The decisions of C-suites and boards are influenced by the previous experiences of their members. In uncertain situations, organizations gain legitimacy — and reduce the costs of experimentation — by copying others. These common-sense principles are borne out in a large body of research that points to the importance of ‘interlocks’ — i.e. previous or current ties to […]
Subject: Psychology
Can Employees Be Motivated by More than Money and Benefits?
Motivation can be divided into two dimensions: outcome-focused and process-focused. With outcome-focused motivation, people are driven by the desire of an achievement. They want to finish the task so that the task is done. They want a finished report in hand and ready to be submitted; they want the presentation to be written and delivered. […]
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How Reference Points Motivate Us
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) […]
How Sleep Deprivation Can Cause Unethical Behaviour
Recent years have seen a surge in ‘unethical’ behaviours in the workplace, whether in the form of corporate scandals, fraud, or just disrespecting company values. As management research has focused on the drivers of such behaviours, increasingly sleep deprivation has come up; recent studies have found that sleep deprivation can deplete self-regulatory resources, which can […]
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Understanding Dreams: A New Tool for the Executive Coach?
Everybody dreams. Phantasmagoric ‘night journeys’ are part of life. It’s estimated that by the age of 60 most of us will have dreamed 197,100 dreams over 87,000 hours. The reasons why we dream, however, remain unclear. Oneirology, the study of dreams, has failed to produce a consensus. Some people argue that dreams are random firings […]
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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 […]
Six Steps to Using Executive Power Wisely
There are countless reasons why CEO and senior executive turnover takes place; external factors such as economic volatility, disruptive technology, and industry shakeups can all play a part. But according to an article published in IESE Insight, a senior leader’s own perceptions are a crucial factor in their fall from grace. Sebastien Brion describes a […]
Multicultural Experience: Better Performance, Better Job Prospects
The next head of General Electric will be somebody who spent time in Bombay, in Hong Kong, in Buenos Aires. We have to send our best and brightest overseas and make sure they have the training that will allow them to be the global leaders who will make GE flourish in the future Jack Welch, […]
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How Travelling Abroad Builds Trust and Tolerance
Spending time overseas has long been associated with the development of a more open and optimistic view of humanity and the world. In his 1869 autobiographical work Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain described travel as “fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness”, arguing that “broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating […]
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Optimal Marketing Claims: The Power of Three
What makes a message persuasive? Marketing departments everywhere are constantly looking for the answer to this question and much research has been conducted on this subject; previous research has shown that messages that have content that is easier to process can be more persuasive. Similarly, message framing and sequencing can also influence how persuasive a […]
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