Are Likable Managers More Effective

¶ … Likeability in Management: Introduction This study will look at the affect that likability has on the workplace. Managers are always trying to find ways to motivate employees and to find successful business practices (Holmes, 2007). One way to motivate may be to win followers through the act of being likeable as a manger (Shellenbarger, 2014). What likability means is that the manager appeals to the employee in a positive way and encourages support for successful attitudes.

A study by Laura (2011) indicates that likability in the workplace by the manager is needed in order for success to happen because it bonds workers together and because of personality traits and what they do for people. A study by Hoover (2003) adds to this knowledge of how workers get along and what it means for success. Goffee and Jones (2005) also examine this issue of how managers can lead and looks for answers.

This study will use a conceptual framework that is phenomenological so that it can be studied on a personal level how likability impacts the workplace. Phenomenological studies allow for up-close and intimate studies of reactions to specific phenomena. Analyzing these reactions helps researchers to better understand the effect of a particular phenomenon.

Central Aim The central aim of this study is to assess the importance level of likability in the workplace by asking employees whether they are more or less inclined to work hard for a manager who is likeable or for one who is not likeable. Likability will be defined by qualities such as trustworthiness, transparency, virtuous, goal-oriented, and emotionally intelligent (empathetic).

A manual data collection technique that will be used to engage more personally with the results and submerse the researcher in the information so as to better begin to intuit meanings and identify themes (Cresswell, 2007). This is helpful and suited to the phenomenological study which has that the researcher engage as fully as possible with the data, participants, and immersion process.

The study will analyze the data by using an approach that is described by the researcher Lin (2013) as useful in phenomenological coding: it will use eidetic reduction, which helps the researcher to filter out "noise" on top of gathered information and uncover the core layers of information that exist "between the lines" (Lin, 2013, p. 471).

The study also will use open coding in order to identify concepts and categories for better analysis as well as imaginative variation which allows the researcher to "employ polarities" in order to better establish the frame for analysis (Lin, 2013, p. 472). The phenomenon of the impact of likability in the workplace will be discovered through survey and interview. The survey will be first and the interview will follow for deeper insights.

The advantages of conducting an interview are that it allows the researcher to see in person the data that will later be analyzing. It allows for more in-depth gathering of information which aids in the analysis section of the study. The disadvantages of conducting an interview is that it can be very time consuming and if one is conducting several interviews the process can be especially taxing in terms of time. The advantages of conducting a survey is that it is less personal, less demanding, less time consuming.

The survey can be given to many several people at once (through a mailer, for instance) and does not require that the researcher be present for the answers. The disadvantage of conducting surveys is that the answers tend to be less in-depth, sometimes less precise or exact (if the survey questions are not good or very precise) (Harris, Brown, 2010). For this study there will be used a survey plus open-ended questions for interviews combination, which can be conduct online or in person (when possible).

Scientific and Managerial Relevance This study is relevant to management and business because it will show how likability is a factor in success or if it is not, it will show that too. It will give indication of how on personal level the phenomenon is impactful and what managers can do if it is a good factor in management. Managers want to find an edge on competition and drive their businesses to success and one way of doing that to the best ability is by using likability (Sanders, 2006; Pink, 2011).

Drive and motivation are keys to success according to some research, so it is important to find out if likability is one of these keys as well. This study then would be relevant to the scientific and management community because both would have an interest in what makes the workplace more functioning and better for business. Also the method would be helpful to show how likability is working on a qualitative level, what the phenomenon is like on the individual level where human actions can be more observed.

Quantitative analysis has already been done by other researchers but the phenomenological approach has not been done to give a more in-depth look at the process of likability's impact on the workplace environment and on workplace behavior. This study will focus on that in-depth process and give qualitative analysis that can be useful in forming management implementation plans on how to best or not used likability.

Structure of the Thesis This thesis will be structured in the following way: Chapter 1 will give an introduction to the material and will show what the purpose of the thesis is. It will give a problem and show how the thesis means to solve it by asking research questions. It will also discus limitations of the study and the assumptions that the researcher holds about the subject and the study. It will also have a definition of terms and end with a conclusion.

Chapter 2 will give a literature review that will be a review of previous relevant literature on the subject of likability and management and this will be used to build a base of knowledge on the subject as the study moves forward. It will discuss how data is collected in the literature review, how the articles were found and what they show. The studies of other researchers will be discussed fully and why they are relevant or not to this study.

Gaps in literature will also be discussed and it will end with a conclusion. Chapter 3 will discus the methodology used in this study and why it was chosen.