Idea posted: November 2017

Institutions: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University    University College London   

Friendship in the workplace can be a positive factor as friendly colleagues collaborate harmoniously, share information easily and support each other’s work.  On the negative side, friendships can also lead…

Idea posted: January 2016

Institutions: Central Michigan University College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences   

Even the most well-intentioned people can be swayed by almost subconscious, automatic biases against certain categories of people — what scientists call “implicit out-group bias.” These biases emerge from engrained…

Idea posted: January 2016

Institutions: Kellogg School of Management   

There is much research and much human resources emphasis in recent years on finding, hiring and retaining star performers. New research involving nearly 60,000 workers in 11 firms reveals that…

Idea posted: September 2015

Institutions: INSEAD    Harvard Business School    Columbia Business School   

Is sarcasm in the workplace as destructive as usually assumed? While sarcasm — in which people express one thing by saying the exact opposite — is rampant in organizations, most…

Idea posted: September 2015

Institutions: China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)    University of Illinois College of Business    Jinju National University    Seowon University   

The core self-evaluation (CSE) assessment is an attempt to reconcile the variety of personality types assessments (e.g. Myers-Briggs) available. The CSE looks at four personality traits: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus…

Idea posted: July 2015

Institutions: SDA Bocconi School of Management    University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management   

Organizational design theory studies the formal structures of an organization; network research focuses on informal structures — the informal interactions and relationships ‘behind the chart’. Giuseppe Soda of Bocconi University…

Idea posted: May 2015

Institutions: Bocconi University Department of Management & Technology    Singapore Management University    London Business School    SDA Bocconi School of Management   

Every organization has finite resources, starting with compensation, budgets and expense accounts, as well as high quality assignments, accounts or customers and even office space. The people who control the…

Idea posted: April 2015

Institutions: Cornell University    University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business    Washington University Olin Business School    Vanderbilt University   

Conventional wisdom has it that diversity helps creativity, in that people in homogenous groups are similar to one another with similar ideas and therefore less divergent thinking occurs. Also most…

Idea posted: September 2014

Institutions: University of Michigan Ross School of Business   

In a world of business in which cooperation is often the key to success, many companies overlook the damage that infighting, extreme competition or knowledge hoarding by employees can cause…