Idea posted: May 2016

Institutions: Ivey Business School at Western University   

Enthusiasm for your job is usually an asset. However, new research reveals that on Wall Street, such enthusiasm may backfire as the rush of winning triggers physiological changes that undermine…

Idea posted: May 2016

Institutions: University of Oxford    Cornell University   

Most people make moral judgements intuitively: we feel what is right or wrong. For example, imagine a dilemma in which a runaway trolley is racing toward five people, who will…

Idea posted: March 2014

Institutions: McKinsey United Kingdom    University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business    The University of Sydney Business School   

Companies that regularly evaluate the performance of business units, acquire and divest assets, and adjust resource allocations based on each division’s relative market opportunities have a significant edge over those…

Idea posted: December 2013

Institutions: IESE Business School    Université de Montréal   

January 2008 to April 2011 was a shocking time for France Telecom, when more than 60 employees committed suicide — a large number leaving behind notes blaming stress and misery…

Idea posted: December 2013

Institutions: University of Texas McCombs School of Business    Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management    Columbia Business School    New York University Stern School of Business    Stanford Graduate School of Business    University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business   

When it comes to setting and achieving goals, power makes a difference. Those with more power are quicker to establish goals, and to take action to achieve those goals, than…

Idea posted: October 2013

Institutions: INSEAD    The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania   

Sunk cost bias has been blamed for everything from disastrous military campaigns to over-budget public works and is widely acknowledged as a serious obstacle to effective decision-making. Defined as the…

Idea posted: June 2013

Institutions: Saïd Business School, University of Oxford   

Formal risk management systems now provide the dominant logic for governing an uncertain world and are prevalent in public services as well as private firms. What happens when these systems…

Idea posted: June 2013

Institutions: IESE Business School   

One way that organizations ensure that they accomplish certain objectives is through management control systems. These systems reward and promote employees according to certain criteria, in order to achieve goal…

Idea posted: June 2013

Institutions: Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School   

Rational and objective thinking is not the only influence on the decision-making process. Recognising this, the authors set out to research why good leaders often make flawed decisions, at times…