How to create a favorable psychological climate in a team: a detailed guide from a business expert

Relationships between company employees can be different: friendly or intolerant, positive or denying any dialogue. But not only their mood during the working day depends on people’s desire to work side by side and find a way out of conflict situations.

We are talking about much more global things: risks for the business, the threat of not achieving the goals set by the manager, the likelihood of delaying the project and losing position in the market. The socio-psychological climate in the team directly affects the success of the company. Therefore, it is important for a leader to approach its formation carefully and responsibly.

What is the moral climate in the team? How is it formed and how to “diagnose” it? What “alarm bells” should you pay attention to? And how to create a favorable psychological climate in a team that will allow the company to successfully grow and develop? Irina Avetisyan, an expert in improving business efficiency and developing teams, business coach, coach of top executives and teams, answered these questions to the FAN .

photo from the personal archive of Irina Avetisyan /

What is the socio-psychological climate in a team?

The company's work is determined by hundreds of daily personal contacts. Business processes require communication between the manager and subordinates, between employees within departments and representatives of structural units.

This creates a special atmosphere, the so-called psychological mood of the team, which shows the general mood within the company. This nature of relationships between colleagues is called the emotional climate in the team. Its formation is influenced by many factors: from the management style adopted in the company to the satisfaction of each employee with working conditions.

If this atmosphere is favorable, then the team works effectively. Departments carry out their tasks, employees take initiative and offer new ideas. In such an environment, competition can develop, but only healthy competition, when every specialist strives for professional growth and development.

“In a comfortable psychological environment, it is easy for an employee to complete his tasks,” comments business trainer and coach Irina Avetisyan. “He feels a sense of contentment and peace that allows him to reach his potential.” Moreover, the employee strives to make his own contribution to the development of the company and brings the employer a good bonus. The manager receives an unplanned positive financial effect and an infusion of new ideas into the company’s work.”

Maintaining a favorable atmosphere in the team brings other positive results.

• Successful conflict resolution . They can arise at any level: between employees and administration, between individual specialists, between a manager and one of his subordinates. If the atmosphere in the team is generally positive, any conflicts will be resolved more easily and quickly, and it will be easier for their participants to build a constructive dialogue. In turn, long-term conflicts that smolder for months lead to disruption of the emotional background in the team and a decrease in the results of its activities.
• Team cohesion . When each employee is focused not so much on personal results, but on moving towards the company’s goal, a corporate or “team” spirit is formed. Such an atmosphere supports the cohesion of employees and shows their common interests. With people committed to a common goal, a company can achieve better results.

Progress of the exercise

Divide people into 4 groups of at least 4 people. One group is scriptwriters, the second is directors, the third is actors and the fourth is critics. The task for the whole team is to write and stage a play that will suit everyone. Moreover, the play must suit both the genre, the title, the content and everything else. The screenwriters write the first act, then critics criticize it, make their own amendments, then the text is given to the directors, and they begin production together with the actors. At this time, the second act is already being written, and then the third. And when everything is ready, everyone sits down in the “hall”

, and the actors begin to play
(see video 1)
. Stormy applause, a sea of ​​emotions. Now sit people down and ask everyone if they were satisfied with the play? What could be done better? At this point, participants can share positive and negative impressions of the teamwork and about individuals. And, if the play suits everyone or almost everyone, then the team-building effect is obvious!

Reasons for the deterioration of the emotional climate in the team

The team atmosphere is easy to disrupt. As a rule, this is caused by mistakes on the part of management. According to Irina Avetisyan, there are three main reasons for the development of imbalance.

Imperfection of the personnel management system

If the developer made mistakes at the stage of its formation, there is a high risk of creating a persistent negative atmosphere in the company. It can be formed as a consequence of procedures and mechanisms that systematically cause disputes and conflicts.

“When processes become more complicated, when a complex hierarchy is added to resolve even simple issues, if there are no standards of behavior in emergency situations and there are no regulations for actions in regular ones, conflicts and discontent in the team are inevitable,” the expert notes.

Personal qualities of a leader

Leadership style inevitably affects the morale of the team. The personal qualities of not only the heads of departments are important. The manager’s rudeness, disrespect for his subordinates, his commitment to act on the “divide and conquer” principle, multiplied by incompetence in the field of psychology of labor relations, destroy a favorable microclimate. Another dangerous flaw of management is inattention to the processes occurring within the team.

“It is important for a leader to be able to consider and extinguish a conflict at the stage of its inception,” clarifies Irina Avetisyan. “After all, it’s always easier to prevent a fire than to put it out.”

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Presence of “troublemakers”

These are employees who, due to their own character or due to dissatisfaction with the conditions in the team, bring discord into its ranks:

• create in leadership;
• initiate “actions of intolerance” against another employee and remove him from the team;
• sow an atmosphere of hostility and dissatisfaction with working conditions;
• their actions lead to disorganization not only of their own working time, but also of other team members.

“You need to be able to spot such employees at the selection stage,” the expert notes. “And it is extremely important to identify “troublemakers” by monitoring the state of the psychological climate.”

Democratic style

This type of management is based on very trusting and friendly relationships between all team members, as well as goodwill and sociability. In this case, all responsibilities, powers and initiatives are distributed between the manager, his deputies and subordinates. All decisions are made collectively.

The director, who has adopted a democratic management style as a basis, cares about the opinion of his subordinate team regarding key production issues. Communication between the manager and employees occurs exclusively in the form of wishes, requests, advice and recommendations. Rewards for quickly and efficiently completed work are not excluded. Communication takes place in a polite and friendly manner. If necessary, orders are used (extremely rarely).

Consequences of a negative atmosphere in the team

If tension in a team persists for a long time, it will inevitably lead to negative consequences. Among the most likely:

• increased staff turnover: employees often leave of their own free will, while there were no prerequisites for this from management (for example, a salary reduction or a change in work schedule);
• “migration” of employees within the company: specialists from one of the departments turn to the manager with applications to transfer them to other departments;
• development of dissatisfaction among employees: topics of lack of prospects, comparisons with competing companies and discussion of the negative state of affairs become the main ones in communication;
• an increase in the number of disputes between employees: both in one division and between different departments;
• decreased labor productivity: it inevitably develops in a team where there is socio-psychological tension; as a result, the company begins to lag behind planned indicators, new and ongoing projects are under threat;
• decrease in the quality of the result: as a rule, it is observed in the area where there is moral tension.

An unfavorable atmosphere affects all team members. At some point, the manager is also drawn into it. If he does not strive to understand the reasons for what is happening and eliminate the root of the problem, his functions are reduced to resolving numerous current conflicts. At the same time, the manager’s time is distributed irrationally: conflicts do not allow him to focus on achieving the planned financial goal.

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Team concept

A team is a type of small group. Small groups can vary in size, in the nature and structure of the relationships existing between its members, individual composition, characteristics of the values ​​shared by the participants, norms and rules of relationships, interpersonal relationships, goals and content of activities. The quantitative composition of a group is called its size, the individual composition is called composition. The structure of interpersonal communication, that is, the exchange of business and personal information, is called communication channels, the moral and emotional tone of interpersonal relations is called the psychological climate of the group.

The general rules of behavior followed by group members are called group norms. All of the above characteristics represent the main parameters by which small groups are identified, divided and studied.

Among highly developed small groups, collectives stand out. The psychology of a developed team is characterized by the fact that the activity for which it was created and carried out undoubtedly has a positive meaning for many people, and not just for members of the team. In a team, interpersonal relationships are based on mutual trust, openness, honesty, decency, and mutual respect.”

In order for a small group to be called a team, it must meet a very high set of requirements: it must successfully complete the tasks assigned to it, have high morale, maintain good interpersonal relationships, create opportunities for the development of each of its members as individuals, be capable of creativity. That is, as a group, to give to people more than the sum of the same number of individuals working individually can provide.

Psychologically, the collective develops as a small group in which a differentiated system of various business and personal relationships is built, on a high moral basis.

A team is a highly developed small group of people, the relationships in which are built on positive moral standards, and have increased efficiency in their work, manifested in the form of a super-additive effect.

The effectiveness of a team largely depends on its socio-psychological climate.

Advantages of creating a positive psychological climate in the workforce

“First of all, in business we count money,” comments Irina Avetisyan, an expert in improving business efficiency and developing teams. — And a positive psychological climate plays a significant role here. It prevents financial losses from professional mistakes made by employees under conditions of severe stress. The cause of this stress can be hidden and open labor, personal, and production conflicts.”

Another positive bonus from creating a favorable psychological climate in the team is a significant reduction in additional costs for the adaptation of new employees. If experienced managers and specialists do not quit due to interpersonal conflicts or a stressful environment, there is no need to look for replacements and train new employees. This saves the manager’s time and company resources.

“The actions of disloyal employees can cause great damage to a business,” clarifies Irina Avetisyan, “especially if they are offended by the results of a conflict that did not end in their favor. A favorable climate prevents such financial losses.”

ONLINE ENTERPRISE ANALYSIS

During the study of the socio-psychological climate at MEDIC LLC, in addition to the use of special techniques, free observation was carried out, the purpose of which was to determine the characteristics of employee behavior.

Psychological climate analysis

A survey conducted according to the methodology of E.A. Borisova, gave the following results. Based on the survey, a positive trend is the desire of 59% of employees to continue their career growth. More than half of the employees of MEDIC LLC managed to implement all their skills and knowledge in their workplace. Despite the positive trend identified in the personnel planning process, 30% of employees want to change jobs and go to another institution, 37% of employees did not receive full satisfaction from being in their workplace and, for one reason or another, want to transfer to another division of the LLC “MEDIC”, and a third of the employees would like to leave everything in their place, as they are completely satisfied (Fig. 5).

Figure 5 — Desire to change jobs by employees of MEDIC LLC, %

Analyzing the data obtained from the analysis of questions 3 and 4 of the questionnaire, only a little more than half of the employees strive for a career, but the personnel policy of MEDIC LLC is aimed at forming a strong, cohesive team and promoting outstanding employees to higher positions (Fig. 6).

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Figure 6 — Factors determining the selection of qualified personnel, %

At the same time, the main factors hindering career growth are the lack of any skills, insufficient education and reluctance to work more, which indicates the weak work of the personnel apparatus with the staff of the institution.

Analysis of the psychological climate of the team

The first thing on which an opinion about the organization in which a new employee has joined is based is his workplace (Fig. 7).

The employee’s desire and ability to work well depends on satisfaction with the condition and equipment of his own workplace. 87% of MEDIC LLC employees are convinced that a well-equipped workplace will have a positive effect on the adaptation of a new employee to the institution. The goal of MEDIC LLC is to quickly and painlessly adapt a new employee to the team, so that he can get used to it as quickly as possible and start working at full capacity in his field.

Figure 7 — Factors influencing the adaptation of new employees, %

The fundamental factor that positively influences the high performance of an employee is the friendly atmosphere in the team. 87% of the organization’s employees surveyed consider their relationships within the team to be friendly. It is especially important for a person when his opinion is listened to, and he has a fairly high status in his work team.

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For an employee’s adaptation to a new team at the initial stage of work, help from work colleagues is especially important, since for many newly hired employees this work is new or not entirely familiar. 83% of MEDIC LLC employees always help their newcomer colleagues.

To effectively conduct work at MEDIC LLC, regular analysis and standardization of labor is necessary. The mood in the team and the desire to work of each employee depend on the result obtained after analyzing the work of all employees of the institution and, as a result, the correct distribution of the workload. 55% of the surveyed employees believe that at MEDIC LLC the workload on all employees is equal. At the same time, a third of the staff is overworked, and therefore, as a rule, they have conflict situations with the manager. More than half of employees consider themselves valued employees and generally have high status among colleagues (73%), and almost half are highly respected by senior management (46%). Despite the fact that 30% of employees want to leave the institution and get a job elsewhere, 87% of employees feel like they are part of a stable organization.

Analysis of socio-psychological climate

It should be noted that while 30% of employees want to leave MEDIC LLC, a third also want to change their workplace, but so far only within the institution itself. At the same time, 72% of employees need some additional training. At the current level of wages at MEDIC LLC, 39% are not satisfied with their wages, while 99% of employees consider the standard of living of their family to be more or less high. 89% of employees are convinced that a salary increase will have a positive effect on reducing the rate of staff turnover. At MEDIC LLC, 91% of employees are satisfied with the system of bonuses and rewards in the institution and therefore try to work well.

Any organization needs to conduct regular staff assessments. But at MEDIC LLC, 61% of the staff have a neutral attitude towards the assessment (or certification), only 27% of employees have a positive attitude towards this event (Fig. 8). But personnel assessment is carried out, as a rule, according to the subjective opinion of management.

According to information obtained during the study, 37% of MEDIC LLC employees would like to change their place of work within the institution. At the same time, the stability of the personal and economic situation in the institution does not decrease.

Figure 8 — Assessment of staff performance, %

It is well known that the relationships developed in a team, common values ​​and rules of behavior can greatly affect the level of labor productivity. At MEDIC LLC, 87% of employees believe that relations within the team are friendly, which contributes to greater efficiency in the implementation of the institution’s core activities. Friendly relationships in the team contribute to the fact that 60% of employees celebrate major holidays, birthdays and other pleasant events together. About half of the employees constantly communicate and therefore are always aware of the problems and life difficulties of their colleagues and are always ready to help them.

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At MEDIC LLC, the K. Thomas test was conducted to study a person’s predisposition to conflict behavior. The results of the K. Thomas test are given in table. 3.

Table 3 - Results of a study of a group of employees of MEDIC LLC using the method of K. Thomas

The results of a study of a person’s predisposition to conflict behavior according to the K. Thomas test indicate that 32% of employees of an institution choose cooperation as a way to resolve conflict, 10% choose avoidance, 24% compromise, 10% are ready to sacrifice their interests for the sake of resolving the conflict ( avoidance), and 24% strive to achieve the satisfaction of their interests to the detriment of others (competition) (Fig. 9).

Figure 9 — Selection of conflict resolution methods (according to the K. Thomas test) in the team of MEDIC LLC

In order to study the personal characteristics of the employees of MEDIC LLC, the method of multifactorial personality research by R. Cattell was used. The results obtained are presented in table. 4.

Table 4 - Indicators of a multifactor personality study according to the R. Cattell test in the team of employees of MEDIC LLC

According to the results of Cattell's multifactorial test, it was revealed that 95% of the subjects had high levels of sociability, and 5% had average levels. This fact can be explained by the fact that communication skills are the professional qualities of medical workers.

According to the intelligence factor, the test subjects had the following values: 5% had high scores, 38% had average scores, and 57% had low scores. This corresponds to the distribution of employees depending on the level of education: 43% have higher education, 57% have secondary specialized education.

According to the results of the study, 10% of workers had emotional instability, and 76% had average indicators and 14% had high indicators of emotional stability and stability.

Study of the socio-psychological climate of the team

It was found that 48% of the subjects had subordination and shyness as a factor in interpersonal interaction, 38% had average values, and 14% had indicators of dominance, self-confidence and independence.

According to the test, it was found that 19% of the institution’s employees are reserved, 62% are more expressive, and 19% are cheerful, talkative, and very expressive.

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In 10% of people, susceptibility to feelings, disagreement with generally accepted moral standards, inconstancy were identified, average indicators of normative behavior were noted in 33% of the subjects, and high normative behavior, strong character, conscientiousness and responsibility - in 57%.

The values ​​for the courage factor are presented as follows: 43% of subjects had high scores, 43% had average scores, and 14% showed timidity and indecisiveness.

The results of the study showed that 5% of the subjects showed cruelty, severity, and low sensitivity, 9% had soft-heartedness, tenderness, and sensitivity, and 86% had average values.

Suspicion and envy were noted among 38% of the institution's employees, the remaining 62% were more gullible.

Developed imagination, daydreaming, absent-mindedness were found in 5% of employees, practicality, down-to-earth aspirations - in 33%, and average indicators in 62%.

Diplomatic behavior and reasonableness were noted in 67% of subjects, straightforwardness and spontaneity - in 33%.

Among the employees of MEDIC LLC, 14% are self-confident, carefree, energetic and fearless, 24% showed increased anxiety, concern, vulnerability, and 62% have average scores on this factor.

The results of the study on the “conservatism-radicalism” factor indicate that 19% of the subjects are prone to moralization and moralizing, are skeptical about new ideas, conservatives, 62% have average values ​​for the factor, 19% noted radicalism, which manifests itself in free-thinking, distrust of authorities and analytical thinking.

Conformity, dependence on the group, lack of independence, lack of initiative were noted in 62% of employees, average indicators - in 33%, self-sufficiency, independence, non-conformism - in 5%.

In terms of the self-control factor, 62% of workers had average scores, 5% had low scores (these people are poorly controlled, inattentive, undisciplined) and 33% had high scores (a person with high self-control is precise, strong-willed, can subjugate himself, acts according to conscious plan).

Relaxation, lethargy, and equanimity were noted in 19% of subjects, tension, composure, and activity were also noted in 19%, and average indicators were observed in 62% of subjects.

The results of the self-esteem study revealed the following values: high - for 10% of employees, medium - for 52%, low - for 38%.

The general results of studies using the Cattell test are clearly shown in the form of a histogram in Fig. 10.

Figure 10 — Results of the Cattell test in a team of employees of MEDIC LLC

To identify intragroup relationships and the personal sociometric status of each employee, J. Moreno's sociometric technique was used.

Assessment of socio-psychological climate

A study of a team of employees of MEDIC LLC using the sociometric method of J. Moreno (Table 5) showed that two subjects (No. 6 and No. 18) are “stars”. They received a significantly larger number of positive choices than others.

Table 5 - Sociomatrix of employees of the MEDIC LLC team

Seventeen people (81%) are in the “preferred” zone, and the two who received the maximum number of negative choices are “rejected” (No. 4 and No. 14). The data from the results of the technique are systematized in table. 6.

According to the sociometric study, 3 people were selected. Of these, subject No. 18 is the “star,” subject No. 11 is the “preferred” subject, and subject No. 4 is the “rejected” subject.

Table 6 - Sociometric status of MEDIC LLC employees

As a result of a comparative analysis of data from the sociometric method and the K. Thomas test, the following was noted. Subject No. 4 (“rejected”, since he received the maximum number of negative choices) has a strategy of competition, which to a greater extent reflects conflict behavior. Subject No. 18, who is the leader of the group (“star”, since he received the maximum number of positive choices) and has a cooperation strategy, and subject No. 11 (“preferred”) has an adaptation strategy, he received the same number of positive and negative choices according to sociometry.

Assessment of the socio-psychological climate in the team

Now let’s look at the results of a study of MEDIC LLC employees on a multifactorial personality study using the Cattell test. The results obtained are presented in the form of a graph in Fig. eleven.

Figure 11 - Comparison of personal characteristics of employees of MEDIC LLC with different strategies of behavior in conflict situations. The figure shows that in subject No. 4, compared to others, expressiveness (factor F), courage (N) and self-confidence (O) prevail ). All these qualities are necessary for a person in conflict situations with competitive tactics. While non-conflict subjects (No. 11, No. 18) show high normative behavior (G), high control (Q3). These data indicate that there is a connection between the personal characteristics of these employees and their behavior strategies in conflicts, which significantly influences the formation of the socio-psychological climate in the institution’s staff.

As observations at MEDIC LLC have shown, radical measures taken by management usually help resolve conflict situations. In addition, it is necessary to initially select for work people who have professionally important qualities and psychological personality traits that are not prone to conflicts.

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The seller must have a number of professional knowledge, for example, knowledge of the characteristics of the product being sold, the technology of its manufacture, the positive and negative qualities of the product in comparison with similar products from competing companies, prices for similar products, their fluctuations depending on territorial, seasonal characteristics, etc. P. On the other hand, he must undoubtedly have such personal characteristics as empathy, sociability and sociability, energy, activity, self-confidence, efficiency, perseverance in achieving goals, focus, etc. It is these factors of the Cattell test such as “rigidity - sensitivity” (I), “closedness - sociability” (A), “restraint - expressiveness” (F), “timidity - courage” (I), “self-confidence - anxiety” (O), “emotional instability - emotional stability” (C), “susceptibility to feelings - high normative behavior” (G), “low self-control - high self-control” (Q), and allow you to effectively measure and assess the degree of presence or absence of the above characteristics of the personality of a medical worker.

When hiring, it is useful to take into account the personal characteristics of the candidate from the point of view of his future work in a team, sometimes in an already established team. To do this, you should pay attention, for example, to the method for diagnosing Thomas’s predisposition to conflict behavior.

Moreover, it must be remembered that the data from a psychodiagnostic study of employees in each individual case must be considered in the context of the totality of all available information about the person. These are his interests, hobbies, family situation, socio-economic status, territorial characteristics of the region, etc. Excessive categoricalness and specificity of psychological recommendations can be dangerous if they are considered by management without taking into account the totality of all factors influencing the choice of a candidate.

Thus, the analysis of the attitude towards work of the institution’s employees made it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the socio-psychological climate of the MEDIC LLC organization.

Weaknesses in the organization of work and relationships among managers include: regulation of the job responsibilities of employees, the condition and maintenance of computers (equipment), the level of labor organization, and the level of technical equipment. Weaknesses in the organization of personnel labor include: assessment of employee performance, availability of instructions and rules of behavior for employees, level of labor organization, and opportunities for professional growth.

In the team of MEDIC LLC, in the process of communication, certain interactions take place between its individual members, between the individual and the team as a whole, which have a significant impact both on the dynamic processes occurring in it, and on the state, behavior and development of its constituent individuals, and during which various types of relationships are established.

The results of the study allow us to develop a program to improve the socio-psychological climate in the team of MEDIC LLC. When determining ways to form a favorable socio-psychological climate in a team, we are primarily interested in interpersonal relationships, which are based on the emotional states of interacting people.

Diagnosis of the psychological climate in the workforce

A business manager needs to regularly analyze the state of the moral environment in the team. In this case, a whole range of factors should be assessed, which are identified based on the results of both external and special observation.

External factors that indicate a violation of the team climate will be noticeable when communicating with subordinates and during meetings:

• the conflict has entered the open stage: an employee or group of employees no longer hides dissatisfaction, declares it openly, and makes harsh statements about the “source of the problem”;
• The atmosphere in the team is tense: signs of this include employees’ lack of restraint in communication, sharp answers to questions posed, the predominance of negative emotions, including irritation, anger or fear, and lack of interest or inspiration.

Such factors indicate that the conflict situation has reached its climax and the employees no longer intend or are unable to hide it. But it can also be identified in a latent state, when people are still afraid to talk about it out loud or do not consider it necessary.

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You can do this by:

• surveys. Preferably anonymous, so that employees do not have the fear of being punished or caught spreading gossip;
• collective and individual consultations of a psychologist with employees. During such sessions, the specialist may notice signs of conflict in the formative stage;
• testing. Using special tests, you can determine the degree of employee satisfaction with working conditions and atmosphere in the company;
• regular conversations between a manager with psychological skills in the field of labor relations, or a full-time psychologist, with employees, heads of departments, as well as employees who quit on their own initiative;
• collecting information about the situation in the state by security personnel.

“If the organization has a full-time psychologist, he should carry out this work, this is his responsibility,” clarifies Irina Avetisyan. “If there is no psychologist, this work is automatically transferred to the manager, who is forced to either redistribute time on it, paying less attention to his responsibilities, or put it aside for later, and then the conflict is not resolved for a long time.”

In addition, the manager often cannot give an objective assessment of what is happening. His perception of information is often distorted; he himself may be a participant in the conflict. Therefore, the involvement of external specialists - private practicing psychologists, corporate culture experts or trainers from specialized psychological consulting centers - becomes the only correct solution to the problem.

How to determine what climate prevails at an enterprise?

To diagnose the psychological climate, you can use general data and specific techniques.

Common factors that allow you to evaluate relationships in a company include:

• Staff turnover;
• Violations/compliance with labor discipline;
• Number of breaks (the more, the worse);
• Team cohesion or its division into small groups;
• Availability of freedom of speech and opinion, the possibility of self-expression;
• Mutual assistance and mutual assistance;
• Availability of company traditions (corporate events, competitions, events);
• Corporate Policy;
• Etc.

You can diagnose what kind of climate prevails in a team using banal research methods:

Method No. 1. Observation.

It is enough to simply observe a certain group of people for some time (a week, a month, etc.) in order to identify what kind of relationships prevail in it, who has the greatest authority or is a leader, whether employees know how to listen and understand each other, whether they are ready to replace colleagues, who “lays”/reports to the authorities what emotions and feelings prevail (joy, anger, friendship or conflict, indifference, etc.).

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Method No. 2. Interview, survey.

This method will allow you to determine the opinion of each employee about the current situation of the company, relationships in the team, and then combine the results obtained into groups. If there are more negative reviews, this will indicate an unfavorable climate and vice versa.

When conducting an interview, it is important that the respondent takes a neutral side, does not prompt employees or dictate specific conditions. He is asked a specific question and receives a specific answer to it from each participant.

Method No. 3. Participation of a professional psychologist.

This specialist will organize and conduct a test or other event that allows an objective assessment of the situation in the labor society. Most often, psychologists use sociometric tests, methods for assessing the psychological atmosphere (for example, according to A. F. Fiedler), etc.

How to create a favorable psychological climate in a team

“One of the most effective approaches to creating a favorable moral microclimate in an organization is the “Teach - Treat - Wet” technique,” ​​comments Irina Avetisyan. “It allows you to both nip a negative situation in the bud and resolve a long-standing conflict.”

Stage "Teach"

It involves training newly appointed managers in conflict resolution and techniques for preventing their occurrence. Specialists who work with clients in the service sector also need to be trained.

This approach initially reduces the risks of developing conflict situations, since “decision makers” and authoritative representatives of the team initially understand the importance of the socio-psychological climate and are aimed at maintaining a comfortable atmosphere in the team.

Stage “Treat”

It is used in the early stages of an identified conflict or if the microclimate in the team has begun to deteriorate. Effective working methods are:

• interviews - individual and group;
• business games - including role-playing, in an informal setting, with elements of analyzing a situation close to the current one;
• individual psychological diagnostics - working with an employee who contributes to the development of a conflict or expresses a desire to leave the team;
• focused psychological assistance to a specialist who, in the opinion of a staff psychologist, needs it;
• additional training for a manager who failed to maintain a favorable atmosphere or became the initiator of a conflict. In this case, it is first necessary to assess whether the manager has the personal qualities that allow him to occupy this position;
• transfer of an employee to another department - if the specialist is valuable to the company, but he was unable to establish friendly relationships with colleagues.

“If we speak in medical terms,” notes Irina Avetisyan, “the task of this stage is to transfer the “patient” to outpatient treatment and prescribe him “medicines” that are suitable for his symptoms.

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Stage “Wet”

It is resorted to if the conflict situation has reached a crisis point or the climate in the organization has deteriorated significantly. In this case, only the fundamental actions of the leader can help:

• dismissal of the “troublemaker”;
• transfer of the manager who caused the crisis situation or was responsible for it to the position of expert, if an additional assessment did not confirm that he has the personal qualities to work in a more responsible position;
• disbanding the department in which the conflict broke out and in which the employees, according to the psychologist’s conclusion, will no longer be able to restore normal relations.

Liberal style

In this case, the manager to some extent withdraws from active participation in the management of the company. He either simply “goes with the flow”, obeying the will of chance: either he falls under the complete influence of the team, or he waits for instructions from above. Such a leader tries to “keep his head down” and not take risks. He evades directly posed questions and resolution of conflicts that have arisen, and also does not take responsibility for anything (but tries to find someone to whom he can “throw” his guilt, that is, a “scapegoat”).

This style of leadership does not contribute to increasing labor productivity and improving the climate in the team.

Maintaining a Healthy Atmosphere

The achieved balance in the team must be maintained. To do this, the expert advises regularly monitoring the psychological climate, which will allow solving three problems.

1. Assess the general mood in the team, including the degree of satisfaction of employees with their relationships with each other, their immediate supervisor and their employer.
2. Identify conflicts between colleagues at an early stage.
3. Identify factors that negatively impact team morale and may lead to conflict.

It is important to take into account that each person is unique, and there are no “universal” tools for effectively influencing everyone. In each case, it is necessary to select those tools of psychological influence that will take into account both the specifics of the situation and the characteristics of a particular employee.

“It is important to give priority to preventive methods over those used in an already existing conflict or outright crisis situation,” emphasizes Irina Avetisyan. “And also use administrative methods, such as reprimand, reprimand and dismissal, only in situations where other attempts to neutralize the conflict have failed.”

Monitoring the psychological climate can be carried out by a full-time psychologist or department heads. Also, for this task you can involve a third-party expert, whose position will be more objective than a company representative.

Authoritarian style

It is based on the dominance of unity of command, which is expressed in the fact that only the leader himself makes all important decisions (without consulting anyone). The opinion of the team in this case is not taken into account.

The main methods of management are orders, instructions, reprimands, comments and punishments. Communication between a manager and his subordinates occurs in a rude and harsh manner. In the team, “ear-mongering” and widespread control are encouraged. Any employee initiatives are not supported, and the interests of the company are placed above the interests of people.

Such a leadership style can generate in the team a feeling of some psychological discomfort, conflict, fear, envy, ingratiation and hostility.

Search for a scapegoat

Either a person or a group of people who have absolutely nothing to do with the incident are chosen as the “whipping boy”. But they differ from other workers in that their behavior is not similar to the generally accepted one, and such people are not able to stand up for themselves (that is, they do not have a strong character). Therefore, it is they (these “white crows”) who become objects of attacks, unfounded accusations and hostility from everyone else. The presence of a scapegoat allows the company's team to provide some relief from tension and dissatisfaction, which, as a rule, accumulate in large quantities where there is an atmosphere of fear and mistrust. Such actions help workers maintain a perceived cohesion.

On a note! Such a “whipping boy” is sometimes vital for the normal functioning of some teams, since it acts as a kind of “valve” that allows one to “let off steam” of the negative that has accumulated.

Determining the psychoclimate

To study the psychological climate of a team, you can use a method such as a questionnaire, which includes the following questions:

• Do you like what you are doing now?
• Do you have any thoughts about changing this job for another?
• Do you find your current activity interesting?
• Do you enjoy authority, trust and respect among your colleagues?
• Are you satisfied with the working conditions at your workplace?
• Would you like to improve your skills?
• If you were currently looking for a new job, would you choose our organization?
• Are you satisfied with the condition of the equipment you work on?
• How would you characterize your relationship with your immediate boss?
• Are you satisfied with interpersonal communication in a team?
• How would you characterize your colleagues?
• How do you assess the socio-psychological climate of the work collective in which you work (trusting, friendly, tense, disgusting)?
• How much work do you have to do every day? Is he capable of it?
• Are you satisfied with the payment for your work?
• Do you have to stay at work after hours (because you don't have time to get everything done during business hours)?
• What would you like to change in the course of your activities?
• Do conflict situations arise in the team and how often?
• Can you call your colleagues responsible people and professionals in their field?

There are a number of indirect signs that determine the psychological climate:

• labor productivity;
• the number of absenteeism and tardiness admitted;
• quality of the product produced;
• staff turnover;
• maintaining equipment in good technical condition;
• How strictly are the deadlines for completing the work;
• frequency of unplanned breaks during the work process;
• number of customer complaints.

Psychological compatibility

Psychological compatibility of employees, which presupposes good communication between all workers in a given company (due to the same characters, motivations and behavioral types) and their ability to act together, is a component of the psychoclimate in the team in general.

It is much easier for people with similar personal qualities to “find a common language,” that is, to establish the interaction that is necessary for the successful completion of a particular project. At the same time, communication between people who experience negative emotions towards each other is not at all conducive to effective work.