Relationship Dynamics - part one

Doing some homework a few weeks ago for one of my marketing classes, I started reading about B2B relationships and how those relationships evolve.  I ‘discovered’ something interesting – the same concepts can be applied to the relationship between employer and employee.

The Model of Relationship Development has for phases:

1.     Awareness

2.     Exploration

3.     Expansion

4.     Commitment

 

1.     During the Awareness phase, employer and possible employee independently consider the other as an exchange partner.  “Do I really want to work for this company?”  “Is this the right person to hire for the job?”  These are just a few of the questions that each side asks during this phase. 

 

2.     The employer makes an offer, the employee accepts offer and the relationship moves into the Exploration phase.  During this phase, both parties begin to probe and test each other.  The employer is looking to see what type of payoff they’ll be getting for their investment of a salary, while the employee is looking to find out if the benefits are worthwhile, what type of advancement opportunities are there, and even if they like the people they now are working with. 

 

During this phase there is attraction which is the degree to which the interaction between the employer and employee yields them net payoffs in excess of some minimum level.  So as an employee I’m asking, “what am I getting out of this job?”  The payoff can be both tangible – I’m getting a salary, and if I’m lucky I might even get a bonus; and intangible – I have developed some good friends at work.  The employer will be looking for quality work, insightful input into the company that will help generate new business, and a trustworthy employee.

 

Communication and bargaining also begins during this phase.  The employer says that now everyone has to work an extra hour per day without pay, the employee says – what do I get out of it?   In order for the bargaining to be successful, each party must view the other as a valuable resource and be able to generate some type of meaningful gain out of the deal.  Without that the employer tells the employee that they get to keep their job and the employee tells the employer to find some other schmuk to work for them.

 

Unfortunately many employers take more time building dynamic relationships with their vendors than they do with their employees.  In today’s society employers feel that there is always someone else out there who can do the job – thus they don’t have to partake of the bargaining phase of the relationship.  What employers forget is that much of the value the employer has in the employee is intangible – they work well within the company, a good team player, able to take on additional projects and complete them, helping the company to generate new revenue making ideas.  There is no guarantee that the next person they hire will be able to fit this bill, plus they have the added expense of finding, hiring, and training the new person.

 

Many such employers believe that they hold the power in the relationship.  Power is the ability of one party to make the other party do what party two would not otherwise do.  When power is out of balance, there is no justice – the rendering of what is merited or due.  When power is out of balance there is no healthy, living, growing relationship.  What is forgotten is that without the employee there is no business.  How can a business be run without employees?  Employers and employees both need to get back to the basics of relationship building.  Become aware of each other as potential partners and explore the unique characteristics and the potential of a mutually beneficial relationship.  

Tonia

For those interested, I have been reading from the following book:

Dwyer, F. R., & Tanner, J. F. (2006). Business Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.