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EXERTING CONTROL ON OUTSIDE ENVIRONMENT:Important communication tip, Exerting control over the outside world

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Human Relations­ MGMT611
VU
Lesson 33
EXERTING CONTROL ON OUTSIDE ENVIRONMENT
In the previous two lectures you learnt to control your own behaviour. Now in this lecture you will learn to
control those outside factors that become a hurdle in performing certain tasks. You will learn these
techniques, so that you could achieve your goals by controlling environmental hindrances. If you are able to
influence those actions and behaviors that influence you, you will create synergy between you and the
environment around you. Moreover, if this synergy is created, your environment becomes supportive to
achieve your goals and you become more successful and productive for yourself, for your family and for
your organization and for your society at large.
Important tips to control external environment
Let us discuss some points that help control external environment.
1. Manager sees performance as a measure of potential, not potential as a measure of performance. Try to
perform well as the performance is the indicator of your potential.
2. Appearing physically fit is a part of success image. Success syndrome also includes your physical fitness,
health and pleasant behaviour. It leaves a good impression on the people around you.
3. Make your gestures project self-assurance and purpose. People would like to be a member of your team,
if your gestures show self-assurance.
4. Make positive assertions such as "This is a demanding assignment and I welcome the challenge".By
doing this, not only you enhance your confidence, it energizes the people around you.
Important communication tip
Avoid five self-defeating communication behaviors:
1. Talking too fast which makes what you say seem unimportant
2. Talking too much or giving more details than others want.
3. Being too critical, or passing judgments about others.
4. Being too self-critical or too revealing about your own inadequacies.
5. Displaying weak body language or using a weak tone of voice.
Exerting control over the outside world
Exert some control over the outside environment. If the environment is not totally controlled, at least it is
juggled to one's advantage.
A. Develop a Flexible Career Path
1.  The Traditional Career Path
2.  The Horizontal Career Path
B. Have an Action Plan to Reach Your Goals
C. Achieve Broad Experience
D. Be Visible
E. Find a Mentor
F. Manage Luck
G. Balance Your Life
A. Develop a Flexible Career Path
If your goals are laid out systematically to lead to your ultimate career goal, you have established a career
path--a sequence of positions necessary to achieve a goal. Here we look at two types of career paths.
1. The Traditional Career Path.
A traditional career path is based on the assumption that a person will occupy a series of positions, each at a
higher level of responsibility than the previous one. You should be flexible to work for career goals.
2. The Horizontal Career Path.
The norm today in organizations is not to have fixed career paths, and for individuals only to be able to
make predictions about the type of work they would like to be doing rather than target specific positions.
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Human Relations­ MGMT611
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A horizontal career path is slightly easier to predict than a vertical one. A significant feature of the
horizontal career path is that people are more likely to advance by moving sideways than moving up.
A horizontal career path, as well as a traditional (vertical) one, does not necessarily mean the person stays
with the same firm.
B. Have an Action Plan to Reach Your Goals
If you do not have action plan to achieve your goal, the environment around you will control your
behaviour. To be effective, career goals usually have to be backed up by action plans. These plans can be
drawn in minute detail, but avoid rigid thinking. Create supportive environment to make others do what
you want them to do to achieve your goals.
C. Achieve Broad Experience
Many people who land high-ranking positions have broad experience obtained at one or more employers.
Workers who follow the new model of career advancement are automatically achieving broad experience. A
major benefit of broad experience is that you achieve more career portability, therefore being able to move
to another employer will be possible. Broad horizontal experiences are more valuable than vertical
experiences.
D. Be Visible
People should notice what you are doing. Your accomplishments will make you noticeable. A big career
booster for many people is to call favorable attention to themselves and their accomplishments. Ways of
gaining visibility include performing well on committee assignments, and distinguishing yourself in a
community activity. Visibility leads to being noticed by an important person.
E. Find a Mentor
Mentors are visionary people who can guide their mentees through their past experiences. Most successful
people have had one or more mentors during their career. A mentor is a more experienced person who
guides, teaches, and coaches another individual. Mentors are usually superiors, but can also be peers and
even lower-ranking individuals. The mentor serves as a positive model and a trusted friend.
F. Manage Luck
Future is in your own hands. Control your future by your hard work. To be lucky you have to clarify what
you want, and then recognize an opportunity. Manage luck to some extent by recognizing opportunities and
taking advantage of them. The founder of McDonald's said: "Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you
sweat, the luckier you get."
G. Balance Your Life
Do not sacrifice your family for your career, neither your career for your personal life. Having balance gives
you additional energy and vitality which will help you in your career. Without balance, a career person runs
the risk of burnout and feeling that work is not worthwhile.
Developing your network skill
Developing a network of contacts is the most favored approach to career advancement. People in your
network can help you get promoted, solve problems, and can serve as customers and suppliers. A
recommended approach to networking is to keep a list of at least 25 people whom you contact at least once
a month, even by e-mail, SMS, or phone call. A substantial amount of social networking also takes place on
the Internet. Cyber networking includes newsgroups, mailing lists, chat rooms, and e-mail.
Dealing with hidden barriers to your advancement
Concern exists that many women as well as men are held back from high-level promotions by the glass
ceiling, an invisible but difficult-to-penetrate barrier to promotion based on subtle attitudes and prejudices.
To overcome these barriers, patience is recommended because barriers to advancement are eroding slowly.
As women and minorities gain experience in line positions, the glass ceiling might be shattered.
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A subtle barrier to advancement many hard-working, talented people face is that they are considered too
good to transfer or promote by their boss. The manager wants to keep that key player in his or her
department. Networking with higher ups can facilitate being transferred.
Another strategy for overcoming barriers to advancement is to enthusiastically apply all of the approaches
learnt earlier. Personal goals should be incorporated into a career path to strive for a meshing of work and
personal life. Contingency plans should be established because career planning contains uncertainty.
References:
Dubrin, A.J. (2005). Human Relations: Career and Personal Success. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey,
07458.
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Table of Contents:
  1. HUMAN RELATIONS:Some Guidelines for Effective Human Relations, Communication has 3meanings
  2. CULTURE AND PERSONALITY:Definition of sub culture, Definition of Personality, Types of Persons
  3. PERSONALITY AND STRESS:Personality, PERSONAL TOOLS TO CONTROL STRESS
  4. PERCEPTION AND INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR:Three concepts of personality, Bias in Perception
  5. PERCEPTION AND GROUP BEHAVIOR:Characteristics of Groups, Individual and Group Behavior
  6. ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR:Types of Attitudes, Steps to turn attitude into action
  7. PERSONAL MOTIVATION AND ACHIEVEMENT:Needs and Motivation, Self-discipline and motivation
  8. SOLVING PROBLEMS SKILLFULLY:Problem solving and cognition, Ways to solve problems
  9. CREATIVITY IN PROBLEM SOLVING:Barriers to creativity, Tips to solve problems creatively
  10. HANDLING PERSONAL ISSUES:Self-Defeating Behaviour, Positive attitude to tackle personal problems
  11. CONFLICT RESOLUTION:WHY SO MUCH CONFLICT EXISTS, TECHNIQUES FOR RESOLVING CONFLICTS
  12. COMMUNICATION AND HUMAN RELATIONS:Process of communication, Improving gender barriers to communication
  13. ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION:To improve listening skills, Types of organizational communication
  14. UNDERSTANDING COMMUNICATION STYLES:Modeling communication style, Sociability continuum
  15. SELF-ESTEEM:Building process of self-esteem, Self-esteem and public image
  16. BUILDING SELF-CONFIDENCE:The importance of self-confidence and self-efficacy, Balanced Self-Confidence:
  17. BECOMING A LEADER-1:Assessing leadership role, Traits and Characteristics of Effective Leaders
  18. BECOMING A LEADER-II:Theories of leadership, Developing leadership potential
  19. GLOBALIZATION AND CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES:Religious Values and Bicultural Identities
  20. IMPROVING CROSS-CULTURAL COMPETENCE:Strategies to improve cross-cultural relations, More steps to improve Cultural Relations
  21. BUILDING GOOD RELATIONS WITH MANAGERS:Impressing your manager, Coping with a problem manager
  22. BUILDING GOOD RELATIONS WITH CO-WORKERS:Make Co-workers feel important, Maintain Honest and Open Relationships
  23. BUILDING GOOD RELATIONS WITH CUSTOMERS:Salesperson Represents the Business, Approaching the Customer, Excuses vs. Objections
  24. CHOOSING A CAREER-1:Ten Myths about Choosing a Career, Attitude toward and Perceptions about Myself
  25. CHOOSING A CAREER-II:Choosing a career and developing a portfolio Career, Suggestions for career Preparation
  26. FINDING A JOB:Targeting your job search, The Internet and Résumé Database Services, Extreme Job Hunting
  27. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESUME:Major types of resumes, Electronic Submission of the Résumé
  28. IMPROVING INTERVIEW SKILLS:Successful interview, Knowing the employer or Organization
  29. IMPROVING WORK HABITS-1:Reasons of procrastination, Techniques for Reducing Procrastination
  30. IMPROVING WORK HABITS-2:Developing the proper attitudes and values, Time-management techniques
  31. NEW MODEL OF CAREER ADVANCEMENT:Career portability, HUMAN RELATIONS SELF-ASSESSMENT
  32. TAKING CONTROL OF YOURSELF:Develop Outstanding Interpersonal Skills, Business etiquettes
  33. EXERTING CONTROL ON OUTSIDE ENVIRONMENT:Important communication tip, Exerting control over the outside world
  34. MANAGING PERSONAL FINANCES-1:Your personal financial plan, Steps in budget making
  35. MANAGING PERSONAL FINANCES-2:Basic investment principles, Tolerance for Investment Risks, Types of investments
  36. ACHIEVING HAPPINESS-1:Finding happiness and enhancing your personal life, The key to happiness
  37. ACHIEVING HAPPINESS-2:The Five Principles of Psychological Functioning, Your mind and Happiness
  38. ACHIEVING HAPPINESS-3:Need for intimacy, Working out issues with relationships
  39. APATHY AND ITS REMEDIES:Let us try to understand the various definitions of apathy, Coping strategies for apathy
  40. ENHANCING PERSONAL ETHICS-1:Influence of Culture, Common ethical problems
  41. ENHANCING PERSONAL ETHICS-2:Common ethical problems, Guidelines for Behaving Ethically
  42. HELPING OTHERS GROW:Being a Nurturing, Positive Person, A list of mentoring behaviour, Coaching skills and techniques
  43. REVIEW-I:What is a Human Relation?, Meanings of Communication, Two types of stress, Some personal problem, Communication style
  44. REVIEW-II:Steps to build self-confidence, Globalization, Building Good Relations with Co-workers, Good work habits
  45. REVIEW-III:New model of career advancement, Choosing your investment, Tactics for Dealing with Difficult People