Pygmalion in Management

A manager’s expectations play a major role to the performance and growth of the subordinates. A person acts or behaves in a manner that reflects the way the person is treated. In the case of a manager, the way he treats the subordinates really matters. It can lead either to excellent performance or to poor performance. Managers treat the subordinates’ according to what they expect from them. In situations where the manager’s expectations are high, the rate of productivity will also be high, but if the manager’s expectations are low then definitely the productivity will be poor.

A powerful influence of a person’s expectation based on another person’s behavior is not a business discovery. The article has shown that the manager’s expectations of their subordinates and the manner in which they treat them greatly determine their output and the career progress. Research has also shown that the ability of managers to generate high performance expectations that the subordinates fulfill is their unique characteristic. It has also been noted that managers who are not effective, do not create same expectations and as a result, the productivity becomes very poor. In most cases, the subordinates follow the instructions that have been given to them by the managers (Livingston, 1988).

The impact of managerial expectation on productivity has been recorded in the studies carried out by Alfred Oberlander who was the leader of the district office of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company at Rockway (Livingston, 1988). He noted that the highly performing insurance agencies had high productivity than average and low output agencies, and those new agencies had better productivity in outstanding agencies than in average or poor agencies not putting into consideration the rate of sales. He decided to set the superior agent in one group and stimulate their performance by providing a difficult environment where a sales person can be introduced. Alfred delegated his six best agents to carry out their activities together with his best assistant manager and all the average producers to carry put their activities with the average assistant managers, and the poor producers to work with the poor performing managers. After the grouping, he noted that group of people with the same capability can be improved further and the difficulties that come about because of the poor producer can be eliminated. It was also noted that the groups responded in line with the expectation given to them. The best agents performed well as it was expected while the poor agents performed poorly as it was expected (Livingston, 1988).

The power of expectation is very important; managers at times communicate a lot when their real intention was to communicate the least. In a situation where the manager does not say anything or is cold and uncommunicative, this may affect the performance of the subordinates. The behavior of the manager communicates more than the way he talks (Livingston, 1988).

In some situations, the managers and the subordinates do not have common illusion. Managers tend to communicate low expectations more than higher expectations even though they totally believe in high expectations. Most managers do not portray positive feelings clearly. Thus, the staff ends up being confused about the manager’s judgments on their capabilities or their performance. Since the high expectation is not shared with them, they fail to understand the basis for the success of the organization. It is very important for the manager to put more deliberation into the manner in which they treat the subordinates other than the way they systematize them since it is the path to high expectations and high productivity.

Managers must make expectations that are real before they are performed. The subordinates will not generate high productivity unless the manager’s high expectations are realistic and can be achieved. Managers should know that the subordinates do not get motivated to generate high efficiency when forced to achieve unrealistic goals. The employees might eventually give up and end up giving lower results than their capabilities (Livingston, 1988).

Superior managers are able to have high expectations because their thinking is different from those weaker managers. Superior managers tend to have great confidence in their capability to nature the talents of the subordinates. The great expectation of the superior managers is that they rely on their ability to train, and encourage the subordinates.

The fact that the young people can be strongly motivated by managerial expectations is very important in determining the future development and career advancement. Young people need an influential boss who can help them build up their skills, to perform effectively. If a manager does not act as a role model, the employees end up setting lower standards than their ability. This impairs their personal image and eventually they get negative attitude towards their work. If the employees have high aspirations in the future, they will leave to look for better opportunities (Livingston, 1988).

The employees always need motivation and encouragement so that they can perform well in their activities. The manager should also develop better communications skills with the subordinate to avoid misunderstanding. This will lead to both parties having favorable condition to work in.

Reference

Livingston, j. S. (1988). Pygmalion in Management. Harvard Business Review , 1-12.