RULE No 1 of Affectionate Management

Rule number 1 of Affectionate Management states that understanding oneself will be the best way to understand others.

Know thyself need not be at the catechism of metaphysics. Sometimes the trivial unleashes vital wisdom. The process of understanding itself involves the skill of careful observation of other people. The dynamics of awareness commence with collection of data. Collating the data produces information. Correlation of information gives conclusive knowledge. Application of knowledge bestows wisdom. The failures and successes of knowledge empowerment gives the cutting edge to wisdom when informed choices can be made on know-how, knowwhere, know-when and know-why. A similar process in terms of understanding human beings will certainly make everyone wiser than ever. More aware of themselves and others. Alexander Pope , the English poet wrote Know then thyself. The proper study of mankind is man.

According to Dr. Walter Doyle Staples, the greatest mystery in the world involves the essence of man. We have learned how to manage and control many facts of out Environment. Yet one thing still eludes us : we have yet to gain mastery over ourselves, over our thinking and our lives. Affectionate Management proposes only one format. Whether one is dealing with subordinates, colleagues, supervisors, customers or officials, deliberately ignore the status of these persons. Look at the other person as a human being. In such a wavelength of appraisal, I can immediately recognize a replica of myself. Like me, the other person also has needs, wants, wishes, desires, ambitions and dreams. Like me, the other person has hunger for food, knowledge, money and wealth. Like me, the other person has certain strengths and weaknesses. Like me, the other persons have certain beliefs, ethics, attitudes and aspirations. Once, I start believing that all the other people in the organization are as human as myself, then Affectionate Management process takes the first step. To understand yourself, as the wisecrack goes, touch your life with your own psychological foot, not with psychiatric shoes.

In most people there are inbuilt and acquired barriers of perception and attitude, which readily hinder the acceptance of the other person as a human being. More often, in most organizations, we only see the designation of a person and the level of authority delegated. Hence, the dealings with that person hinges around the values attached to the designation and authority. The human being in that person is normally ignored. Most of us also have a subconscious scale which instinctively places other human beings as either above us or below us.

Because of this ladder-rung perception, most of us value the boss more than those who are our subordinates. The proximity to the boss also determines our level of interaction with even colleagues. It is a common scene in most organizations, where people behave like bonded slaves to the boss, but more autocratic and dictatorial with those working under them. However, when the principle of Affectionate Management comes into play, which is to recognize and acknowledge the human being in the vertical and horizontal matrix of the organization, then, the practice of Affectionate Management comes to the fore.