3588 Posts Found

“Office politics” is a fact of life for anyone who works in a formal organization such as a commercial company. Power is an important concept but it is hard to define and to measure.

Content: Article | Author: Kai-Lit Phua | Source: CEO Refresher | Subjects: Leadership, Organizational Behavior

A new diagnostic tool can not only demonstrate conclusively the link between human capital development practices and total shareholder return. It can also provide practical guidance for which investments are likely to yield the greatest return.

Content: Article | Authors: Peter Cheese, Robert J. Thomas | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

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In virtually every sphere, says Andrew Hacker, women and men are moving further apart.

Content: Article | Author: A.J. Vogl | Source: Across the Board (ATB) | Subjects: Trends / Analysis, Women in Business

“We have come to somehow, almost unconsciously, accept the idea that the ends justify the means. If organizations need to be centralized, lean and mean, impermanent, and control-oriented in order to succeed in the marketplace, this is the way it is and we need to accept these facts…[I] suggest that the premise is wrong and so is the conclusion…the evidence continues to grow that organizations … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

“Personal leadership is one of the most studied topics in American life. Indeed, I have devoted a big chunk of my professional life to better understanding its workings. Far less studied — and perhaps more important — is group leadership. The disparity of interest in those two realms of leadership is logical, given the strong individualist bent of American culture. But the more I look … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Warren Bennis | Source: Leader to Leader | Subjects: Leadership, Organizational Behavior

Innovation has become a game of corporate life or death: Produce and market successful new ideas, and a company thrives; ride competitors’ coattails, and the company eventually falls by the wayside. Yet continuous innovation has traditionally been as risky and difficult as it is essential. How can corporations create an environment that has enough freedom to allow for innovation, while providing enough structure to control … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Heidi Mason, Tim Rohner | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

The first constant in the job of management is to make human strength effective and human weaknesses irrelevant. That’s the purpose of any organization, the one thing an organization does that individuals can’t do better. The second constant is that managers are accountable for results, period. They are not being paid to be philosophers; they are not even being paid for their knowledge. They are … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Peter F. Drucker | Source: Leader to Leader | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

The entire military organization is structured to do what needs to be done in a way that generates and captures the highest possible potential of its members. Ensuring that the groundwork has been laid for harnessing the potential of everyone involved is articulated as combat readiness, a practice that provides the platform that’s necessary for success.

Content: Article | Author: Daniel D. Elash, Ph.D. | Source: CEO Refresher | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

We know that knowledge people have to be managed as if they were volunteers. They have expectations, self-confidence, and, above all, a network. And that gives them mobility, which is probably the greatest change in the human condition…They carry their tools in their heads and can go anywhere. And we know what attracts and holds volunteers. The first thing is a clear mission. People need … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Leader to Leader | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

For years, Warren Bennis has written about leadership in works such as Learning to Lead, Beyond Leadership, and the bestselling On Becoming a Leader. His aim in these well-received titles was to catalog the traits and styles of leadership that help individuals excel in their work. In his new book (and already another bestseller) Organizing Genius, Bennis declares the age of the empowered individual ended: … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Patricia Ward Biederman, Warren G. Bennis | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

One of the basics of a good system of innovation is diversity. In some ways, the stronger the culture (national, institutional, generational, or other), the less likely it is to harbor innovative thinking. Common and deep-seated beliefs, widespread norms, and behavior and performance standards are enemies of new ideas. Any society that prides itself on being harmonious and homogeneous is very unlikely to catalyze idiosyncratic … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Technology Review | Subjects: Culture, Innovation

There is substantial shareholder value hidden in servicing products after they are sold. In fact, over time, service may actually contribute more to earnings than sales do. The authors describe how companies can establish service as a differentiator with high margins, even in difficult economic times, including a discussion on four typical stages of organizational development.

Content: Article | Authors: Brian M. Sprague, C. Edwin Starr, David J. Standridge | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Strategy

The road to reform in China is paved with detours and dangerous curves. Among the hazards are the traditional values that thrived under state run rule, but which now serve to slow progress. Looking at the case of CINCO, one of China’s oldest and largest insurers, Sarah Meegan and Professor Steven White show how the best intentions can be stymied by intractable cultural … [ Read more ]

Content: Case Study | Authors: Sarah Meegan, Steven White | Source: INSEAD | Subjects: International – Asia, Organizational Behavior | Industry: Insurance | Company: CINCO

Based on the results of the five-year Evergreen Project, the authors find that corporate success requires the mastery of six management practices. Four are mandatory – focused strategy, flawless execution, performance-based culture, and flat organizations. The final two may be chosen from a set of four secondary practices – workforce development, committed leadership, continuous innovation, or partnering.

Content: Book | Authors: Bruce Roberson, Nitin Nohria, William F. Joyce | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

Is business malfeasance always the board’s fault? HBS professor Constance Bagley argues that everyone has a stake in ethical behavior and moral reasoning.

Content: Article | Author: Carla Tishler | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Ethics

The problem with the way we teach is that if a student makes a comment in class that isn’t grounded in the data in the case, the instructor is trained to crucify her right on the spot. And so we exalt the virtues of data-driven decision making. And then many of the students go to work for consulting firms where they carry data-driven analytical decision … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Decision Making, Innovation

It is common knowledge that managers have to build strong networks of personal relationships to accomplish their business goals, and that the general rule is to build for diversity. But not all networking structures are created equal according to University of Chicago Graduate School of Business professor of sociology and strategy Ronald S. Burt. In his 1997 report “The Gender of Social Capital,” Burt finds … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Ronald S. Burt | Source: Capital Ideas | Subjects: Career, Women in Business

Six key steps in applying a collaborative problem solving style of conflict management.

Content: Article | Author: Judy Worrell | Source: ManagerWise | Subject: Organizational Behavior

New strategies for learning on the job, meeting colleagues’ expectations, and asking the right questions.

Content: Article | Author: Peter Senge | Source: Leader to Leader | Subjects: Leadership, Organizational Behavior