Even the most well-intentioned people can be swayed by almost subconscious, automatic biases against certain categories of people — what scientists call “implicit out-group bias.” These biases emerge from engrained negative and positive associations that lurk in our minds. A team of researchers from Central Michigan University explored whether mindfulness meditation could help reduce our […]
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There is much research and much human resources emphasis in recent years on finding, hiring and retaining star performers. New research involving nearly 60,000 workers in 11 firms reveals that a company will save twice as much money by exchanging a toxic worker for an average performer, than changing an average performer for a superstar. […]
Read More… from Expel Expensive Toxic Workers Before Hiring Superstars
Is sarcasm in the workplace as destructive as usually assumed? While sarcasm — in which people express one thing by saying the exact opposite — is rampant in organizations, most leadership and communication books urge people to avoid sarcastic remarks, which are considered a negative form of communication. However, a team of researchers argue that […]
The core self-evaluation (CSE) assessment is an attempt to reconcile the variety of personality types assessments (e.g. Myers-Briggs) available. The CSE looks at four personality traits: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control (how much one feels in control of one’s life), and neuroticism (anxiety). People with high CSE see themselves as self-worthy, self-potent, in control […]
Read More… from Transformational Leadership Extra Effective When Employees Have High Self-Esteem
Organizational design theory studies the formal structures of an organization; network research focuses on informal structures — the informal interactions and relationships ‘behind the chart’. Giuseppe Soda of Bocconi University in Milan and Akbar Zaheer of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management argue, however, that to evaluate individual performance in an organization — […]
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Every organization has finite resources, starting with compensation, budgets and expense accounts, as well as high quality assignments, accounts or customers and even office space. The people who control the allocation of these resources have a great deal of power — and research shows that they use this power to make decisions that are in […]
Read More… from Candid Feedback Keeps Power-holders Accountable
Conventional wisdom has it that diversity helps creativity, in that people in homogenous groups are similar to one another with similar ideas and therefore less divergent thinking occurs. Also most research into group creativity assumes that creativity is unleashed by removing conventional constraints. This research, from Professor Jennifer Chatman of the UC Berkeley Haas School […]
Read More… from How Political Correctness Increases Creativity in Mixed-Sex Teams
In a world of business in which cooperation is often the key to success, many companies overlook the damage that infighting, extreme competition or knowledge hoarding by employees can cause to sales, profits and effectiveness. At the opposite end of the scale are the organizations that encourage and facilitate employee cooperation and generosity. Employees look […]
Read More… from Ways to Encourage Employees to Help Each Other
The factors that bring people together into a collaborative venture are varied. One is proximity and shared goals: people within a department, for example, have more opportunities to work together than people across different departments. Another factor is similarity: people who are similar to each other, either because they have the same or similar age, […]
It is well established, in research, that employees who are allowed to voice their opinions perceive decision-making procedures as more fair and are more likely to display pro-social behaviours and work in the collective interest. Relatively little, however, is known about what influences leaders’ decisions to grant ‘voice’ and act fairly. The results of the […]
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