By ANNE RODRIGUES                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
IN trying to determine what leads to superior performance among                                                                                       
managers and his subordinates, Dr J Sterling Livingstone used a                                                                                       
paragraph from George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
In it, protagonist Eliza Dolittle explains, "You 'see, really                                                                                         
and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up (the                                                                                              
dressing and the proper way of speaking and so on) the                                                                                                
difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she                                                                                            
behaves but how she's treated. I shall always be a flower girl                                                                                        
to Professor Higgins because he always treats me as a flower                                                                                          
girl and always will; but I know I can be a lady to you because                                                                                       
you will always treat me as a lady and always will."                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
Dr Livingstone applies this correlation between how one is                                                                                            
treated and how one behaves to the management-environment in                                                                                          
what is now commonly referred to as the "Pygmalion Effect".                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
He says that, in a nutshell, if one is treated properly, one                                                                                          
tends to live up to the expectations of the one who treats him                                                                                        
well.                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
This belief is in fact nothing new as it has been widely                                                                                              
recognised, especially in the medical profession where a                                                                                              
doctor's pessimistic prognosis can immediately lead the patient                                                                                       
to a doomsdays frame of mind, which can eventually be self-                                                                                           
fulfilling.                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
Similarly, students are often known to make monumental efforts                                                                                        
to fulfil their favourite teacher's expectations of them. The                                                                                         
popular conclusion from this is that we are all in a way like                                                                                         
Eliza Dolittle-we behave according to how we are treated; if we                                                                                       
consider ourselves to be properly treated by our superior, we                                                                                         
tend quite often to want to live up to his/her expectations of                                                                                        
us.                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
Malaysia, like most developing countries, has its share of                                                                                            
problems revolving around productivity among employees. As                                                                                            
managers, we see this quite often in the form of demotivated,                                                                                         
non-committed, sometimes even lazy employees. And as managers,                                                                                        
we too some times get demotivated, quite often by the acts of                                                                                         
out superiors.                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
For many of us, these bouts of demotivation and indifference                                                                                          
happen at least twice a year when we receive, management's                                                                                            
letter on our annual increment and our annual bonus.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
Results of promotion exercises also have a similar impact                                                                                             
depending. of course on whether we find the results to our                                                                                            
favour or not. This has, in fact, led to a Malaysian version of                                                                                       
describing the Pygmalion Effect although it comes in a cruder                                                                                         
form: "if you pay peanuts, you should expect only monkeys."                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
This implies that if a staff believes he is lowly paid, he                                                                                            
perceives it as an indication that management values him less.                                                                                        
Then rightly or wrongly he tends to perform according to that                                                                                         
rating or valuation.                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
The reverse also applies. If a staff is highly paid relative to                                                                                       
the market, he immediately assumes that management has high                                                                                           
expectations of him and would strive to live up to that                                                                                               
expectation.                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
I also remember in the days before the breakup of the Soviet                                                                                          
Union, when inflation was high and wages low, a popular remark                                                                                        
making the rounds among workers when I was there was "the                                                                                             
government pretends to pay us and so we pretend to work."                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
There is on the other hand, another school of thought                                                                                                 
particularly among senior management, who claim that there are                                                                                        
in fact two sides to the coin: "If all that the staff are                                                                                             
capable of is monkey business, then, of course, they should only                                                                                      
be paid peanuts."                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
I would assume that this refers to that distinct group of                                                                                             
incorrigible employees who will fail to perform whatever their                                                                                        
superiors' expectations and however well they are treated. This                                                                                       
group should, therefore, be only paid peanuts.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
The tendency in Malaysia has always been to regard pay as a                                                                                           
major motivator and contributor to performance and productivity.                                                                                      
If a salesman cannot achieve his sales target, the excuse quite                                                                                       
often given, is he is paid less commission than others in the                                                                                         
industry and the solution offered is to increase the commission.                                                                                      
If a department suffers from high staff turnover, it is always                                                                                        
because other companies are having a higher salary scale than                                                                                         
ours. If the staff are not performing well, it is because they                                                                                        
are unhappy with their pay rather than because of our inferior                                                                                        
management techniques, and so on.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
In coming up with the Pygmalion Effect, Livingstone offers                                                                                            
another way of looking at productivity, which should be of                                                                                            
interest to industry leaders in Malaysia. He claims that the                                                                                          
difference between employees who perform well and those who                                                                                           
perform poorly is not how they are paid but how they are                                                                                              
treated.                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
And one way to increase productivity is to develop managers who                                                                                       
will know how to treat subordinates in ways that will lead to                                                                                         
mutual expectation of superior performance. In effect, we need                                                                                        
managers who are Pygmalions.                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
Managers who are Pygmalions have the ability to create high                                                                                           
performance expectations that subordinates will strive to                                                                                             
fulfil.                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
The classic example is the success stories often related in                                                                                           
Amway where the diamond distributor, through a process of                                                                                             
positive reinforcement and motivation, manages to energise his                                                                                        
team of distributors to achieve certain set sales targets.                                                                                            
Similar success stories happen in the insurance as well as car                                                                                        
industries.                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
When sales persons are treated by their managers as super staff,                                                                                      
they try to live up to that image. But when managers display low                                                                                      
managerial expectations and treat their staff as "lost cases",                                                                                        
this negative expectation often becomes a self-fulfilling                                                                                             
prophecy.                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
Whilst we might be tempted to accuse Livingstone of stating the                                                                                       
obvious, the reality is that managers are more effective in                                                                                           
communicating low expectations to their subordinates than in                                                                                          
communicating high expectations to them.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
In doing that, they become "negative Pygmalions". In my working                                                                                       
career, I have interacted with many negative Pygmalions...                                                                                            
managers who are cynics, ever ready to believe the worst of                                                                                           
their subordinates. They often, intentionally or                                                                                                      
unintentionally, communicate their low expectations to their                                                                                          
subordinates and undermine their self-confidence, thereby                                                                                             
reducing their effectiveness.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
For example, if they are allotted a female staff, their                                                                                               
immediate reaction is that it is a handicap because they will                                                                                         
always have to take maternity leave; if a staff whom they regard                                                                                      
lowly performs well, it's probably "a flash in the pan"; if they                                                                                      
get a non-graduate staff, the reaction will be, "You can't                                                                                            
expect much from him, he has no qualifications."                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
Top managers have the skills to know what targets to set for                                                                                          
their subordinates and the ability to transmit their                                                                                                  
expectations to them such that they revel in the challenge                                                                                            
offered and rise to the occasion. Such managers have high                                                                                             
"positive self-regard" leading employees to have confidence in                                                                                        
them and believe that their high expectations of them can in                                                                                          
fact materialise if they strive hard enough.                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
To achieve this "positive self-regard", managers need the                                                                                             
industry knowledge and job skills to know how to set realistic                                                                                        
and achievable targets for each individual staff. They need to                                                                                        
be involved and know when to offer advice or prod them on.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
They also have the ability to guide the team through the whole                                                                                        
exercise if required rather than just leave everything to the                                                                                         
team without it a clue as to how the job is to he done. Gone are                                                                                      
the days when managers got by with the instruction, "I don't                                                                                          
care how you do it but I want this report/result by this date."                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
Studies have also shown that "dangling the carrot" just beyond                                                                                        
the donkey's reach can be quite demotivating and eventually the                                                                                       
high expectations of the manager no longer become credible.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
At the same time, the employee should not perceive the challenge                                                                                      
or the target set to be so easily achievable that no sense of                                                                                         
satisfaction is felt on its realisation and the employee might                                                                                        
see this as patronising.                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
There is nothing more motivating, exhilarating and inspiring                                                                                          
than a superior who believes in your ability and pushes you                                                                                           
towards greater challenges. Most people would be willing to                                                                                           
discount the pay factor for such an experience.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
Pygmalion managers on the other hand must be wary of the group                                                                                        
of executives who are only capable of "monkey business". No                                                                                           
amount of proper treatment and high expectations could extract                                                                                        
high performance from them and the only way to deal with this                                                                                         
particular group of employees is the "carrot and stick"                                                                                               
approach, i.e. pay them peanuts until they feel the pinch and                                                                                         
decide to deliver' their money's worth of work.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
Anne Rodrigues, a member of MIM, is the Group Finance Director                                                                                        
of Felda Holdings Sdn Bhd. She is an accountant by profession,                                                                                        
holds an MBA from the University of Bath and is a regular writer                                                                                      
on management and current issues.