Human Nature: A Guide to Managing Workplace Relations

Humans are weird! They can be emotional, irrational and often unpredictable, yet as their manager, it is your job to get the best out of them. In fact they are often the key to your success. Sadly, humans do not come with an instruction manual which lists their technical specifications. Human Nature by Greg Clydesdale is based on the premise that the key to good management is understanding human nature and interpersonal relations. But what is human nature? Greg argues that even where human nature is addressed at a conceptual level; the link between theory and what actually happens in the workplace is usually weak and often fails to recognize that social ability is probably the defining aspect. It is his intense focus on human nature and the link between a theoretical understanding of it and what actually happens in the workplace that makes this book so valuable. Throughout the book, you see how managers must constantly make balancing acts between conflicting forces that exist at any given time. But the essential message is: ’If you want to make the World a better place, focus on being a better manager to your staff’. To help with this you will find an elaboration theory-based approach, in which a basic model is provided, and then elaborated on with examples from the work-place. The model consists of twenty human characteristics placed in three categories - emotion, motivation and cognition. These characteristics are then linked to what managers have to do in the workplace.

Greg Clydesdale lectures in the Department of Business Management, Lincoln University, New Zealand. His PhD examined why countries gain and lose industrial leadership and is particularly apt to the current global economic situation. His first book: Entrepreneurial Opportunity: The Right Place at the Right Time, was published in 2009. The Rise and Fall of Economic Empires has been published in Korea as Movement of Wealth and Brazil as Cargas. He is widely published in academic journals. His broad range of work experiences includes consultancy for Ngai Tahu Development Corporation (a Maori tribe), working for the Customs Department and, as Special Projects Manager for Perkins Hargreaves, he coordinated the mergers and takeovers of some of New Zealand’s leading companies. Greg also has a business producing the music of J. S. Bach, and published a textbook on the Music Industry (the result of research supported by a grant from New Zealand Arts Council).