How can companies that sell experiential products and services design an experience that leaves customers with highly satisfactory memories — and the desire to return? A team of researchers from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management developed a mathematical model for optimal customer experiences based on two variables: sequence and duration. In manipulating the sequence and duration […]
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Workplace anxiety and stress causes work performance to suffer. Previous research shows that performance suffers because of what academics call ‘cognitive interference’: when employees are stressed, they cannot focus on their tasks and think as clearly as they need to. In this previous research, cognitive interference focuses on tasks that require a high-intensity effort over […]
Read More… from How Supervisors and Co-Workers Stop Anxiety from Hurting Performance
When people do good things, they reward themselves. This is the conclusion of a number of previous studies into the psychology of doing good deeds. Two researchers from Harvard Business School and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business explored through their own series of studies the business implications of this previous psychological research. The researchers […]
Read More… from Reusable Grocery Bags: How Green Customers Help the Environment-and Your Business
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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The AIDA model of advertising identifies Attention, Interest, Desire and Action as key to the effectiveness of an advert. In order to measure the physiology behind advertising effectiveness, a research team used experiments involving public service announcements (PSAs) and focused specifically on the attention and action components of the model. PSAs are good foundations for […]
Read More… from Neurobiological Clues to Advertising Effectiveness
While large corporations may have the bandwidth to organize mandatory, sustained in-house training programs, smaller companies must depend on outside organizations and the government to provide training. The challenge with such programs is that employees will only actively participate if they are self-motivated to do so. How can companies create or enable such self-motivation? According […]
Read More… from Psychology-based Training Incentives Motivates Workers
An investigation into the problems of the 1973 Ford Pinto, a car susceptible to catastrophic explosions when rear-ended, revealed that Ford’s engineers had calculated that the company could save $11 per car at a cost of 180 burn deaths. While perhaps an exaggerated case of numbers pushing aside moral and ethical considerations, there is a […]
Read More… from How a Numbers-Crunching Culture Can Increase Unethical Behaviour
Most leaders possess typical leadership qualities such as the ability to inspire and persuade, a grand vision, and a controlled fearlessness when taking risks. There is, however, a darker side to many leaders, manifested in character traits such as extreme pride and overconfidence, coupled with a complete contempt for others. These character traits, which can […]
Read More… from Beware of Hubris Syndrome! A Leadership Personality Disorder
An employee’s work usually consists of two types of tasks or behaviours: in-role tasks, which are the tasks required by the job or position; and discretionary behaviours, which are undertaken by the employee in order to help others or the organization but that are not required tasks or responsibilities. Of course, employees are not always […]
A number of academic studies have shown that because many of us form impressions about potential leaders from their facial characteristics, certain facial characteristics (for example, a ‘competent’ look) can help people achieve leadership positions. At least six different studies show that CEOs who share certain facial characteristics command higher salaries or are hired by […]
Read More… from Facial Cues: Can We Judge Who Looks Like a Leader?
