The 4 Dimensions of Rational Work of Timothy Butler and James Waldroop is presen in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) of June 2004. According to Butler and Waldroop, interpersonal common sense is critical in almost any areas of business.
Basically, Managers can boost productivity by :
- By hiring the right emplotees.
- By making the best work assignments.
- By rewarding performance in the right way.
- By promoting career development.
No wonder most managers think they know which of their people are good at dealing with interpersonal relations and which aren’t. Although this may seem obious, Waldroop and Butler say one should distinguish between 4 type of relational interest and skills.
The 4 Dimensions of Relational Work are:
- Influence: Professionals who enjoy developing and extending their sphere of interpersonal influence. They take pleasure in persuasion, negotiators and merger and aquisitions dealmakers.
- Interpersonal Facilitation: People that are keenly attuned to the interpersonal aspects of work situations. They intuitively focus on experiences of other people and operate ususlly quite behind the schenes. In this way they keep their coleagues commited and engaged so that project run smoothly. Typical for Human Recources managers.
- Retional Creativity: People who are good at making connections with groups of people through visual and verbal imegery. Typical for advertising people and brand managers.
- Team Leadership: These are people that are want to see ather people, and interact with them. They like managing and working in high-energy teams in hectic service environments. Typical for program Managers and Managers of Direct Service Delivery Units.
These four Dimensions of Rational Work are not discrete types; a person can have great interest and skill in two or more areas or in none of them. Aslo scoring high in one dimension may be detrimental to other areas and to certain types of work.
