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 A beautiful landscape outside the workshop window, a pleasant coloring of the walls, and a vase of flowers can have a psychological impact on a working person. But the “objective”, material environment is not everything. At work, people are somehow connected to each other. And the nature of these relations creates a certain atmosphere, affects the inner state of each individually and all together.
What currents and winds create the collective climate, what laws does it obey and, most importantly, how to influence it? Investigating this problem, scientists pay close attention to the relationship "horizontally", that is, between employees of the same level, for example, workers in a team, engineers in a design bureau, and "vertically" - between managers and subordinates.
There is another important aspect - the connection between formal and informal relationships. As for the official ones, they depend on service roles and production functions. The nature of these relationships is regulated by certain rules and instructions. So, the master gives orders to the worker, and not vice versa.
The relationship is informal, outside of work does not depend on the official chain of command. For example, somewhere on a fishing trip, the same worker who fulfills the orders of his foreman in the production can become a leader, and the foreman will with due diligence follow the instructions of the "ace" of fishing.
Informal relationships are governed by the norms of morality and ethics, based on personal qualities, feelings of sympathy and antipathy, on the similarities and differences in inclinations, habits, interests.
Just as in the official structure of the collective there is a distribution of production roles and statuses, so in unofficial relationships there is a kind of differentiation of roles. It has its own leaders and followers, its own authorities in various spheres, for example, a personality known for its principles and scrupulousness - the "conscience of the collective", an erudite in the field of literature and art, a trendsetter and so on. There are also general favorites and unremarkable "middle peasants", there are people who arouse sympathy in some, and antipathy in others.
One of the conditions for a favorable team climate is harmony between the official and unofficial structures of relationships, sufficient coincidence of the service roles of people with their unofficial assessment.
It is important that the manager also occupies a sufficiently high place on the non-official ladder. Of course, the foreman, the head of the shop, the head of the laboratory is not required at all to be the “soul of society” or a recognized encyclopedist to whom you can turn to with any question. He is assessed according to other criteria: not only knowledge of the matter is expected of him, but also the ability to objectively evaluate people, reckon with them, and be fair. Such personal qualities of a leader as sociability and poise are of great importance.
 However, one cannot but take into account that it is not easy for a manager to be always balanced - after all, as studies have shown, his work is associated with a significant neuro-emotional load, exceeding the average level. And here a double connection arises: the morale of the team members depends on the leader's work style, but he himself depends on the quality and style of their work, diligence, discipline, and demeanor.
It can be argued that each member is more or less responsible for the psychological climate of the team. In psychology, the phenomenon of the so-called syntony is known, when the mood of one person is transmitted to another.Imagine that someone who has a bad property of seeing everything in a dark light, pessimistic, distrustful, suspicious, constantly throws out his negative emotions on those who work with him. People who are suggested are especially easily susceptible to such a mood, and it has a negative effect on everyone. And now not one, but three or five people are tuned in minor; on them the chain may not
close - the bad mood is passed on. This is how the opinion sometimes develops that, for example, “our team will never go to the forefront”, “we are not like people,” “can we really do it, ..” etc.
Another example: one allowed himself to use foul language in his treatment of a work comrade, but the latter thought that he would humiliate himself if he did not answer him with harsh words; the one standing next to him, having listened, will join the conversation in the same tone - and now the style of communication in the whole team is under threat. Rudeness brings with it psychological discomfort. According to the researchers' calculations, for every minute of conflict due to rudeness, an average of 20 minutes of subsequent experiences occurs.
A skirmish in harsh colors, a quarrel, a conflict between two or more employees can turn into a kind of illness for the entire team. Gradually sympathizers from both sides accumulate, they are also agitated, irritated, their communication loses its businesslike and even more friendly character. But even those who remain neutral do not feel completely calm, they reflect the nervousness of the conflicting employees; moreover, they can accuse them of indifference, unwillingness to express their opinion, and conciliation.
Sometimes misunderstandings break out if, for example, people of opposite temperaments turn out to be at adjacent operations of the production conveyor. Even in the spatial arrangement of workers, an attentive manager takes into account their likes and dislikes! Very often, moving one person to another brigade, group, or simply to another room will eliminate a protracted conflict.
The psychological climate of the collective can be undermined, overshadowed by people who seem to be benevolent, open, from those of whom they say “shirt-guy”. But their increased sociability is of a special quality. They begin to replace business relations with familiarity, mutual guarantee, sometimes held together by joint libations.
According to the psychologist N.V. Grishina, people with selfish character traits often become the causative agents of conflicts, neglecting the interests of other members of the team and at the same time very actively striving to achieve personal goals - for example, getting a living space in the first place or the best time for vacation. They are characterized by so-called externally accusatory reactions, when a person blames only other people for all his difficulties and does not realize his own shortcomings and mistakes.
Public opinion, unanimous condemnation, a single line of behavior in the team in relation to him can neutralize such conflicts, and often teach such a person a lot, make him less egocentric. The same decisive position should be in relation to "drinking" associations.
Some people, especially young people, are hindered by increased shyness and isolation, caused, for example, by some kind of physical disability, to behave correctly in a team. If a kind of vacuum arises around such a person, a zone of exclusion, it means that the psychological climate is not up to par.
Here you need kindness, tact, a well-known pedagogical approach. We must try to identify the positive character traits, the ability of such a person and, based on this, involve him in the team
activity, reward even for small successes.
In general, the reward system is a delicate tool. One has only to make a slight mistake using it, and it can create a reason for a bad mood in the team. But if used correctly, this is an effective means of improving the psychological climate, increasing the general tone.
To have an idea of which forms of encouragement in each case will be more effective, you need to know at least in general terms the typological characteristics of people. This knowledge is necessary for both leaders and public - party, Komsomol, trade union - workers and each of us.
 Life values, aspirations, ideals are generally the same for most Soviet people, but each has its own differences, its own characteristics.
In one study, we asked a group of young women workers what they think is the most important thing in life. It turned out (in order of meaning for them): family happiness, good health, favorite job, clear conscience. For comparison, we add that according to the results of another study, the object of which was mainly men under 30, the scale of values looked different: favorite job, good health, material security, family happiness.
Such features must be taken into account when organizing incentives in a team. For men, it is most important to assess their professional qualities, to encourage initiative, creative elements in work; for women, along with all this, it is no less important to assess their human qualities, including as mothers, wives, housewives.
A woman will always answer with a lift
mood, good work to take care of her children, to strive to facilitate her domestic work, to help in solving everyday problems.
To improve the socio-psychological climate, it is very important that the team knows more positive things about each other: such and such is a wonderful photographer or wood carver, such and such is a wonderful mother or caring daughter, this is an honorable donor, that all his free time gives to sports activities with children from neighboring houses.
Joint tourist trips, hikes, evenings of relaxation - of course, not for show, but thoughtful ones - always unite the team. A favorable atmosphere is created by the skillful use of the local radio network for the promotion of advanced workers, large circulation, "lightning", stands, honoring production veterans, solemn "initiation into workers" of young people coming to the workshops.
Soviet psychologists have established a clear relationship between the performance of a team and its psychological climate. In this regard, the results of numerous studies are unambiguous; in teams where satisfaction with business and informal relationships prevails “vertically” (with managers) and “horizontally” (with comrades), both productivity and quality of work are higher. The employees have a more developed sense of respect for each other, mutual assistance and patronage over newcomers are better placed here. In such groups, people are less likely to get sick and less likely to get injured at work.
So, the psychological climate can be changed, improved, it must be controlled!
V. E. Semenov
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