Seshadripuram Evening Degree College, # 27, Nagappa Street, Seshadripuram, Bengaluru-560020

Module 1: Introduction to People Management

Diversity in organisation: age, gender, ethnicity, race, and ability. People Management:
Meaning, Features, Significance of people management, Difference between People
Management and Human Resource Management, impact of individual and organizational
factors on people management.

Diversity in organisation
Diversity in the workplace refers to an organization that intentionally employs a workforce
comprised of individuals with a range of characteristics, such as gender, religion, race, age,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, and other attributes.

Definition
” Diversity is defined as a mixture of people with group identities within the same social
system” – Fleury

“Workforce diversity is a workforce consisting of a board mix of workers from different

racial and ethnic background of different ages and genders, and of different domestic and
national cultures.”

Different Basis of Diversity in organisation

The workforce in the organization may be diverse as based on following factors:
• Age
• Gender
• Ethnicity and race
• Ability

Dimensions of Global Diversity

1. Internal Dimensions: Age, race, ethnicity, gender, physical ability.
2. External Dimensions: Marital status, income, personal habits, religion, educational
background, work experience, geographical location.
3. Organizational Dimensions: Work location, seniority and division/dept/unit/group.
4. Countries of operation: Economy, laws, values, languages and political system.
5. Personality: Character, emotions, personal values, strengths and weakness.

Benefits of Diversity in the workplace for Employees

1. Conflict reduction
2. Increased confidence
3. Boosting employee engagement

Benefits of Diversity in the workplace for Employers

1. Increased range of ideas
2. Increased employee engagement
3. Boosts company reputation & simplifies recruitment processes
4. Helps to understand your customers better
5. Reduce employee turnover

People Management
People management refers to the practice of recruiting, training, engaging and retaining
employees to optimize their talent and maximize their productivity. A subcategory of Human
Resource Management (HRM), people management includes:
Santhosh J. V MBA, M. Com, K-SET
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 Seshadripuram Evening Degree College, # 27, Nagappa Street, Seshadripuram, Bengaluru-560020

• Training and development

• Recruitment
• Compensation and benefits
• Performance management
• Organization
• Engagement and retention
• Safety and wellness
People management strategies address employees’ needs, unique talents, and career
objectives, while also supporting their alignment with company goals and values.

Features of People Management

1. Part of general management
2. Concerned with people
3. Concerned with personnel policies
4. Assistance to top management
5. Creation of cordial environment
6. Continuous function
7. Ensures employee satisfaction

Significance of People Management

• High productivity
• Low employee turnover rates
• Ongoing professional development among employees
• Strong collaboration and cooperation between team members

To achieve these outcomes, a good people manager must:

• Make sure each employee understands their role and responsibilities
• Ensure that the company’s expectations of each employee are aligned with the
resources (including time) they have to fulfil this expectation.
• Communicate clearly with their employees, listen to their feedback, and encourage
their people to do the same with their fellow team members.
• Oversee employee’s professional development in the workplace.

People management skills

1. Managing by performance: In March of 2020, everyone who could work at home began
to work at home. It’s unlikely that everyone will be back in the office by January 2021.
This means managers must know how to judge an employee’s work not by their face
time, but by the employee’s results. This may be a switch for some managers.
2. Planning: It may seem difficult to plan in this rapidly changing landscape (we recently
wrote an article about how HR can prepare for 2021), but people management requires
managers to plan for multiple contingencies. This will continue to be important in 2021.
3. Mentoring: Most employees want to progress in their careers and will appreciate a
manager who takes the time to mentor them and helps them to succeed.
4. Problem-solving: In 2020, companies had to learn how to telecommute, rearrange factory
floors, work with masks, and comply with ever-changing government health regulations.
This is a critical people management skill going forward. These rapid changes won’t end.

Santhosh J. V MBA, M. Com, K-SET

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 Seshadripuram Evening Degree College, # 27, Nagappa Street, Seshadripuram, Bengaluru-560020

Even in more subdued times, problem-solving is a crucial skill in people management.

Not only do you have to solve problems with projects, but you need to work together with
employees to come to solutions.
5. Communication: This skill is always at the top of people management. Letting
employees know essential information quickly and clearly can be the difference between a
supportive team and a rebellion.
6. Feedback–Giving: Good people management requires managers to give feedback –
positive and negative. If a manager allows an employee to make the same mistake
repeatedly, it can damage the company brand or turn other employees against you. If a
manager ignores employees’ successes, employees will grow bitter. Good people
managers need to provide feedback in an accurate, kind, and timely way.
7. Feedback – Receiving: Feedback can come from their superiors, customers, or direct
reports. All this information needs to be processed, and the manager determines what they
should or should not change. It can be challenging to sort out the competing voices, and
do the right thing sometimes means challenging a department head. This can require
courage, but ultimately using feedback in the proper way results in better people
management.
8. Creativity: You don’t need to paint or play the piano to be creative. Creativity comes in
the form of problem-solving, solution finding, new product development, and feedback
facilitating. Again, as we head into the second year of global pandemic, good people
managers will continue to find creative solutions to the situations at hand.
9. Understanding stakeholders: There is a balance between employees and projects and
between management and clients. Employees need a manager’s guidance on how to value
each stakeholder. Sometimes the stakeholders in a project may not be clear – and this can
result in a manager placing the wrong emphasis on project completion. This can put an
employee at risk, which is bad people management.
10. Emotional intelligence: Everyone is in a state of prolonged stress and crisis, which is not
likely to go away soon. A people manager with emotional intelligence looks for when
people are at their limits and looks for ways to fix it. Someone with good emotional
intelligence also knows their own limitations and looks for their own failings to correct it.
Emotional intelligence is a key to effective collaboration in the workplace and will
continue to be a critical skill as we head into 2021.
11. Trust: For becoming a good people manager, a person should be able to win the trust of
all team members. At the same time, he or she should trust others and believe that they
have the best interest of business in their mind.

12. Flexibility: Effective people management requires a manager to have a flexible

management style. They should be able to accommodate the personal and professional
needs or team members.

13. Patience: One of the most crucial people management skills is patience- something that
uses mutual respect and kindness while helping team members overcome workplace
challenges.

14. Leadership: The ability to lead team members towards success and progress is what
makes a person an effective people manager. They should be able to motivate their team
Santhosh J. V MBA, M. Com, K-SET
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 Seshadripuram Evening Degree College, # 27, Nagappa Street, Seshadripuram, Bengaluru-560020

and boost their performance to deliver desired business results. They need to be
optimistic, confident and decisive at all times so that they can set an example for their
team members.

Difference between People Management and Human Resource Management

Santhosh J. V MBA, M. Com, K-SET

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