2. Test Prep Lab Study Guide
Welcome to our Working with People Test Prep Lab. During
the next hour we will be covering:
What is Human Relations and why we should I care about these
topics.
Behavior
Relationship between Individual and Group Behavior &
Organizational Performance
Myths
Stress
Intelligence and Learning
Attitudes, Values and Ethics
Time Management
3. What is Human Relations?
Human relations is defined as *“interactions among
people” it covers:
How we get along with family, friends, coworkers, and
everyone we interact with.
Helps to ethically achieve personal, professional and
organizational goals.
Helps people work with others from diverse backgrounds.
The goal of human relations is to: "create a win-win
situation by satisfying employee needs while achieving
organizational objectives." (page 5)
4. Behavior
Behavior is what people say and do.
3 levels of Behavior are:
Individual
Group
Organizational
Human Relations take place at the Group and
Organizational level
5. Relationship between Individual and Group
Behavior & Organizational Performance
A System – a set of (2) or more interactive elements.
The System Effect –all people in an organization are
affected by at least one other person and each person
affects the entire group or organization.
Performance - the extent to which expectations or
objectives have been met.
Is more meaningful when compared to past performance and the
performance of others within and/or outside the organization.
6. Myths
Myth 1: Technical skills are more important than human
relations skills.
Fact: regardless of skill level over 66% of people are fired for
failing to get along with others.
Myth 2: Human relations is just common sense
Myth 3: Diversity is overemphasized.
Fact: by 2030 ‘white’ people wile make up less tan 50% of the
population in the U.S.
Myth 4: Leaders are born, not made.
7. Stress
Stress: an emotional and/or physical reaction to
environmental activities and events
Stressors: Situations where people feel anxiety,
tension, and pressure.
Example: John was just told that his project deadline has been
moved up and that additional changes are required. (the
situation John is in IS the stressor)
8. Coping with Stress
Controlling stress is the process of adjusting to
circumstances that disrupt or threaten to disrupt a
person’s equilibrium.
Example: Burnout is the constant lack of interest and
motivation to perform one’s job because of stress
3 steps to better control stress include:
Identify
Determine cause
Eliminate/decrease
9. Stress and Personality
Personalities here can be broken down into two main
types, Type A and Type B, based on how they handle stress.
Type A individuals can be described as impatient, timeconscious, controlling, concerned about their status, highly
competitive, ambitious, business-like, aggressive, and unable to
relax.
They are often high-achieving, hard workers who multi-task; people
who drive themselves relentlessly with deadlines, and are easily
frustrated by delays - either real or perceived. They often have
trouble relating to those who are *not* type A Personalities.
They often use stress as fuel, and work best under stress.
10. Stress and Personality
Personalities here can be broken down into two main
types, Type A and Type B, based on how they handle stress.
Type B individuals are described as patient, relaxed, and
easygoing, lacking a sense of urgency.
Type B personalities do not see stress as a fuel, but rather as
something to be avoided.
They can easily become frustrated with type A personalities
because they see them as workaholics and as being too
concerned with details and not focused enough on the big
picture.
12. Intelligence: Learning Styles
Emotional Intelligence impacts learning. It shows us
that people have different learning styles:
Converger
Diverger
Assimilator
Accommodator.
13. Intelligence: Learning Styles
Style
Pros
Cons
Convergers
Good at deductive reasoning, solving
problems and decision making
Make hasty decisions; solve the wrong
problems; use their ideas without
testing them first
Assimilators
Skilled at creating models, theories and
developing plans
Tend to be idealistic: repeat mistakes
and have no sound basis for their
work.
Accommodator
Good leaders; takes necessary risks, and
gets things done.
Does not always set clear goals and
practical plans; wasters time on
unimportant activities.
Divergers
Imaginative, able to recognize problems;
brainstorms, understands and works well
with people.
Overanalyzes problems, are slow to
act and often miss opportunities.
14. Attitudes, Values & Ethics
Attitudes: are strong beliefs or feelings toward people, things, and
situations.
Management Attitudes:
The Pygmalion Effect refers to a supervisor’s attitudes and
expectations of employees and how they treat them largely determine
their performance.
Management Attitudes: Two Management theories include Theory X
and Theory Y.
Theory X states that employees dislike work and must be closely
supervised to get them to do their work.
Theory Y states that employees like to work and do not need to be
closely supervised to get them to do their work.
15. Attitudes, Values & Ethics
Job Satisfaction: is a set of attitudes towards work.
Factors that contribute to Job Satisfaction include:
The work itself
Pay
Growth & upward mobility
Supervision
Coworkers
Attitude toward work
16. Attitudes, Values & Ethics
Values are the things that have worth or are important
to the individual.
Values influence the choices we make among alternative
behaviors.
Ethics - refers to the moral standard of right and wrong
behavior, is closely connected to moral
development, and sometimes the situation we face.
Considered VERY important in the workplace
17. Time Management
Time Management
Refers to techniques designed to enable people to get more
done in less time with better results
A Time Management System has (4) parts (page 96)
Priorities – Giving preference to one task over another.
Objectives – State what we want to accomplish
Plans – How you will achieve your objectives
Schedules – State when the activities will be carried out.
18. Time Management
A Time Management System has (3) steps
1. Plan each week – create a to-do-list of tasks needing
to be completed; DO NOT include ‘routine’ tasks
Example: plan for a meeting, deadline; do not list walking thhe
dog, laundry etc.
2. Schedule each week – schedule your priorities weekly
and daily.
3. Schedule each day – at the end of each day plan for
the next.
19. Now It’s Up to You!!!!
Students, we have now covered those areas of the curriculum that
are tested the most. Having said that, here are the other parts of
the reading that are tested but not quite as heavily. We strongly
suggest you read these for yourself:
The Hawthorne Effect (page 9)
Handling Human Relations Problems (pages 13-14)
Personality (Pages 30-31)
Perception (page 45)
Primacy effect (page 47)
Self Concepts (pages 66-68)
Career Management (Pages 103- 114)
