The document discusses the effective use of pronouns in management. It explains that pronouns like "I", "you", "he/she", "they", and "we" can impact teamwork, motivation, and success. While "I" is best used sparingly, "we" is the most important pronoun as it fosters cooperation and emphasizes teamwork. The right choice of pronouns can make one a strong leader, while the wrong choice may lead to failure. Sales managers are an exception, as "I" and "you" are most effective when interacting with customers.

1. MANAGERIAL GAME OF PRONOUNS
DR K M SONI
CHIEF ENGINEER, WZ-I, CPWD, MUMBAI

2. PRONOUNS
 Pronouns play an important role in management
particularly in teamwork, leadership, co-operation,
co-ordination, conflict and motivation.
 Pronouns are important in every field of
management but very crucial in human resource
management.
 A successful manager uses them carefully for his
benefit and also for the benefit of the organization.
 Pronouns are to be chosen according to the
situation.
 Use of right pronoun can make a person good
leader and wrong pronoun can lead to his/her
failure.

3. I
 In management theory, use of “I” is to be made
seldom. As we know, in a bureaucratic organization,
rules, regulations, procedures, rigidity, manuals,
hierarchy and accountability have an upper hand,
any work done by an individual is identifiable. In
such a case also, the work done is mostly the
outcome of many individuals. Therefore, more than
individual’s work, this becomes teamwork.

4. I
 In many government organizations, it is often
heard for a successful work, “I did this” but the
same is hardly heard in case of a failure and
responsibility is shirked on somebody else.
Even if the success is the outcome of
teamwork, the feedback before the boss is
presented in a way that the success is
attributed only due to the person speaking.

5. I
In the organizations of strict
hierarchy, people go on taking
credit for the same success and
may be in the last that
everybody in the hierarchy has
taken the credit but nobody has
given credit to the team.

6. I
• Due to the least communication
between various tiers of hierarchy, the
views of top management are not even
passed on to various levels. Therefore
for a success, “I did it” is used and for
failure “I did not do it” or even some
people use “I was not consulted or I
was not even informed”.

7. I
• In a rigid system, there is no system of
learning through mistakes but without
punishment. For every mistake,
employee is to be punished. Generally
this concept is against the spirit of
teamwork.

8. I
 It is said that there is no “I” in TEAMWORK.
 In a bureaucratic approach in government
organizations, teamwork is missing and there is
hardly any motivation. Also, work is carried out
by an employee in a manner that he would not
be accountable in future, thus decisions are
delayed or clears decisions not taken.

9. I
 It is also observed that “I” is used before the boss
to take credit of success as well as before the
subordinates. Though some leaders believe that for
the failure, they can take responsibility so that their
team members have confidence in them. But this
approach may not work well in most of the situation
if team members take it granted that their manager
will take failure on him and they need not to bother
about failure. In this situation, an incidence is worth
to be mentioned.
 It is to be remembered that though a successful
manager do not use “I” frequently, he has to believe
in “I”.

10. YOU
 A successful manager uses “You” for
motivating as well as for punishment to his
subordinates. Motivation and punishment thus
become two sides of the coin. A good work is
appreciated by a successful manger say in the
words, “ You did it” or “You did a splendid
work” while in case of failure, “ You are warned
for this failure” or “You will be fired if there is
no improvement” or “You are fired”. Thus “You”
is used in exercising control on the team
members and subordinates.

11. YOU
• Few people for the boss also use “You” though it is not
meant for the boss. When it is used for the boss, it is just
to please him. Few managers like to listen it and few
don’t. In a bureaucratic organization, it is normally used
for failure. Boss can use it for shirking his responsibility
or making the subordinate a scapegoat. It may be used in
words like “You did not do it carefully” or “You have not
handled it properly”. Normally both manager and his
subordinate also use “you” in conflict like situations. In
bureaucratic organizations where no motivation is there,
it is normally a fearful word. In such organizations, one
has to remember the photograph of a monkey where it is
written, “Boss is always right”.

12. HE/SHE
 He/She is used basically for indicating performance
before a third person. He/She may be used for
appreciation as well as for backbiting and mostly
used for backbiting only. When it is used for
appreciation, it acts as a great motivating factor.
Also some managers use he/she for indirectly
sending the person concerned a message for
improvement though it is not desirable and not
considered good form of communication. While few
feel that the conversation is limited to two persons
only but fact is that such conversation is never
between two but is transferred to the person about
whom the conversation is.

13. HE/SHE
• He/ She is also used for 360-degree
appraisal by the peers or subordinates.
Normally, in such circumstances, use
of he/she is neutral.

14. THEY
 “They” is normally used when co-ordination
between various divisions is lacking for blaming
particularly a division, unit or the group.
Suppose a work has been delayed in production
division, purchase or quality control or
maintenance division may be blamed for the
delay. “They” is used in the politics as well and
also by the government departments for their
failure. Thus in management, “they” is not
important pronoun.

15. WE
 “We” is most important pronoun in management. A
successful manager always uses this word. This
gives strength, appreciation, and command. A
manager believing in teamwork will always use the
sentence like “We did it”. “We” can certainly lead
much more than one plus one equal to two. A good
manager uses “We” before the boss, colleagues,
and also before his team members. “We” indicates
teamwork and motivates to the team members. By
use of “We”, a leader creates an impact on his team
members. A leader believes in “We” so the manager
also. Use of “We” also helps in co-ordination and
co-operation. All the functions of a manager can
only be done successfully by use of “We” as every
function even successful planning is the outcome of
teamwork.

16. WE
 Some of the functions like quality control can
not be achieved without the concept of “We” as
it also requires team efforts. Thus “We” is most
favourable pronoun for the success of a
manager.
 It is amazing that with the use of “We”, what can
be achieved is many times more than summing
of all the achievements got through “I” of the
members included in “We”. When a work is
accomplished with “We”, it does not matter
even if individual does not get the credit.

17. SALES/MARKETING MANAGERS
 Opposite to human resource concept described
earlier. “I” and “You” are to be used by a sales
manager for his success. “I” and “You” are the
pronouns to be used during conversation by a
sales manager before the consumers. A
successful sales manager frequently uses these
pronouns like “I am always at your service”, “I
will arrange demonstration for you”, “You” can
call me at any time or “You” will get the best
deal from me”. Thus use of “I” provides
personal touch to the customer by the sales
manager and use of “You” makes the customer
feel important.

18. SUMMARY
 Management is the art of getting things done
through others as planned. Men are difficult to
be managed due to having different human
behaviour; they are to be managed tactfully. The
pronouns play very important role in managing
the men as their use indicates the individualistic
and team approach. In hierarchical
organizations, still “I” is used being a vertical
organization but flatter organizations are now
more dependent on use of “We”. For teamwork,
believe in “We” that will not only make the work
easy but also interesting.