3605 Posts Found

We narrow our decision-making frame when we believe we know what the future will look like. We implicitly assert that everything is locked in except for what we will do, and so we ask this simple, efficient question: “What should we do?”

Should asks people to spot and advocate the one right decision. It treats decision making as a debate. It drives toward closure. We need … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Mark Chussil | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Decision Making, Management, Strategy, Thought

A new book shows how you can create a better team by recognizing people’s needs to stand out, fit in, and shape their identities.

Content: Article | Authors: Jonah Berger, Theodore Kinni | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior, Teamwork

Although diversity and inclusion training is prevalent in corporate America, its impact is inconsistent. According to the evidence, sometimes the programs even have the opposite effect of what they intend. One 2016 study of 830 mandatory diversity training programs found that they often triggered a strong backlash against the ideas they promoted. “Trainers tell us that people often respond to compulsory courses with anger and … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: David Rock, Heidi Grant | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior, Training & Development

Here’s a little-known tip about asking someone a question. Always say their name first before asking the question. As in, “Lisa, could you describe your process as it is now?” This tactic avoids catching someone off-guard if the person wasn’t paying attention and didn’t hear the question. Everyone snaps to attention when they hear their name.

Content: Quotation | Author: Stephanie Scotti | Source: SmartBrief | Subjects: Communication, Management, Personal Development

While personality differences between leaders are to be expected, a major shift can create difficulty in adjustment for everyone involved.

Content: Article | Author: Naphtali Hoff | Source: SmartBrief | Subjects: Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior

What concerns me is the tendency to marginalize people who disagree with you at meetings. There’s too much intolerance for challenge. As a leader, you can say the right things — for instance, everybody should share their opinions. But people are too smart to do that, because it’s risky. So when people raise an idea that doesn’t make sense to you as a leader, rather than ask … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Gary Klein | Source: Medium | Subjects: Communication, Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior, Teamwork

Four key actions influence employee mind-sets and behavior. Here’s why they matter.

Content: Article | Authors: Bill Schaninger, Tessa Basford | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Change Management, Management, Organizational Behavior

The idea behind agile governance is to establish both stable and dynamic elements in making decisions, which typically come in three types. We call big decisions where the stakes are high Type I; frequent decisions that require cross-unit dialogue and collaboration, Type II; and decisions that should be parsed into smaller ones and delegated as far down as possible, often to people with clear accountability, … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Kirsten Weerda, Wouter Aghina | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Decision Making, Management, Organizational Behavior

You have more power than you think—here’s how to harness it.

Content: Article | Author: William Ocasio | Source: Kellogg Insight | Subjects: Career, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

People are often cognitively lazy, not just cognitively biased. Our mental shortcuts and unconscious patterns of thought make everyone susceptible to the tactics of interpersonal influence: tactics that depend on the norm of reciprocity, accepting and obeying authority (or its symbols), the power of liking, the value created by scarcity, and the tendency to escalate levels of commitment, even in the face of negative outcomes. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personality / Behavior, Persuasion

When executives tell me that flattery doesn’t work and that people can see through strategic efforts to garner their support, I cite extensive evidence showing that we are generally quite poor at discerning deception. When the deception is coming from a master deceiver and consummate politician like [Lyndon] Johnson, the odds of successful resistance are quite low.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personality / Behavior, Persuasion

There are many models of emotional intelligence, each with its own set of abilities; they are often lumped together as “EQ” in the popular vernacular. We prefer “EI,” which we define as comprising four domains: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Nested within each domain are twelve EI competencies, learned and learnable capabilities that allow outstanding performance at work or as a leader.

Content: Article | Author: Daniel Goleman | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

Why are we drawn to authenticity? Part of it is an attempt to individuate ourselves and find something that’s different and more appealing to us than it is to the masses. We all do that. We find satisfaction and gratification in it. And I think that’s fine. There are theories that it has to do with the loss of identity in mass society — that … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Glenn R. Carroll | Source: Stanford University | Subject: Personality / Behavior

We don’t decide about life; we’re captured by life. In the major spheres, decision-making, when it happens at all, is downstream from curiosity and engagement. If we really want to understand and shape behavior, maybe we should look less at decision-making and more at curiosity. Why are you interested in the things you are interested in? Why are some people zealously seized, manically attentive and … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: David Brooks | Source: The New York Times | Subjects: Attention, Decision Making, Organizational Behavior, Personality / Behavior

Organizations waste too much time – see how Bain helps them manage it like money in this 10-minute video slide deck.

Content: Multimedia Content | Sources: Bain & Company, Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

It’s hard to find a decision or behavior that isn’t affected by other people. In fact, looking across all domains of our lives, there is only one place we don’t seem to see social influence — ourselves.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jonah Berger | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development, Personality / Behavior

When evaluating others’ actions, most people focus more on the outcome of decisions than on intentions, a phenomenon that psychologists call outcome bias. A decision […] is often judged to be lower in quality when it leads to a poor, rather than a good, outcome. The outcome bias is costly to organizations. It causes employees and leaders to be blamed for negative outcomes even when … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Francesca Gino | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Decision Making, Organizational Behavior

Is higher EQ always beneficial? Although the downside of higher EQ remains largely unexplored, there are many reasons for being cautious about a one-size-fits-all or higher-is-always-better take on EQ. Most things are better in moderation, and there is a downside to every human trait.

Content: Article | Author: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

Any decision made in business is a bet about the way the world works. And until you understand the theory you’re betting on, you can’t really test the decision or improve it.

Content: Quotation | Author: Art Kleiner | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Decision Making, Management, Strategy

You want to hire women. And women want to be hired. So what’s the problem? You need to change your game plan and make your rules more flexible. Here’s how to get started.

Content: Article | Authors: Deborah Khan, Lisa Unwin | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Human Resources, Women in Business