Psychology of management

The law of self-preservation
consists in that one of the leading motives defining 
humans’ behavior is the desire to preserve their personal status, competency, dignity. Direct or 
indirect hurting dignity causes negative reaction. For instance, at an operational meeting the 
executive offers that the present express their opinion on some question. One of the staff reacted 
immediately, but (s)he said something not to the point. “You always start with nonsense,” the 
executive answered. In such a situation the consciousness of all the present switches from the 
discussion to the defense of their dignity. It means that a person starts thinking of not getting into 
the first speaker’s shoes. People stop working on the set problem, and try to guess the 
executive’s position. And this decreases the creative potential of the meeting participants who 
solve a problem collectively. 
The law of compensation
generally means that a person having some shortcomings, 
complications, or problems in one sphere of life tries consciously or unconsciously to 
compensate them by intensified work in another sphere. As to psychology of management it 
means that at high levels of stimulation for a certain work or high demands to a person, the lack 
in some abilities to this kind of activity is compensated by other skills or competency and 
abilities to work. If this happens unconsciously, the necessary experience is gained by trial-and-
error method. But if compensation takes place consciously, its effect may be amplified. For 
example, weak memory can be compensated by skilfully organized labor and using a system of 
information fixation: notebooks, dictating machines, organizers, etc. 
Thus, the result of an executive’s activity is basically influences by his/her capability of 
building the managerial process taking into consideration the laws and regularities of a 
collective’s psychic and social development, individual approach to people that is based on the 
achievements of modern psychology of management.