Transforming academic research from pure knowledge into real-world business or organizational practices is challenging for a wide variety of reasons. Time is an issue. Business unit or organizational leaders have little time to leaf through academic journals or article databases looking for research they can apply to their companies. Even if they did, the parameters […]
Subject: Organizational Effectiveness
Expel Expensive Toxic Workers Before Hiring Superstars
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. […]
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How Creativity Starts With Respectful Engagement
Intuitively, respectful relationships and creativity are assets of a successful company. Respectful relationships lead to more effective collaboration, while creativity leads to new, competitive ideas. Business leaders might not realize, however, the link between these two attributes. Researchers from Tel Aviv University and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business have shown, through a […]
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Sleep Deprivation Hurts Performance As Much As Too Much to Drink
Intuitively, it’s well known that sleep deprivation will impact your ability to react and think clearly. However, the true impact of sleep deprivation on the ability of employees to function can be difficult to measure. A breakthrough sleep deprivation test conducted by two researchers used alcohol consumption as a benchmark to measure the impact of […]
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When Non-Average Performers Are Targeted by Bullies
Employee victimization continues to be a problem in the workplace. New research reveals how through their job performance victims themselves may be unwittingly motivating their tormentors. In any group, there will be different levels of performance: some employees will perform at a high level, some at a low level, and some at an average level. […]
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Transformational Leadership Extra Effective When Employees Have High Self-Esteem
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 […]
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Does Character Add to the Success of Transformational Leadership?
Research has shown the positive impact on transformational leadership on organizational outcomes. Other research has focused on character traits of effective and/or ethical leaders. A new study from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and Clemson University explores the combination of both character and transformational leadership on organizational outcomes. The research centred on two issues. […]
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How Informal and Formal Networks Hurt and Help Performance
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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How to Use Compensation and Team Composition to Manage Procrastination
Many project managers are now working with contract or distant employees who have some autonomy in how they plan out the assignment. These projects required highly skilled workers but often are not exciting enough to be intrinsically motivating. Examples include information technology or business process outsourcing projects. New research explores the implications of this type […]
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A Symphony of Agency and Stewardship Values Ensures Family Business Success
Both agency theory and stewardship theory help explain organizational dynamics, although starting from very different assumptions. Agency theory describes the relationship between the shareholders (called ‘principals’) and the company’s managers and executives (called ‘agents’) as a collaboration between parties with different interests: principals are focused on the success of the company while agents are focused […]
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