Recent studies have shown that industrial supervisors are working at less than 60% of their potential. Basic management skills training is guaranteed to change all this and at such little cost.

Introduction

There is no doubt that the single most important aspect of a manager's job is the management of people. Of course, a supervisor must manage resources other than people. However, none of the other resources compare in importance to PEOPLE. The challenge to manage people effective is unquestionably the greatest of all the challenges that face all managers.

The problem with people

It is estimated that there are over 6 billion human beings presently living on our planet and there are not two of us who are exactly alike. In other words every one us is unique. One of the greatest mysteries has been, and still is, to fully understand how we work. It has obsessed scientists and the great thinkers since the beginning of mankind. Our progress has been minimal and maybe we will never know. A simplistic way for us to understand this complex issue is to consider a human like an onion with many layers. For example:

1. Hereditary traits

These are our genetic strings (DNA) that are passed down from generation to generation.

2. Personal values

These are created when we are children and are heavily influenced by our parents, etc.

3. Attitudes and beliefs

These are influenced by your personal values. It is what you think about things, situations and people. For example, you may enjoy romantic music but dislike noisy people.

4. Feelings

Feelings follow attitudes and beliefs. For example, you feel good when you hear romantic music.

5. Behavior

This is directly related to your feelings. For example, romantic music makes you smile, and people shouting makes you react angrily. One of the important challenges for the great thinkers has been to determine to what extent can the features of each layer be changed or manipulated. This single study area has proved to be minefield of differing views that has resulted in enough books to fill many warehouses.

For our purposes, we will assume that once someone has reached working age then he has unchangeable values, attitudes and feelings. In consequence, the only layer that we can work with as a manager is the final layer