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Managers lack 'soft skills'

January 4 2003 - A recent study of study of 35,000 Australian and New Zealand managers found that managers regularly deny responsibility, withdraw from threatening situations or people, resort to aggressive tactics to get their way, stick to established rules and procedures - and are characterized by a fear of failure.

"These results are not surprising when we look at the popularity of people management, communication, negotiation and conflict management programs for executives not only in Australia, but around the world", says Dr Anne Lytle of the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM). "There is a growing awareness of the importance of these 'soft' skills, which are in reality the most difficult and challenging skills for adults with ingrained patterns of behaviour to learn.

"We also know from research done in other cultural contexts that authoritarian management behaviour is more pervasive than facilitative or participative management behaviour. We also know that most employees, at least in the West, prefer and are more satisfied when their managers have a participative style. This mismatch implies that organisations that want to retain good talent should monitor, measure, and work to improve the self-awareness and emotional intelligence of their managers.

"Australians have a unique set of cultural values and norms on which management behaviour is based. Australians, for example, negotiate very differently from Americans. While Americans shy away from few topics, Australians generally prefer to avoid rather than discuss conflicts when possible and to address problematic issues in more informal contexts (like on the golf course or in the pub).

"Almost all human beings in the face of stress engage in either 'flight' or 'fight'. If I cannot avoid, then I am likely to act aggressively when cornered," says Dr Lytle. " In the workplace, however, these two responses are often inappropriate. It takes a great deal of self-awareness and training for a manager to regularly respond more constructively".

The study of 35,000 Australian and New Zealand managers was conducted by the organisational development company Human Synergistics.

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