What is Impression Management?

When a person is trying to mould his natural behavior just to manage a particular situation or to look good in front of others then he is following the art of Impression Management. It makes us feel good if we claim to be an expert at something and people around you accept the same. This helps in increasing their self-confidence and raising their self-esteem. After making a good impression it becomes easier to influence others to dance on your own tunes. People, in day to day life, widely use this technique of Impression Management to effect a change in personality.
A real life example may be that a person who has a habit of wearing shabby clothes grooms himself very nicely just before going for a party, for an interview or for a date. This acts as a feel good factor for many individuals and thus increases their confidence. Somebody has rightly said, “First impression is the last impression”. This worldly accepted famous quote in itself tells about the need and importance of Impression Management. And a more assertive way to quote this is by adding, “And you never get a second chance to make the first impression”.
How to use Impression Management effectively?
There are several ways by which people can use the concept of Impression Management to make them look superior to what they actually are. Some of these are:
• People tend to talk about their personal characteristics portraying them in a manner so as to make themselves look superior amongst all.
• People often conform from a desire to achieve a sense of security within a group.
• People tend to give excuses or try to justify their acts so as to make them acceptable to everyone.
• These days people try to portray their deceptive nature of being courteous just to show how down to earth they are and how readily they accept their mistakes.
• If somebody has achieved something high and of great importance then people tend to take credit of that worthy act by telling everybody how they played a vital role by offering a helping hand to accomplish the task.
• Cajoling is the one way of making yourself likeable by everybody as it’s a typical human behavior of people who like being flattered. This is the best way to make things work.
• Returning favors of the good behavior that is showed to you can create miracles for people who do the same. This is “Good Tit for Tat’ method.
Why do people adopt the technique of Impression Management? There are basically two main reasons that drive people to adopt the art Impression Management which are:
1. Effectiveness: Many people feel that by managing their impression they can get by on charm on any person and make them work according to their wishes i.e. people show the other side of their personality to match people requirements from place to place. E.g. A boy coming out of a Mercedes Benz which is borrowed from one of his friend and branded clothes to pick up his girlfriend just to show how rich he is trying to make the girl flattered.
2. Conflict avoidance: The best way to avoid conflict is to act sweet specially to those who like people with soft voices. People who follow the art of Impression Management never try to win an argument. They believe in, “Never win an argument, you often lose a friend”. E.g. Reconciling with the other person in spite of knowing that he was wrong and himself believes in, “A reconciled friend is double enemy”.
Managing impression at a job interview
People take care of the following things for managing impression at the time of appearing for an interview:
1. Dressing Style: No matter how old or dirty shirt they usually wear but at the D-day, they will wear the best of their collections or many a times even a new shirt.
2. Punctuality: Some people have a habit of procrastinating work for the end moment which sometimes leads to overshoot the deadline but they will make sure that they reach the interview center well before time just to show that they are punctual.
3. Humility: Some people are very arrogant by nature but during those 15 minutes of the interview, to crack the interview, they try to act as humble as possible just because they know how much important this trait is.
4. Body Language: People take personality development classes before appearing for an interview. There they learn that no matter how much stressed the interview is, always try to carry a smile and try not to cross legs or to press hands.
On the contrary, these days many interviews are supplemented with psychometric tests of personality to know that, is the candidate faking the interview or trying to fit-in for the job?
As this it is likely to lead to problems down the line as the true self emerges.
I would like to explain my point of view by taking Satyam as an example. As you all are aware, they managed the impression of being a financially sound company which helped them to maintain their stock price to a high level. But internally the company was in fraudulent activities which led their debacle resulting in degrading its own reputation. Thus, Using Impression Management any organization can achieve success but it is always short lived. No matter how much you try to deceive, someday or the other the truth comes out.
At the last I want to quote that, “By Impression Management, you can get on by on charm on someone for just the first 15 minutes, after that you better know something”
/From Different Source /

The One That Satisfies

‘Human Resources’- the magic words are murmured by everyone in one context or the other. All businesses around the world are continuously looking for better ways to recruit smart brains. Much has been said and written about the factors behind the HR factors. Many companies are considering some innovative ways to impart skills, train, re-train and motivate employees as they are the key issues. Why then in a country like India, recruitment melas are looked at as prestigious events while turnovers are more for every quarter in companies engaged in IT /ITES, Construction, Engineering, Manufacturing and the like. ‘The right man for the right job’ may be the HR mantra. On the lines of this saying, candidates are interviewed; the good or better among the brain pool is offered the letter. All is good for the first few months and slowly from somewhere a pungent smell of dissatisfaction spreads across the corporate floor. Where do the innings start? The functioning style of management,
the way projects are planned, in the impressive art of delegation of work, the manner in which constructive utility of manpower is exercised and the sense of job satisfaction blended with job security are the dependable factors for a lasting cordial relationship with the employer. The distaste initially starts with absenteeism, staying away from work without permission and the final renunciation of the bondage with one’s company result in an unhappy note. The recruitment team that relaxed for a while suddenly gets into feverish action and the team members stop not till the goal is achieved. On an average, an employee with rich experience in India or abroad also shows low enthusiasm and the heat is on the down beat. As India
is emerging successful in the global arena, it has been an improvement on the economical status of an individual – billing wise or growth wise. Many strategies were evolved over a period of 8 – 10 years but it has been not easy to analyze the psychological changes and attitude of an employee on the long run. We could call this run to span a few months as is the trend. A serious look has to be given to leverage the human capital and support them more effectively. Bucket with a hole or filling the overhead tank with taps open is not a healthy trend. This effect will drastically lead to saturation level of enthusiasm in Recruiters as well. How good is our Indian HR system? It is high time that the delivery model needs a revamp.
Ninety percent of the HR activities end up in the routine chores of paper, interviews, reference checks, hiring, payroll and firing letters. As this swallows the maximum time, HR professionals have little or no time to concentrate on other strategies or find time to keep abreast of the latest trends in HR. Hence soon they get stamped as ‘obsolete’. ‘On-line integrated management’ is a better remedy as it involves transparency, cost effective and paperless atmosphere. If this system which is in operation in some corporates is put to use in all the organizations in India, a quicker coordination would be achieved between employees, heads, departments and organizations. Through online integrated management and clear coordination
between HR and other divisions much of unsaid troubles could be mitigated. Now our HR professionals can foresee a progressive future in redefining HR intelligence. Here lay the analysis to identify explorable skills in existing employees and to deploy them in the appropriate positions for which they have been hired. This is the prescription for cost cuts, to boost performers, motivate and retain them. Whatever be the advancement, the so called human factors still remain a mystery and cannot be gauged through any profiling tests. The ‘sukshuma’ behind the understanding of the human psychology is still a puzzle. The HR professionals also fall in this category without exemption. They travel miles to set the ball rolling as long as they find it interesting. The mentality of the quitting employees happens to be contagious that they (HR) themselves are caught in the quick sand but appreciably resist from falling sick and emerge like a ‘phoenix’. Recruiters can only supply manpower and the satisfaction that a new employee derives in his work purely rests in the hands of his or her Group mentor. In every company HR builds up a healthy atmosphere but cannot always detect and eradicate the latent politics which are the ubiquitous characteristics of human beings. Are we heading in the right way? Being proactive in salary and compensation alone is not the solution to employee turnover but there is something else beyond. What is there behind the industry trends of boom – bubble –crash – survival –recovery – growth map? Perhaps it is the human satisfaction that matters.

/From Different source/

Do Money is Motivation for Work

Herzberg's theory of Motivators and Hygiene factors( satisfiers) suggests that there are certain things that we need to do the job and if they fall below a certain level we will become dissatisfied - but increasing those factors will not encourage us to work harder or better - in fact there is clear evidence to show that above a certain level they result in reduced performance. For example if the temperature is too cold we stop working - when the temperature is comfortable we work efficiently - but if it gets too hot, then our efficiency drops - the same with money. Too little and we are reluctant to work - increasing money may initially encourage us to work harder - especially if the money is output related - but their is a great deal of evidence that once a person is earning enough to meet their needs they tend to seek to work less and have more free time.

Examples of Herzberg's satisfiers are

policy
relationship with supervisor
work conditions
salary
company car
status
security
relationship with subordinates
personal life

Herzberg's research indicated the following to be true motivators

achievement
recognition
work itself
responsibility
advancement

Recruitment - In my perspective

SCHEDULING
Basically a recruitment process in a company carried by different methods. Mainly
1.Face to Face
2.Telephonic
3.Video Conferencing
As an IT firm, resources are scare when companies are in a hurry to close the positions. In that case we would be scheduling a telephonic or video conferencing. When resources are plenty, we would be scheduling a face to face discussion once a candidate is open for job change.
But basically as a consultant we focus on F2F interviews since process is fast.
For Example
X company from Chennai has got a project form Y company, California. It is supposed to be finished at by next 8 Months. Project manager while calculating resource requirement mentions that it would demand a professional who is expert in Mainframe software testing using ABC tool. Merely it is very a niche skillset. Since this resoiurce is very critical for this project, it would require to search candidate across world. A professional basically from Chennai located in US, now he is looking for return is a right choice and can be interviewed . In these cases, a telephonic or video conferencing method is preferred.

This is a brief about the process of recruitment in scheduling. The role of consultant, preferences, matching skillsets, managing clients and candidates, proper maintanance of trackers or track records, transparency in selection and process and recruiters skill and domain expertise would be discussed in upcoming blogs.