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 […]
Read More… from Sleep Deprivation Hurts Performance As Much As Too Much to Drink
A wide variety of studies have shown that organizational efforts to help employees achieve a sustainable work-life balance increase employee satisfaction, productivity, and engagement, and their commitment to the organization. One study differentiated between supportive cultures, which value non-work aspects of people’s lives and try to accommodate the work-life balance issues, and hindrance cultures, which […]
Read More… from Companies Must Be Sincere About their Flexible Work Arrangements
Best-self activation is the deliberate effort to think the best of yourself. You can do this in one of two ways: 1) reflecting on situations in your history that show you at your best (e.g. highlighting your most impressive attributes), or 2) receiving stories and feedback from others that show you at your best. The […]
Read More… from How Best-Self Activation Launches Sustained Performance Improvement
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
Why don’t many employees say something when they see something wrong in the workplace, or when they are unfairly attacked by their boss? Why do they sit silent in meetings even though they may have a relevant suggestion or comment to add to the discussion? These are examples of defensive employee silence, when employees stay […]
Read More… from Overcoming Our Evolutionary Fears to Speak Up to Authority
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 […]
Abusive behaviour from bosses, what researchers call ‘downward hostility’, has a negative psychological effect on employees, undermining job satisfaction and the commitment to the employee. Such hostility also causes psychological distress, such as anxiety and depression. Persistent hostility leads employees to adopt a ‘victim identity’, the negative self-image that one is destined to be a […]
Read More… from Bullying Bosses: Don’t Just Take It, Fight Back
Why are some people more open to change and others instinctively resistant to anything that significantly alters the status quo? The key is often in an individual’s basic attitude toward change. Some people will default to an unfavourable, negative attitude toward change that leads to resistance, while others have within them a favourable positive attitude […]
Read More… from What is the Psychology Behind Resistance to Change?
Research in the past suggested that specifically working at happiness (what can I do today to be happier?) is counterproductive since it focuses the person on what is making him or her unhappy. New research, however, argues for an opposite effect: focusing on your happiness makes you happier. The researchers found that participants in three […]
Read More… from Happiness at Work: How Daily Reminders Improve Employee Morale
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 […]
Read More… from How to Ensure Knowledge Sharing under Pressure
