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 […]
Read More… from How Reflection Aids Performance: The Thinker as Learner
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 […]
Read More… from How a Culture of Integrity Boosts the Bottom Line
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 […]
Read More… from Do Ivy League or Elite Educated CEOs Outperform Others?
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 […]
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 […]
Read More… from How Seeing Things Employees-Way Builds Performance
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 […]
Read More… from How Conducting Appraisals Well Builds Ethical Behaviour
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 […]
Read More… from Cyberloafing: Lost Sleep and Lower Productivity
The speed at which strategic decision-making takes place in an organization has been identified by many researchers as a critical factor for performance. Competitive business environments, shortened life cycles and increasingly global markets have only enhanced the importance of decision-speed. In many organizations, however, decision-making at lower levels, such as in strategic business units (SBUs), […]
Read More… from HQ Controls and the Speed of Strategic Decision-Making
Social category diversity — diversity of race, gender or political leanings, for example — has been shown to enhance creative thinking in groups, and leads to more effective decision-making that takes into account a wider range of perspectives. The downside, according to previous research, is that the relationships among members of diverse groups are not […]
Read More… from Diversity in Teams: Tasks, Not Relationships Drive Performance
The question of whether positive or negative incentives work better has long been a matter of debate in society. From biblical times to the very recent past, children were thought to be better motivated through negative incentives — known in the bible as the “rod” and two generations ago as “a good spanking” — than […]
