3590 Posts Found

In all great storylines, the author creates a problem, and then solves a problem.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Alan Parr, Karen Ansbaugh | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Communication, Storytelling

A Cornell psychologist explains why it’s almost impossible to judge your own competence — and how to overcome the blind spots.

Content: Article | Authors: David Dunning, Jennifer Robison | Source: Gallup Management Journal | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

Charles Handy’s revolutionary 1989 bestseller The Age of Unreason catapulted him into the ranks of the top management consultants. Now, in this new edition of his acclaimed study Understanding Organizations, he solidifies his reputation as a seminal business thinker, offering a brilliantly insightful, wide-ranging look at business organizations.

Long a bestseller in the United Kingdom, this classic text offers an illuminating discussion of key concepts of … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Charles Handy | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

It’s a scenario every top manager knows well: The organization needs to move quickly toward a new, mission-critical objective, and it’s up to him or her to draft and manage the right team of go-getters to lead the effort.

Yet many team leaders never hit their goals—not because they lack talent on their staffs, but because they’re naive to the complexities of team dynamics. Smart managers … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jeff Palfini | Source: BNET | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Change must be distinguished from “new learning” in that it implies some unlearning that is intrinsically difficult and often painful. Motivation to change does not arise until the change target feels secure enough to accept the disconfirming data. The change target feels “psychologically safe” if he or she can accept a new attitude or value without complete loss of self.

Once the individual feels safe, he … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Edgar H. Schein | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Change Management, Organizational Behavior

The degree to which individuals are subject to outside influences is a function of their freedom to move, which in the case of career influences, depends very much on the labor market. In the study of coercive persuasion I learned how powerful the group can be. But in an open society I learned that individuals are equally powerful, if they can choose their own settings. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Edgar H. Schein | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personality / Behavior

You do not really understand an organization until you try to change it.

Content: Quotation | Author: Kurt Lewin | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Change Management, Organizational Behavior

Understanding and assessing your organization’s culture can mean the difference between success and failure in today’s fast changing business environment. On the other hand, senior management, particularly the CEO, often has a view of the organization’s culture that is based more on hope than a view grounded in objective fact. This article will explore some of the problems associated with understanding the reality of an … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Julie Heifetz Ph.D., Richard Hagberg | Source: LeaderValues | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

On what basis can we say that bribery is “wrong” or “unethical”? The immorality can be seen in the manner in which it is conducted. First, bribery is done in secret, not because it involves a trade secret, but because it is recognized as violating the explicit and implicit terms of a transaction. As such, bribery is a form of deception used to gain unfair … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Michael Hoffman, Robert E McNulty | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Ethics

Profit is a legitimate goal; maximizing profit is not. If it does that, it simply ignores the legitimate claims of all those who do not possess the power to affect its profitability. This would be a breach of the moral principle.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Thorsten Busch, Ulrich Thielemann | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Ethics, Social Responsibility (ESG)

One of the pet phrases I have is “The road to self-insight runs through other people.” Other people can often give us invaluable feedback that can really correct an illusion that we’re suffering from.

One of my favorite, but most chilling, findings is from a study that surveyed surgical residents. They were asked about their surgical skills, and then they were given the standardized board exam. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: David Dunning | Source: Gallup Management Journal | Subjects: Judgement, Knowledge, Learning, Personality / Behavior

Giving feedback is a tricky business, and nearly 40% of feedback programs actually demotivate people. There is a skill to be learned here, and there are two things we can do to give feedback that’s motivating, accurate, and tactful. The first thing is to give feedback that is concrete, as opposed to feedback that’s about the person’s character. You want to talk at the behavioral … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: David Dunning | Source: Gallup Management Journal | Subjects: Communication, Human Resources, Management

One of the executives I interviewed said, “There’s no such thing as corporate culture.” His point was that the minute you start talking about corporate culture, it be comes somebody else’s problem–the leader’s problem. He said, “We don’t focus on corporate culture. We focus on character.” When you use the word character, that’s everyone’s responsibility. It’s about how we treat each other.

Content: Quotation | Author: Keith McFarland | Source: Chief Executive | Subjects: Character, Culture

Trust is the business word for love.

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael Price | Source: Feld Thoughts | Subject: Trust

Thou shalt not’ might reach the head, but it takes ‘Once upon a time’ to reach the heart.

Content: Quotation | Author: Philip Pullman | Source: The Atlantic Monthly | Subjects: Persuasion, Storytelling

According to Yale management psychologists David Caruso and Peter Salovey, we should discard antiquated notions such as that decisions should be made with pure logic and cold rationality. Instead, in The Emotionally Intelligent Manager: How to Develop And Use The Four Emotional Skills of Leadership, the authors argue that emotion and thinking are so intertwined that it is unproductive to consider them separately. This concept … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: David Caruso, Peter Salovey | Subjects: Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

Ambitious people don’t like failing or looking stupid. As the social scientist Chris Argyris (one of the fathers of organizational-learning theory) put it, smart people have trouble learning because it involves so much floundering and failure.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Clint Kilts, Roderick Gilkey | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Ambition, Learning, Personality / Behavior, Success / Failure

The most effective way people can change a story is to view it through any of three new lenses, which are all alternatives to seeing the world from the victim perspective. With the reverse lens, for example, people ask themselves, “What would the other person in this conflict say and in what ways might that be true?” With the long lens they ask, “How will … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Catherine McCarthy, Tony Schwartz | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Decision Making, Storytelling, Thought

“Groupthink” can result in spectacularly bad decisions, but the malady can be prevented.

Content: Article | Author: Alix Nyberg Stuart | Source: CFO Publishing | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Generations at Work is intended to help you bridge the gap or, more accurately, gaps between people of different ages who work at your company. What’s so vexing about the workplace is that four different groups are vying for roles and recognition. There are the veterans, boomers, Xers, and the nexters. The people in each cohort, the book argues, have more in common than just … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Bob Filipczak, Claire Raines, Ron Zemke | Subjects: Demographics, Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior