Managing People Relationships - Essay Example

Managing Relationships Managing Relationships Introduction I must admit that sometimes, some people we meet and interact with in while attending to our daily activities, be it strangers or non-strangers, can be very fundamental in making our future a success. I remember so well when I met this man, my long time friend, we were total strangers. Nobody ever thought anything could positive could ever come out of the relationship as a result. Everything seemed to me as though they were all planned by some powers. Meeting people with the same interest as you are and getting down to work with them, yet they were total strangers when you met, seem very challenging and tough, but I can proclaim it is the best thing ever. It all begun when I joined high school, this man came my way as I was looking for a place to print my documents. Being that I was new to this school, I asked him to show me where I could print my documents. The man gladly volunteered to deviate from his journey to where he was headed initially, just to make sure he takes me to the printing place. He directed me to a certain cybercafé, just by the gates of the school compound. Here, all services were offered at a student-pocket- friendly prices. I liked it, and after I was done, I asked the young boy to tell me who owns the cybercafé. At my surprise, the man told me he did. The man was the owner of the cybercafé and he was a student as well. I had always thought of doing the same thing. So I told this young man my interest and he allowed me to join him in the business. It is now three years since we met and became business partners with John. Our business has expanded since we now have a wider customer base and a lot of cumulated assets. Our short-term attraction to work with each other each was dependent on interest. I was very interested and impressed with the fact that one can actually run a cybercafé very well as they study. In addition, John did not have enough capital to expand his business, so he wanted a trusted partner to work with. On the other hand, after working for some time together, we acquired a lot of assets together with the money we jointly owned. This is a fact that made our relationship develop further and make it now to be a long-term one. We are long-term partners since we have established the business to a bigger one right now and even opened up a branch in a nearby town. Our relationship is one that is guided by several types of power. For instance, there is the use of reward power, legitimate power, expert power as well as referent power. In this case, reward power since we normally have the ability to reward ourselves with the profits of our business when we make it (Scott, 2011). The business is legally for both of us; therefore we have the legitimate power of running the business as the real owners. John is an accountant by profession, therefore, he brings with him the accounting expertise in balancing the financial books of the business and I also use my journalism knowledge to advertise the business. In this case, we exercise our expert powers. Lastly, we always like appreciating each other’s efforts contributed in the business. This is to bust one another’s morale and increase trust and accountability. In this way, we exercise our referent powers. In this relationship, however, the reward, legitimate and expert powers are mostly exercised. It is very important to always have attraction in any relationship. For instance, in this relationship, the attraction that exists between us first enabled us to start up this relationship. The relationship is a mutual one where both of us must feel interested is when we can come together. We felt interested in each other; hence we got attracted to each other. Attraction makes it easy to work with each other; not like one can get into a relationship forcefully without feeling any force of attraction towards each other. Secondly, the attraction has made us continue to even do other things together, hence making our relationship a long-term one. Likewise, power in a relationship makes the basis of things being done. There are things that can only be executed in a relationship by use of some type of power. For instance, by the use of legitimate power, we are able to handle legal issues in terms of registration, accountability and share of profits of the business without any fear or delay. We have also been able to cut on cost by offering our own expertise in the business relationship by use of expert power. Moreover, power makes us be able to feel accountable to each other as the owners of the business. Our relationship as for now needs some improvement. This is to improve trust, accountability and security between us. One of the ways we have suggested to help us improve our relationship is to register the business with the registrar of businesses under a partnership category. This will make both of us develop a lot of trust with each other and gain confidence in that, the relationship will now the recognized by law in case of any eventuality (Bill, 2013). Again to improve our relationship, we need to clearly state each other’s role in the relationship so that we do not have any mixture in the duties that we perform. We also need to have a set of rules and regulations, well stipulated in order to guide the business so that in case of any misunderstanding, we have somewhere to refer whether any act performed is in line with our laid down rules and regulations. In this relationship, so far we work as a team. Most of the housekeeping duties of the relationship required are always accomplished by us. We enjoy working this way since it increases the level of accountability and trust. Communication is always the pillar of our good relationship as it is required and very necessary all the time. To manage this relationship better, there are some relationship management skills that are needed to be applied. For instance, good communication skills should be improved. When partners in a relationship are able to communicate freely with each other, the relationship is able to go a long way and last even longer since many problems are normally resolved through dialogue. Through communication someone can get to learn from the other, one can get a hint from the other and in case there is any problem, it can be identified earlier and measures put in place to deal with it in time. Another way of managing relationships is through good conflict management skills. Both of us need to be equipped with good conflict management skills that will allow us to handle conflict situations as they arise. In many cases, we’ve seen various good relationships being destroyed just through conflict arising among the team members. By use of communication as a strategy to manage this relationship, we can be able to avoid very many problems that normally arise. Sometime you find one of us has misappropriated some funds that belong to the relationship as their own. One party normally feels so much offended when this issue is not communicated to them well and in good time. This can go a long way in reducing the intimacy that exists within the relationship. However, this is a problem that can always be solved easily when it is communicated promptly to the other party and in a good way for them to understand (Swati, 2010). The conflict is hence avoided and the level of intimacy is increased. Moreover, with good conflict management skills, one is able to put the other down and explain the cause of a conflict to the other party until they understand. This escalates the level of intimacy, but different from the way one would have handled the situation if they approached the situation un-soberly, hence making it even worse. This normally reduces the level of intimacy in a relationship. Conclusion In a nutshell, relationships are very important in life. They have their own ups just as they also have their downs. With good management, however, relationships can be improved to ensure they last longer. References Bill, F. (2013). Types of Power Relationships. Theartofunity.com , 1. Scott, M. (2011). The Use of Different Types of Pewer in a Relationship. Happier&healthier.com , 1-3. Swati, G. (2010). Skills for Being a Relationship Manager. Hindustan Times , 1-2. Read More