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Individuals become members of the executive team through a multiyear process of selection. While it is dangerous to generalize, those selected for executive teams in the companies we have observed tend to be high achievers and aggressive seekers of power. They also have histories of distinguishing themselves through individual achievement, rather than for their work with or through teams. Thus, in many United States-based companies, … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Teamwork

Unethical practices such as bribery and kickbacks are business as usual in some countries, and U.S. companies are sometimes tempted to adopt a “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” mind-set. That attitude is dangerous in light of tightening laws against corruption at home and abroad. Finance executives should review their exposure and take steps to protect their company.

Content: Article | Author: Fay Hansen | Source: Business Finance Magazine | Subjects: Ethics, Legal

This exercise presents you with 15 situations that you might well experience (depending upon the nature and level of your job) in everyday working life. Management students of Professor Burke Pease at California State University, Monterey Bay have kindly helped with the 15 situations and alternative answers. All created on the basis of real life.

The objective of the exercise is to enable you to think … [ Read more ]

Content: Online Resource | Author: Burke Pease | Source: TheWorkingManager.com | Subject: Ethics

Jensen’s 1986 Free Cash flow paper showed that too much cash is bad. Now he shows that a stock price can be too high. Why? “A stock price that is overvalued is caused when investors have overly optimistic expectations. Thus, if the investors were to learn the truth, the stock price would fall. This creates an incentive to hide information from investors. … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Michael C. Jensen | Source: Social Science Research Network (SSRN) | Subjects: Ethics, Finance

To avoid long-term failure while focusing on short-term success, business professors Tushman and O’Reilly present their views on the “ambidextrous organization.” This is defined as having internally consistent structures and an internal operating culture that provides for excelling today while also planning for the future. This paradoxical state of dealing with incremental changes in the here and now while at the same time emphasizing the … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Charles O’Reilly, Michael Tushman | Subjects: Innovation, Organizational Behavior

A venture capitalist is happy if two out of every 10 tries work. Everyone gets rewarded-even those who made the eight investments that failed. But big companies are unhappy if two of 10 tries fail. Those involved in the failures are demoted or sidelined when it comes to promotions. That means big companies focus on small, low-risk, incremental improvements and miss the big, but risky, … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Optimize Magazine | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Risk Management

For as long as there have been large companies there have been smaller ones that have succeeded in knocking off their larger foes using innovative ideas. Can large companies create a systematic and sustainable approach to innovation? After studying companies like GE, Texas Instrument and IBM, Dean Mark Rice answers: “Yes, through commitment, clarity of focus, a dedicated organizational structure, portfolio management methods, and building … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Mark P. Rice | Source: Babson Insight | Subjects: Innovation, Organizational Behavior

Processes don’t do work, people do. Look closely at the inner workings of any company and you’ll discover gaps between official work processes — the “ideal” flows of tasks and procedures – and the real-world practices behind how things actually get done. These gaps are not problems that need fixing; they’re opportunities that deserve leveraging…We’re not arguing against business processes per se. The challenge is … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: TheWorkingManager.com | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Process

“Say you’ve just been appointed the CKO – Chief Knowledge Officer – of your organization. You are responsible for managing the company’s knowledge capital, including how it is created, maintained, and used. You understand the principles of learning organizations and believe that effective learning is the pathway to accelerated performance improvement. Now you need to know what the pathway looks like and how you can … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Nils H. Bohlin, Paul Brenner | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Knowledge Management, Organizational Behavior

The Harvard University Library Open Collections Program mines Harvard’s large number of libraries to create digital collections of primary historical materials for use by teachers, students, and researchers. Women Working is OCP’s first project, a searchable archive of materials to be drawn ultimately from 2,200 books, 1,000 photographs, and 10,000 pages of manuscript collections. The site can be searched by keyword or browsed by topic. … [ Read more ]

Content: Online Resource | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) | Subjects: History, Women in Business

What does it really mean to be good with people? This Harvard Business Review excerpt examines the “relational” aspect of business.

Content: Article | Authors: James Waldroop, Timothy Butler | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

…if you pit a good performer against a bad system, the system will win almost every time.

Content: Quotation | Source: TheWorkingManager.com | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Increasingly, the top team is essential to the success of the enterprise. Research shows that merely bringing in a new chief executive officer to reshape an organization has mixed results. In reality, long-term success depends on the whole leadership team, for it has a broader and deeper reach into the organization than the CEO does and its performance has a multiplier effect-a poorly performing team … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Colin Price, Erika Herb, Keith Leslie | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

CEOs get it: Diverse work forces make for better companies. The question is, how do you get there?

Content: Article | Author: Jennifer Pellet | Source: Chief Executive | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

In the pressure to produce more with less, every manager explores a variety of fixes. Among the first of these is that often-used, complex, and heart-wrenching solution – the structural reorganization. Because aspects of the business are not right – profit is off, customer complaints are increasing, performance is below standard, employee morale is low, or simply that “something” is wrong – managers decide … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Danny G. Langdon, Kathleen Whiteside | Source: TheWorkingManager.com | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

This graphically modern and interactive volume demands that readers get themselves-and their businesses-out of whatever rut they’re in. By first encouraging the acknowledgment of being stuck, Yamashita and Spataro, a consultant and business school professor, respectively, pave the way for escape. They describe the seven emotional manifestations of being stuck (feeling alone, overwhelmed, directionless, battle-torn, worthless, hopeless, exhausted) and provide guidance for moving past them, … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Keith Yamashita, Sandra Spataro | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

“How can teams function optimally? And why do they become dysfunctional in the first place? In many cases, a team stagnates despite persistent and well intentioned attempts to address key issues. Or, interventions appear to help initially, but short-term progress quickly evaporates. To create long-term improvement, teams need a more systemic discipline of team learning – one that integrates existing approaches and tools while providing … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: David Kantor, Joel Yanowitz, Steven Ober | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

As psychologist Melvin Lerner demonstrated in the 1960s, people have a need to believe that life is controllable, and that life’s outcomes are fair. But life isn’t “fair.” People’s life circumstances are quite diverse and subject to chance events. Thus considered, any sense that fairness exists at all is an illusion – albeit a widespread one!

Content: Quotation | Source: STERNbusiness (NYU) | Subject: Personality / Behavior

A McKinsey survey shows that most companies are poor at developing their executives-often, because of a belief that talent will rise by itself or that needed skills can always be brought in from outside. But leaving executive development to chance is risky.

The take-away:
Companies need to focus much more on developing internal talent. They should follow five principles: ensuring that executive development is a … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Helen Handfield-Jones | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

“Very little of the current debate about business ethics has to do with serious ethical problems. Most so-called ethical failures in business are either the result of illegal activities or of breaches of civil contracts – often in situations where there is an imbalance of information or power and one of the parties has taken advantage of its position.

I suggest that the real problems, in … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Robert Cochrane | Source: TheWorkingManager.com | Subject: Ethics