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Generally, when thinking about an organization, we turn to morphology (i.e., the study of structure or form), and we define an organization by its roles, rules, and routines:
* Roles define the hierarchy of who reports to whom and who has accountability for work.
* Rules represent policies and prescriptions for how work is done.
* Routines reflect processes or cultures within the workplace.

Content: Quotation | Author: David Ulrich | Source: Accenture | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Many consumer-products companies have complex marketing organizations that hinder strategic focus, decision making, and responsiveness—undermining their ability to compete effectively in a changing marketplace. Here’s how to rethink the traditional model and rebuild a leaner, more agile structure that better meets today’s strategic challenges and cost pressures.

Content: Article | Authors: Alexander Purdy, Gabrielle Novacek, Lucy Brady, Stephen Moeller | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, Organizational Behavior

Most confident people are not as competent as they think, and most competent people are confident only as a result of being competent.

Content: Article | Author: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic | Source: FORTUNE | Subjects: Career, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

Employees and managers should be measured as much on their contribution to an organization’s long-term health as to its performance.

Content: Article | Authors: Matthew Pettigrew, Suzanne Heywood, Toby Gibbs | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

When companies are first asked to be transparent by investors or major customers, they often start the journey somewhat begrudgingly. But as they become more transparent, they discover all sorts of things about their business. So the most interesting gem of transparency is that it leads to new insights, which leads to innovation.

Content: Quotation | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Communication, Social Responsibility (ESG)

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Research into career paths at major corporations has shown that early promotions greatly enhance an individual’s chances of reaching a senior level, while those who are “knocked out” of the competition at early stages can be locked out of any further advancement. The implication: Senior managers are drawn from a pool of individuals who succeeded early in areas of individual contribution such as efficiency, while … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Joshua B. Bellin, Robert J. Thomas | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Career, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

Our motivation to work for goals is not steadfast: it can wax and wane depending upon factors both psychological (a bad mood) and environmental (nearby construction work). Determining how to enhance task motivation, therefore, remains a significant pursuit for both researchers and managers alike.

Editor’s Note: the comments on this article’s controversial findings are as more–or more–interesting as the article.

Content: Article | Author: Kelly Goldsmith | Source: Kellogg Insight | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

All companies hit rough patches from time to time. But only a few manage to survive decade after decade — some of them in a form that bears no resemblance to the original organization. Nokia began in 1865 as a riverside paper mill along the Tammerkoski Rapids in southwestern Finland. In the late 1880s, Johnson & Johnson got its start by manufacturing the first commercial … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Charles O’Reilly | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

Getting the right mix of strategy and culture creates a formula for business success. Pursuing a strategy of innovation in a dynamic market can only succeed within an inquisitive culture where the workforce pushes boundaries and management encourages new ideas and constructive risk-taking. Similarly, pursuing a strategy of high-volume, low-cost processes can only succeed within a disciplined culture where the workforce operates in an efficient, … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Ira Gaberman, Marieke Witjes | Source: Kearney | Subjects: Culture, Management, Organizational Behavior, Strategy

Here is a list of “quick tips” for mentors and their protégés taken from the book, Managers as Mentors: Building Partnerships for Learning by Chip Bell and Marshall Goldsmith.

Content: Article | Author: Theodore Kinni | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Career, Management, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

Risk-averse midlevel managers making routine investment decisions can shift an entire company’s risk profile. An organization-wide stance toward risk can help.

Content: Article | Authors: Dan P. Lovallo, Tim Koller, Zane D. Williams | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Finance, Management, Organizational Behavior, Risk Management

I’ve seen two strong theories about the future of corporate culture recently. Both are compelling, and each comes to a very different conclusion. In other words, we have all the ingredients for a debate.

Content: Article | Author: Paul Michelman | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Organizational Behavior

At Intuit, founder Scott Cook developed what they call a culture of experimentation. As he put it, most decisions are based on “politics, persuasion, and PowerPoint,” and none of these “three Ps” are fully trustworthy. So Intuit bases decisions on experiments.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Chip Heath, Scott Cook | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Decision Making

Middle managers don’t get lots of respect in the workplace. And for a variety of reasons, scholars have mostly studied the worth of CEOs and the efficacy of various management practices. But a new study by Kathryn Shaw, Edward Lazear and Christopher Stanton suggests that front-line supervisors are far more important than many have thought.

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

Finding the perfect job might seem like a universal goal. Not necessarily, say IESE’s Yih-teen Lee and ESSEC’s Aarti Ramaswami, who argue that a lot depends on culture. By learning to recognize the sometimes invisible cultural influences on HR practices, global managers can better understand how to attract, select and retain talent in their organizations.

Content: Article | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: International, Organizational Behavior

Warren Buffett sits down with Fortune Magazine’s Pattie Sellers to discuss the changing landscape for women in business.

Content: Multimedia Content | Author: Warren Buffett | Source: FORTUNE | Subjects: People, Women in Business

The same body of psychological research that underpins behavioral economics also suggests that we are very poor natural statisticians. We are naturally prone to find spurious information in data where none exists, latch on to causal narratives that are unsupported by sketchy statistical evidence, ignore population base rates when estimating probabilities for individual cases, be overconfident in our judgments, and generally be “fooled by randomness.” … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: David Steier, Harvey Lewis, Jim Guszcza, John Lucker, Vivekanand Gopalkrishnan | Source: Deloitte Review | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personality / Behavior, Statistics, Thought

An interview with Heidi Grant Halvorson and E. Tory Higgins, authors of Focus: Use Different Ways of Seeing the World to Power Success and Influence.

Content: Multimedia Content | Authors: E. Tory Higgins, Heidi Grant | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Decision framing is often minimized or overlooked. In developing capital project business cases, people tend to start gathering inputs right away and to fill out spreadsheets too soon. When we start building a financial model and collecting data without first framing the decision, we run the risk of falling prey to collecting the wrong data and the common cognitive biases.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Charles Alsdorf, Elayne Ko, Igor Heinzer | Source: Deloitte Review | Subject: Decision Making