The use of reference points — for example, a monthly sales quota of 20 sales — is at the heart of reference-dependent behavioural economic theories, the most influential being “prospect theory.” According to prospect theory, an outcome is evaluated based on a reference point. Failure to achieve the reference point (19 sales instead of 20) […]
Subject: Performance Management
Back to Leadership Basics: Make Time for Your Team
It sounds so obvious. It is obvious. But far too few managers actually do it. We are talking about the most basic of leadership tasks – spending as much time as possible working closely with their direct reports and other employees for whom they are responsible. By so doing, they will have a far greater […]
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How to Ensure Knowledge Sharing under Pressure
In today’s information age, a key source of effectiveness in organizations is knowledge management, and more specifically knowledge sharing among employees. At the same time, one of the growing challenges faced by today’s employees is the time pressure caused by factors such as widespread corporate staff reductions and increase in job insecurity; struggling to do […]
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How Reflection Aids Performance: The Thinker as Learner
The concept of learning has captured the attention of management researchers around the world, particularly as it has become well-recognized that knowledge plays an important role in the productivity and prosperity of organizations. Most literature, however, tends to focus on the actual learning (i.e. the ‘doing’ part), whereas the effect that thinking about what has […]
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How a Culture of Integrity Boosts the Bottom Line
The true measure of integrity in a firm is not comforting slogans on the home page of the company website, but how employees feel about whether top management, through its actions and behaviours, is living up to the promise. A culture of integrity exists when employees perceive top managers as trustworthy and ethical. "The higher […]
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Do Ivy League or Elite Educated CEOs Outperform Others?
The term ‘human capital’ encompasses the knowledge, skills and talents inherent in individuals. These skills represent an important source of productivity in an organization, and can be enhanced through training and education. But could an individual’s selection from a top educational institution constitute or signal that they will amount to a ‘better’ human capital resource […]
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Mortality: The Ultimate Motivator
Fear of death is a core part of the human condition. It’s been associated with everything from the enduring appeal of religion and spiritual beliefs to the desire to reproduce and raise children. It remains, however, largely ignored in management literature and mainstream motivational theories. Death is a powerful ‘stealth motivator’ that leads to defensive […]
How Seeing Things Employees-Way Builds Performance
If you could eavesdrop on your employees’ conversations, what do you think they would be saying about you? Or if you look back over your own career, considering the good and the bad bosses, how would you describe them? ‘Inspirational’, ‘empathic’, ‘open to new ideas’, or ‘controlling’, ‘autocratic’, and ‘micromanaging’? Whatever the answers, there is […]
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How Conducting Appraisals Well Builds Ethical Behaviour
Treat people with respect and you encourage the kinds of behaviours that create value for shareholders and stakeholders. The high-profile scandals that have engulfed both the private and public sectors in recent years have focused attention on unethical behaviour — and ways to prevent it. It’s been acknowledged that organizations have to do more than […]
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Cyberloafing: Lost Sleep and Lower Productivity
Cyberloafing is a term used to describe behaviour in which employees spend work hours and company internet access to check personal e-mails or visit websites not related to their work. In the past, loafing was identified as taking long lunches, making personal phone calls, etc., and was more easily identifiable than cyberloafing — the latter […]
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