In the above diagram,x axis represents the ability of  an employee, while the y axis reperesents his willingness to work, or the attitude in short. The four quadrants represent the four type of workers found in various organisations.A manager's job is to find who lies where, and then take appropriate action.We start with quadrant 1(red colour) and then go clockwise from 2 to 4.

• People who are low on ability, and low on willingness to work are generally the result of faulty selection procedures. They should be shown the door at the earliest,as investing in them will lead to waste of organisational resources. They are also a big drag and demotivator for the star performers in the green quadrant.

• People who are high on  both the attributes are an organisation's star performers. These people are driven more by their personal self than by the organisation self.This only means that they work for professional pride.They have  a high degree of need for achievement, and are constantly looking for targets that are challenging.Not  acheiving the targets make them frustrated ,and therefore they try their guts out to get it right the very first time. It is difficult for these people to work in  a bureaucratic organisation, as they like independence and blossom the best in  such environs.The implications for the organisation are that the manager should provide them opportunities to acheive and secondly, value extraction from them should be shortened as they are not likely to stay in one place for long.

• People who are high on ability and low on willingness are the ones that are most difficult to handle. If a manager is able to engage them meaningfully ,by providing a direction and purpose , they can be then moved to the green quadrant.They are those people around you who are seen as the problem mongers.You need to be diplomatic with these guys.Be a coach and counsellor to these people and play the developmental role that the organisation demands of you.

• In our second quadrant are the people who are low on ability and high on willingnss.They are highly energetic and enthusiastic. Since it is relatively easy to teach a skill ,but difficult to change an attitude, it is quite easy to train them so that they move to the green quadrant.

So the bottom line  is to first identify the quadrant in which the employee belongs, and then take appropriate action. You will do a great service to your organisation, if you follow these guidelines.