By Ali Anani and Bas de Baar
The fish pond represents a complex ecosystem. Being confined in space, a fish pond allows for the observation of what goes inside it. The fish is disturbed if predators are present in the pond or if they are stressed by the presence of parasites, lack of Oxygen or space, lack of appropriate place to hide or if exposed to strong light, just to name few factors. External stress may easily remove the fish from their comfort zone. External disturbance of fish pond by anglers hook compound the stress on the fish, which in turn behave abnormally.
In contrast, watching fish without disturbing them does not added an element of stress on fish and accordingly the fish behave normally. Direct watching of fish in the fish pond is made difficult if the surface of the water is turbid. The wear of Polaroid glasses and by watching the pond from a short distance above the water surface helps in reducing this problem.
Watching the fish at different times and seasons reveals varying pattern of fish behavior. It is interesting to note that fish are far from being cold and alien, as many people think of them, fish can be heatedly emotional and express themselves through a variety of physical displays. The fish circle, dance and jubilate because they are leading a normal life and they are not stressed by feeling endangered.
The Management Lesson
We may draw very important managerial lessons from observing a fish pond. Employees live in complex organizations, Complexity imposes unpredictability of the future and only a turbid picture of the future may be sensed. The direct control of the employees will stress them and the employees will act and not behave normally. If a manager wants to see the real behavior he has to do it indirectly and from a distance. He has to observe behaviors at different times and see the collective behavior of employees without direct interferences.
The examples are numerous for attempting to make direct monitoring of employees. One example is the study of cyberloafing, which is the act of employees using their companies’ Internet access for personal purposes during work hours. The employees feel stressed being watched and their reactions have created newer problems. The loss of privacy at work provides one example. The staggering estimates of annual loses resulting from lost times using the internet for personal reasons totaling sixty three billion dollars annually prompted the direct monitoring of internet use. The employers and employees are at two polar ends. A new conflict emerges and the cost of which might tip those costs resulting from surfing the internet for personal use.
The realization that observing behavior without stressing employees is the practical option to find the real causes of why the observed employees behavior has emerged in a particular fashion. Are the employees using the internet for personal reasons because they are not busy? Are not sure of direction? Are their work assignments in line with their desires? Low performance results from low desirability, low ability and low institutional support. Knowing the real cause of the problem is only possible through observing.
Observing behaviors under normal conditions have other merits. The observance may help in detecting early signs of deviance of normal behavior: coming late to work, poisoning the work atmosphere, failing to submit report on time and lack of patience with others are indicators of emerging problems.
Facial Expressions
The use of Facial Expression Analysis is an advancing field to observe the emotional reactions of people. This technique offers (1) Holistic, full-face analytical approach is effective in analyzing high-level emotions (2) local analysis technique enables refinement of classification by correlating facial muscle contraction with local skin motion on the face (3) muscle-based classification technique extends analysis to expressions for which the system has not been trained (4) method can define new expressions that may be difficult for a subject to perform spontaneously (5) may be used to classify non-emotional responses such as confusion or frustration.
Observing work performance and providing feedback about it should be a routine part of the performance management process. Feedback may be defined as “information about past behavior, delivered in the present, which may influence future behavior.” (What Did You Say?: The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback). Feedback should be based on observed and/or verifiable work-related behaviors, actions, statements, and results. This type of feedback is called behavioral feedback. Effective feedback helps the employee sustain good performance, to develop new skills and to improve performance when necessary.
Interestingly, observing the behavior of birds show similar patterns if birds are kept in a cage. Behavior problems develop when the bird’s basic needs are not being met. These needs include food, water, shelter, sleep, and social interaction. Once these needs are met in an appropriate manner, the behavior problems will be easier to resolve or at least control. The behaviors of birds may change because the bird might outgrow its cage. We observe the same problem if a fish outgrows its pond or an employee outgrowing his job. A major second problem is boredom: This is a major factor in behavior problems because the bird has nothing to keep it occupied so it finds something to do on its own. Boredom might be a significant factor in changing the behavior of employees.
The managerial lesson is Observe, Orient, Decide and then Act. This is a manifestation of the OODA Loop. It is not starting with control, which may create conflicts more than it can solve.
Ali Anani got his PhD in chemistry in the UK (1972). As of 1981 Dr. Anani got interested in applying scientific approaches to economic and social issues.
Bas de Baar works as a Project Manager for over a decade. Since 2001, he has been the editor of www.SoftwareProjects.org, a popular website dedicated to Software Project Management.