3605 Posts Found

We are the most social species on earth — but also inherently selfish. Darwinian theories of organizational behavior highlight the fundamental tension between “getting ahead” and “getting along” in the workplace. Resolving that tension involves balancing individuals’ agendas and the goals of the group. To do that, it’s critical to select the right team members — people who are likely to gel, particularly when the … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Groups are capable of much more stupid behavior than individuals are. They frequently fall prey to what I’ve taken to calling groupidity: doing something stupid because other people around you seem to think it’s safe. Fundamentally, people are herd animals. We band together for safety. We look to other people to see what is dangerous, and what is not. This is an important part of … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Megan McArdle | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subject: Organizational Behavior

One of the most encouraging recent management trends has been the move away from rigid, numerically based annual performance reviews. As larger companies follow Silicon Valley early adopters in rethinking the wisdom of the annual performance review, the question arises: What might replace it? What might a more human and flexible way of assessing employee contribution and gauging developmental needs look like? As yet, no … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior

Kevan Hall offers a rebuttal to Tom Peters’ 1979 McKinsey Quarterly article, “Beyond the Matrix Organization.”

Editor’s Note: about what you might expect from a “trainer in matrix management.” I am curious (doubtful) about his assertions that “over 90% of the world’s top organizations use this organization form” and, while he makes some good points about what has changed since the original article, those changes don’t … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Kevan Hall | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Compliance is not the same as ethics. Compliance is concerned with the letter of the law, ethics with its spirit. Compliance is rooted in statutes; ethics flows from a company’s character. Compliance and ethics overlap somewhat, but not completely.

Content: Quotation | Author: Dick Martin | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subject: Ethics

In talent development practice, companies spend millions of dollars and countless hours every year on self-reported assessments that only target self-knowledge. The core problem is that we’re notoriously poor judges of our own capabilities.

Content: Article | Author: Erich C. Dierdorff | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

Just how accurately do people understand each other? For many years, psychologists like me have been trying to answer this question by putting mind reading to the test. We might, for instance, ask a group of people to tell us how much they like you, then ask you to predict how much each of these people will report liking you, and then compare your predictions … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Nicholas Epley | Source: Capital Ideas | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

The employee-work contract has changed, compelling business leaders to build organizations that engage employees as sensitive, passionate, creative contributors. Two years of research and discussions with hundreds of clients suggest five major elements and underlying strategies that work together to make organizations “irresistible.”

Content: Article | Author: Josh Bersin | Source: Deloitte Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior

All of us differ dramatically in our attitude towards habits, and our aptitude for forming them. From my observation, I began to realize that just about everyone falls into one of four distinct groups: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels.

The key question is: How do you respond to an expectation? We all face two kinds of expectations:
1. Outer expectations: meet a work deadline, observe traffic regulations
2. … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Gretchen Rubin | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

It’s tempting to dwell on the negative traits of your culture, but any corporate culture is a product of good intentions that evolved in unexpected ways and will have many strengths. They might include a deep commitment to customer service (which could manifest itself as a reluctance to cut costs) or a predisposition toward innovation (which sometimes leads to “not invented here” syndrome). If you … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Caroline Kronley, Ilona Steffen, Jon R. Katzenbach | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Making toast doesn’t sound very complicated — until someone asks you to draw the process, step by step. Tom Wujec loves asking people and teams to draw how they make toast, because the process reveals unexpected truths about how we can solve our biggest, most complicated problems at work. Learn how to run this exercise yourself, and hear Wujec’s surprising insights from watching thousands of … [ Read more ]

Content: Multimedia Content | Author: Tom Wujec | Source: TED Conferences LLC | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize–winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. Distilling vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives that take us from the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble to sidelines of the NFL to the front lines of the civil rights movement, Duhigg presents … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Charles Duhigg | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

To understand success, it’s natural to study successful people and organizations. Thousands of business books are published each year, claiming to have done this very thing, and distilled success into a set of practical principles.

These books almost always contain an empowering message, whether explicitly or implicitly: that anyone can be successful if they just understand what it takes, and follow the key steps. The problem … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jess Whittlestone | Subjects: Best Practices, Management, Organizational Behavior

We have found, through numerous cultural interventions with a wide range of organizations […] that companies that eschew all-encompassing culture change initiatives and instead focus on three specific elements—critical behaviors, existing cultural traits, and critical informal leaders—have the most success. We call these “the critical few.”

Content: Quotation | Authors: James Thomas, Jon R. Katzenbach, Rutger von Post | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Change Management, Culture, Management, Organizational Behavior

How you treat your employees determines how they treat customers.

Content: Quotation | Authors: James Thomas, Jon R. Katzenbach, Rutger von Post | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Customer Related, Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior

If agility is chasing opportunities presented to you by a chaotic market, then agility is not a recipe for success. It’s a guarantee of incoherence and volatile performance. But if you stay true to your identity, aware of your unique strengths and where your capabilities add the most value over time, then you won’t just be agile. You’ll be “smart agile.” Yours will be a … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Cesare R. Mainardi | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior, Strategy

It pays for a company to keep its word. Research suggests that companies with strong corporate culture have higher long-term returns.

Editor’s Note: I didn’t find the research, at least as portrayed in the article, to be too convincing, but the topic and concept are interesting and worth considering.

Content: Article | Authors: Luigi Zingales, Robin Mordfin | Source: Capital Ideas | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

I don’t think there’s any perfect organizational structure. But we tend, unfortunately, to perceive reorganization as a negative thing. Companies use structures as a means to an end—to coordinate activity, to capture and share information, and to get the right expertise to bear on the right problem. There’s nothing wrong with changing structure.

But there’s a nuance to it. In a fast-moving environment, structures that require … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Rita Gunther McGrath | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Information, Organizational Behavior

Companies need to provide some stability in the midst of change. There has to be a mix. People need to be able to count on their leaders and the values of the firm. They need to have a common understanding of what’s within the strategy and what’s excluded from the strategy. There needs to be clarity about the relationships and the development of people. These … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Rita Gunther McGrath | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Change Management, Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior

Complex global corporations are under unrelenting pressure to create value. But no corporate center can add value without an effective parenting strategy, and no strategy can succeed without an organizational design that translates strategy into operational reality. Learn how to turn your corporate center into a value-creation engine.

Content: Article | Authors: Fabrice Roghé, Matthias Krühler, Sebastian Stange, Ulrich Pidun | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Management, Organizational Behavior