.

Use Appropriate Compliments

Compliments should be genuine; they should not be taken as flattery. Compliments can be a very good

relationship builder but they should be appropriate to the good deed. A compliment is a form of positive

reinforcement, rewarding somebody for doing something right. Appropriate compliments will be

perceived as sincere. Exaggerated compliments will be perceived as insincere. Another good method of

cultivating co-workers is to give them recognition for their accomplishments.

Deal Effectively with Difficult People

The people whose behaviour is offensive or whose tactics are unethical or obtrusive, undermine the

relationships and the motivation of the people for work and achieve their goals. A major challenge in

getting along well with co-workers is to deal constructively with difficult people. A co-worker is classified as

difficult if he or she is uncooperative, touchy, defensive, or very unfriendly. The following tactics are

designed to deal with difficult people:

1. Take Problems Professionally, Not Personally

A key principle in dealing with a variety of personalities is to take what they do professionally, not

personally. To a difficult person, you might just represent a stepping-stone to getting what they want.

2. Give Ample Feedback

The primary technique for dealing with counterproductive behaviour is to give feed back to the difficult

person how his/her behaviour affects you.

3. Listen and Respond

Give the difficult person ample opportunity to express his/her concerns, doubts, anger, or other feelings.

Then acknowledge your awareness of the person's position.

4. Use Tact and Diplomacy in Dealing with Annoying Behaviour

Tactful actions on your part can some times take care of annoyances without having to confront the

problem. An example would be closing the door to deal with noisy co-workers.

5. Use Humour

Non-hostile humour can often be used to help a difficult person understand how his or her behaviour is

blocking others. Also, the humour will help defuse conflict between you and that person.

6. Avoid Creating a Dependency on You

A trap to avoid with many difficult people, and especially the high-maintenance person, is to let him/her

become too dependent on you for solutions to problems.

7. Reinforce Civil Behaviour and Good Moods.

When a generally difficult person is behaving acceptably, recognize the behaviour in some way. Reinforcing

statements would include, "It's fun working with you today."

Human Relations MGMT611

8. Face Maturely the Challenge of the Office Relationships

Strive to keep the personal relationships confidential and restricted to after hours. Use good judgment and

be discreet.

References:

Dubrin, A.J. (2005). Human Relations: Career and Personal Success. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey,

07458.

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