3590 Posts Found

In Reading the Room, renowned systems psychologist and family therapist David Kantor applies his theory of structural dynamics to help leaders and coaches understand and improve communication within their teams. He helps readers understand how and why they and their teams communicate differently when faced with low-stakes or high-stakes situations, and he provides a framework to help improve leadership behavior in high-stakes situations.

Acknowledging that early … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: David Kantor | Subjects: Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior

In order to clear a path for greater advancement and parity, we need to address the difficult paradoxes that women leaders continue to face — these are the mixed messages and uncomfortable realities that complicate an arguably positive picture of progress.

Content: Article | Authors: Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, Mary Davis Holt | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Women in Business

Whatever civility might be, it has to do with courtesy, politeness and good manners… Courtesy, politeness, manners and civility are all, in essence, forms of awareness. Being civil means being constantly aware of others and weaving restraint, respect and consideration into the very fabric of this awareness… Through civility we develop thoughtfulness, foster effective self-expression and communication, and widen the range of our benign responses. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Decision Making, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

In every organization of any size, work must be segmented and people hired who have specialized knowledge of one part of the organization and its work. As a result, all organizations consist of disparate groups with often-conflicting needs, goals, and priorities. In spite of their differences, however, these groups depend on each other. No group can work in isolation. What makes this combination of differences … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Kent L. Lineback, Linda A. Hill | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior

Even the sanest of companies can unintentionally put themselves in a straitjacket that makes it hard for them to create high-potential new growth opportunities. Here’s how leaders unintentionally limit their innovation efforts.

Content: Article | Author: Scott Anthony | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Innovation, Organizational Behavior

“Attention must be paid,” wrote the great American playwright, Arthur Miller. If only companies did pay attention to workers on the bottom rungs of the organizational ladder – like those on the top rungs — what would happen? As the authors discovered in their research, the company will benefit as much as the employees themselves.

Content: Article | Authors: Jody Heymann, Magda Barrera | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

Many a good idea has been sabotaged by a co-worker who, during a presentation, cuts right in to say, “That’s a good idea but…” Readers of this article will learn what tactics they can use to effectively disarm and discourage such a saboteur and allow their ideas to be heard fully and ultimately win acceptance.

Content: Article | Author: Lorne Whitehead | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Career, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

I have no authority other than the trust of the community, but having another person’s trust is more powerful than all other management techniques put together.

Content: Quotation | Author: Linus Torvalds | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Trust

There are four basic roles you can play in a conversation. (I also call them action stances.) You can move: Start something new, like saying, “We need to spend less time in these meetings.” You can follow someone else’s move, by agreeing with it: “Yes, I’ve been concerned about the same thing.” You can oppose the move, raising objections or trying to stop it: “I … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: David Kantor | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Communication

Some acts of speech are in the affect domain; they involve words of feeling, seeking an increase in connection and intimacy. “This decision seems pretty heartless. I wonder how people will feel about it.”

Other speech acts are in the power domain, using words about getting things done, and their purpose is increasing competence and efficacy. “Who’s going to make sure that there’s follow-through here?”

Finally, there … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: David Kantor | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Communication

All the governance structures in the world can be boiled down to three types. The open system is consensual and unregulated until it hits a point of action, and then an authority, chosen by the group, decides. A representative democracy is an open system. In the closed system, authority rests with position—the closer you are to the top of the hierarchy, the more authority you … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: David Kantor | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Decision Making, Government, Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior

The common belief that we gain “historical perspective” with increasing distance seems to me to utterly misrepresent the actual situation. “What we gain is merely confidence in generalization that we would never dare to make if we had access to the real wealth of contemporary evidence.

Content: Quotation | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Decision Making, History, Trends / Analysis

Four types of employees that can affect your organization’s culture: start, high potentials, zombies and vampires.

Content: Article | Author: Eric C. Sinoway | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

Organizations that understand social technologies’ key capability – to enable employees to connect with others to boost job and organizational performance – will realize significant benefits. Thus, organizations need to think strategically about using these technologies to help transform themselves into truly collaborative workplaces. These authors, who were integrally involved in one such exercise, describe how it’s done.

Content: Case Study | Authors: Bala Iyer, Bill Donaldson, Donna Cuomo, Salvatore Parise | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Knowledge Management, Organizational Behavior

The increasingly international nature of business means leaders need new skills to get the full potential of teams and networks of people from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Key among these skills is a thinking skill called cultural metacognition. Metacognition simply means thinking about thinking; in this context, thinking about your cultural assumptions. According to our research, if you can gain awareness of your assumptions, … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Michael W. Morris | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: International, Organizational Behavior

Mixing social media and on-the-job duties can be a win-win. Or not.

Content: Article | Author: Alexandra Samuel | Source: Wall Street Journal | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

Author and scenario planning expert Betty Sue Flowers dissects the attitudes and beliefs that unconsciously influence decision makers.

Editor’s Note: very thought-provoking framework; highly recommended reading

Content: Thought Leader | Author: Art Kleiner | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Organizational Behavior

A major share of a leader’s salary was linked to long-term compensation, based on total shareholder returns versus a peer group of companies, over a rolling three-year period. That kept people sufficiently focused on the future. I think that kind of balance needs to find its way more fully into the corporate sector. Yes, people need to be rewarded in the short term; they have … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Douglas Conant | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

The structures, processes, and communications approaches of many far-flung businesses have been stretched to the breaking point. Here are some ideas for relieving the strains.

Content: Article | Authors: Leigh Weiss, Suzanne Heywood, Toby Gibbs | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: International, Organizational Behavior

Technologies seldom change culture by themselves; they might enable change in significant ways, yet without new ideas that question our sense of right and wrong they matter less. …The very act of creating a market […] of these products that go against conventions and norms of what we value, and of what we think is appropriate, means that you have to change what we think … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Mukti Khaire | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Culture, IT / Technology / E-Business