Skills of Interacting With Others and the Ability to Adapt at Work

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This edition is used as working material in the personal development training of employees in the public and private sector entitled “Skills of Interacting With Others and the Ability to Adapt at Work – A Skill Development Guide With Practical Exercises”, authored and realized by Dragana Malešević, PhD, and organized by the Association for the Development of Professional Skills PROVENS.

Our life path is a series of decisions. In business, we make a multitude of business decisions every day. Sometimes our decisions are an integral part of the business routine and we make them easily, and sometimes they represent a problem for us and put us in conflict situations.

This book is a guide for the development of skills of interacting with others and adapting to work conditions.
First, we will familiarize ourselves with the concept of socialization and the concept of social community. We will see that all communities, including the business community, carry within themselves a system of values, norms (rules of conduct), and measures (rewards or punishments) – on which the relationships of the community members are built.
In order for an individual to be accepted by the community, they must go through the process of socialization (social learning of the system of values of the community, norms and measures) and the process of adaptation (adjustment) to the community. In doing so, they implement their social intelligence (SQ) and adaptive intelligence (AQ). We will see how these processes are used throughout our lives; in all business communities we wish to become members of.
We will observe employee relations from a vantage point of social distance. We will analyse these relations with the aim of self-assessment. Social distance is particularly influenced by prejudices and stereotypes. We will consider what their influence is and how they, in their constant expression of hostile actions and statements, turn into discrimination.