3605 Posts Found

I think practicing managers are sometimes less reflective than they might be. The rhetoric of management requires managers to pretend that things are clear, that everything is straightforward. Often they know that managerial life is more ambiguous and contradictory than that, but they can’t say it. They see their role as relieving people of ambiguities and uncertainties. They need some way of speaking the rhetoric … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

Leaders have far less control over organizations than people believe, but they can be more effective if they understand leadership myths and use them to their institutions’ advantage.

Content: Article | Authors: Jeffrey Pfeffer, Robert I. Sutton | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Leadership, Organizational Behavior

That organizational charts rarely describe functional hierarchy is obvious to any employee who’s ever tried to adhere to one. Instead, survival often depends on incorporating oneself into unofficial social networks that allow one to gain access to necessary information and to collaborate with the colleagues who can actually get things done. In this dense but useful volume, Cross and Parker-both consultants with IBM’s Knowledge and … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Andrew Parker, Robert L. Cross | Subject: Organizational Behavior

One of the biggest challenges for A players is their inability to set boundaries for themselves. Ordinary people usually know how to step back from situations where vague requests make them uncomfortable; but insecure overachievers typically exceed expectations because they are prepared to operate outside their comfort zones in their efforts to win recognition.

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

People raised in an environment where praise was carefully meted out typically do not try to challenge the rules; they follow them. When presented with a request that he thinks is unreasonable or unclear, the A player is most likely just to back down and try to comply rather than to question authority. That makes your superstar particularly dependent on powerful figures in situations that … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Ethics, Organizational Behavior

When we have an intention to learn, we step out of the need to be right. A learning orientation motivates us to seek to understand – rather than to judge – the other person.

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Learning, Personality / Behavior

Why do so many communications take place “off the charts”? Karen Stephenson argues that in modern organizations, the “real” work often takes place through informal personal connections. Many people pretend that maintaining these connections is part of their “official” job description, even when it is not. Executives try to “fix” their organization’s culture, or at least unravel its mysteries, by tweaking the flow of decision … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Karen Stephenson | Subject: Organizational Behavior

This paper overviews the purpose of organizational architecture. Particular emphasis is given to a step-by-step approach an organization can take to discover or create its own organizational architecture. While the discussion if focused on a total quality management (TQM) perspective, the approach laid out is generally applicable.

Content: Article | Author: Lori L. Silverman | Source: Partners for Progress | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

Let’s face it: The world is a hierarchical place. Some people have more power than others, and they don’t want their judgments questioned by lower-level individuals who happen to own a keyboard. Some people know more than others. Some people are better writers than others. Even when we allow people to freely express their online opinions, some opinions end up being more important than others. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Optimize Magazine | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personality / Behavior

The premise of this facile piece of pop sociology has built-in appeal: little changes can have big effects; when small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or “tipping point” is reached, changing the world. Gladwell’s thesis that ideas, products, messages and behaviors “spread just like viruses do” remains a metaphor as he follows the growth of … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Malcolm Gladwell | Subject: Organizational Behavior

The state of ethics in America today is of grave concern to many people. Several members of the Graziadio faculty recently engaged in a hearty dialogue on ethics in America and about teaching ethics to students. Here is a compilation of some of their thoughts.

Content: Article | Source: Graziadio Business Report | Subject: Ethics

People who are used to being paid by the hour start thinking of time as a commodity almost equal to cash. They can tell you how much it will “cost” them to wash the car or go to a movie. And given the choice, they’re nearly always willing to put in more hours to get more pay say researchers Jeffrey Pfeffer and Sanford E. DeVoe. … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: Stanford University | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Drawing on a wealth of stable values, strategic history and shared mindsets, the company’s leaders have created a strong but flexible performance anatomy that allows the organization to build on past successes and adapt to future challenges.

Content: Case Study | Authors: Ana Dutra, Jane C. Linder, Robert J. Thomas | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior | Industry: Transportation | Company: UPS

When the business plan, the operating plan, and the budget come together, you know precisely what you want to accomplish, how you’re going to do it, who is responsibile, what it’s going to cost, and how you’re going to meet your financial and operating objectives. When combined with an effective measurement and reward system, this becomes the most powerful way to establish accountability across your … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Kiss Theory Good Bye | Subjects: Accountability, Management

When you make a request of someone, take a little extra time to explain why you are making it. Put it in context and explain why it’s important to the goals of the business. Then the person can provide a more robust solution because she understands the purpose of the task and how the information will be used. Ask what the person needs to complete … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Kiss Theory Good Bye | Subjects: Communication, Delegation

A world with outsiders and insiders implies some kind of test for distinguishing between them. And the trouble with most tests for selecting elites is that there are two ways to pass them: to be good at what they try to measure, and to be good at hacking the test itself.

So the first question to ask about a field is how honest its tests are, … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Miscellaneous, Organizational Behavior

The eminent feel like everyone wants to take a bite out of them. The problem is so widespread that people pretending to be eminent do it by pretending to be overstretched. The lives of the eminent become scheduled, and that’s not good for thinking. One of the great advantages of being an outsider is long, uninterrupted blocks of time.

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Success / Failure

Lord Acton said we should judge talent at its best and character at its worst. For example, if you write one great book and ten bad ones, you still count as a great writer, or at least, a better writer than someone who wrote eleven that were merely good. Whereas if you’re a quiet, law-abiding citizen most of the time but occasionally cut someone up … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Human Resources, Personality / Behavior

According to Henry Mintzberg, an organization’s structure is largely determined by the variety one finds in its environment. For Mintzberg, environmental variety is determined by both environmental complexity and the pace of change. He identifies four types of organizational form, which are associated with four combinations of complexity and change.

Content: Article | Author: Fred Beshears | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Strategy

It is a truism that firms can increase their profitability by motivating managers. However, research surprisingly reveals that increased pay and lower risk aversion are not necessarily motivating factors. So what are the major motivational drivers within organisations, and how can Human Resources identify and use them? In their working paper, “Managerial Motivation Dynamics and Incentives,” Ayse Kocabiyikoglu and Ioana Popescu investigate the drivers of … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Ayse Kocabiyikoglu, Ioana Popescu | Source: INSEAD Knowledge | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior