8. Read and note skill a manager needs to be a good leader. Packages and premier executive

HOW well do you manage your team? Executives dismissing “pink and fluffy” skills such as listening, communicating and empathy now have reason to adjust their prejudice; employers are increasingly appraising them on such abilities – and linking this to pay. A new study by Ashridge Management College revealed the surprising finding that over a third of employers in the survey offer some kind of performance bonus based on the way in which managers treat their staff.

The logic is that the teamwork, motivation and skills in an organization play a pivotal role in the success of the business. Managers who are good at fostering this ought to be rewarded. The Ashridge report notes: “If people management skills are as crucial as data suggest, then surely every effort should be made to measure and reward them?”

The problem is, how to measure something as complex and intangible as leadership style? Pam Jones, head of the Performance Through People programme at Ashridge, says, however, that the measurement is not impossible. She adds that the traditionally ‘hard’ yardsticks such as profits and sales, are just as difficult to measure in modern organizations, because it can be difficult to attribute financial performance to individuals with any clarity. “So-called ‘hard’ matters are difficult to measure, because of the matrix structures in organizations. It is difficult to pay Joe as the guy who has brought in the money when there are so many influences affecting targets,” says Ms Jones.

To measure people management skills, employers can use results of appraisals of a manager’s performance by his or her staff. They can also assess the competencies of individual managers; and they can measure the climate of a team – staff answering questionnaires on how motivated, rewarded and autonomous they feel. These are fraught with difficulties, however, particularly when using appraisals. If the staff know that their view has an influence on their manager's pay, and they also consider managers’ pay to be too high, the chances of an honest appraisal diminish.

Similarly, managers may be reluctant to discipline poor performers, knowing that they have an indirect say in the level of their bonus. Employers need measures that are subtle, fair, as objective as is possible and immune to perverse incentives. No one has yet answered all the requirements but that is true of all performance-related pay schemes.

• pivotal - key, important • yardsticks - ways of measuring

• fraught with - full of • perverse – abnormal

9. Find words or phrases in the text which have the same meaning as the following.

1. understanding how other people feel (para. 1)

2. judging, assessing (para. 1)

3. developing, nurturing (para. 2)

4. very important (para. 2)

5. indefinable (para. 3)

6. demonstrate who is responsible for (para. 3)

7. abilities (para. 4)

8. independent (para. 4)

9. reduce (para. 4)