People treat each other differently at work than in non-work settings, and with good reason: they are work colleagues brought together solely to accomplish the work necessary for their jobs. They are not loved ones, family, or even close friends who come together for personal reasons. Work relationships, however, can veer too far from the […]
Read More… from Why Objectification of People Is Rampant at Work
A manager overreacts to an employee’s minor mistake and yells at the employee in front of his peers. Afterwards, the manager feels some guilt about the outburst for several reasons: she generally strives to be supportive of her employees, the employee is usually very trustworthy, and the mistake was easily repaired. The manager apologizes to […]
Read More… from How Mindfulness Reduces Guilt… But Also Apologies
What is charisma? Much of past research focuses on the outcomes of charisma and often within the context of leaders in an organizational setting—e.g., charismatic leaders generate emotions that inspire others to follow them. However, leaders are not the only people in our lives who exhibit charisma, argues a team of researchers from the University […]
Read More… from Charisma beyond Leadership: Influence + Affability
How do you respond to stress? The common wisdom is that stress is debilitating — that is, if you are stressed, you are less effective and productive. However, a series of three studies conducted by a team of researchers led by Yale Ph.D. candidate Alia Crum (now a professor at Stanford) and including current Yale […]
Read More… from How The Right Mindset Turns Stress Into a Positive Force
The gig economy (‘gigs’: think musicians and bands) — an economy built more than ever before on contract workers and part-timers — is dramatically changing the relationships between employers and the people they employ. One side effect of the gig economy, according to a recent study, is that short-term workers on their way out are […]
Read More… from Last Chance Cheating: A Gig Economy Challenge
Through a series of experiments, two researchers from the University of Chicago (PhD candidate Yanping Tu, now at the University of Florida, and professor Ayelet Fishbach) revealed that the old saying of “actions speaking louder than words” might not always hold true. The experiments had participants receiving information on whether others preferred a product or had consumed […]
Read More… from What Influences Our Choices? What Others Prefer or What They Actually Consume
In most hierarchies, power is malleable, which means that it can change. A leader at the top can lose his or her power, and be replaced by subordinates who have, usually through their superior skills and accomplishments, managed to rise through the hierarchy. One of the characteristics of highly skilled subordinates is their ability to […]
Hierarchies have been taking a bad rap. The mantra for a number of years has been to ‘flatten’ the organizations. Hierarchies were not only seen as inefficient, but worse: as a mechanism for the out-dated belief that leaders must ‘control from the top down’. In place of hierarchies, flat organization advocates argued for a more […]
Read More… from Hierarchical or Egalitarian Organizations? The Advantages of Hierarchy
The desire for high status is widely considered a universal human motive. Those with higher status tend to be listened to more, and are often perceived as having more power. It has even been argued that this desire is an evolved adaptation, important for ascending hierarchies as a means to secure resources. In recent years, […]
Read More… from Deferring to Others: When Able People Prefer Lower Status
In the past research has consistently demonstrated the importance of ‘dominance’ as a personality trait in influential leaders. Understanding this, the authors through their new research found that dominant individuals achieve influence because they tend to appear competent to others, even when they actually lack competence. Furthermore, dominant individuals behave in ways that make them […]
Read More… from How Dominant Personality Trumps Competence in Teams
