Research News
Organizational Behavior
Seeking Common Ground in Conversations Can Stifle Innovation and Reward the Wrong People
The best baseball players don't always get elected All-Stars. Researchers say people try to find a common ground when talking to others, which can mean the wrong people become famous or the most innovative ideas don't get discussed.
It Really IS The Thought That Counts
When it comes to putting out money for gifts, less may well be more. Researchers say that although most gift givers assume that a more expensive present will be more appreciated, receivers don’t appreciate expensive gifts that much more.
The Thought of Acquiring Power Motivates People to Act
In the wake of Barack Obama’s “yes we can” victory, a timely study has emerged from the Stanford Graduate School of Business about what motivates people to take action. The prime mover, say researchers, is acquiring a position of power.
Ask and You’re Likely to Get Help
New research shows that people who ask for help are likely to get it. The Business School’s Frank Flynn is coauthor of studies showing that subjects seriously underestimate how many people will be willing to help them if asked and that asking directly is the best approach.
Investor Intuition Is Right: Corporate Leadership and Management Turnover
Directly Affect Startup Success
Start-up companies with founding and senior management teams sporting
greater diversity in experience and functions are more successful more quickly
say researchers. It may be consistent with common wisdom, but the authors argue
their study helps companies and investors understand just why this is the case.
(May 2007)
Is Chest Beating as Good for People as It Is for Primates?
Social hierarchies and dominance displays have a valuable place in
negotiating cooperation, status, and paths to power, according to Lara
Tiedens, associate professor of organizational behavior. One bit of advice: Look
big and stare the other guy right in the eye. (March 2007)
Diverse Backgrounds and Personalities Can Strengthen Groups
Groups with diverse functional expertise, education, or personality can increase performance by enhancing creativity or group problem-solving. In contrast, more visible diversity, such as race, gender, or age, can have negative effects unless it’s managed properly, says Margaret Neale. (March 2009)
New Take on Affirmative Action
Individuals who oppose affirmative action may do so because they’re more worried
about disadvantaging their group than about benefiting a minority group, says
researcher Brian Lowery who is developing a new take on affirmative action.
(January 2007)
The Key to a Successful Merger of Cultures? Look at Employee
Demographics
Although it may not get a lot of lip service, the reason most mergers
succeed is that employees of the new firm coalesce into a united whole. It
sounds harsh, but Professor Glenn Carroll and his co-author say the best thing
for employees who won’t or can’t fit the new mold may be to encourage them to
leave. (October 2006)
Agents
and Recruiters Improve
Your Likeability—and Bankability
Having someone else sing your praises can take the edge off in
interpersonal negotiations where money, position, and status are at stake,
says Prof. Jeffrey Pfeffer. Not only are you seen as more pleasant when
flattering words on your behalf come out of a third party’s mouth, but you’re
more likely to get a better salary or contract. (August 2006)
Time IS Money When You’re Paid by the Hour
People who are used to being paid by the hour start thinking of time as a commodity almost equal to cash. They can tell you how much it will "cost" them to wash the car or go to a movie. And given the choice, they’re nearly always willing to put in more hours to get more pay say researchers, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Sanford E. DeVoe. (August 2006)
Bureaucracy Contributed to the 9/11 Attacks
Prior to 9/11, intelligence information was often stalled or simply
ignored because of bureaucracy, says Roderick Kramer. The failures of
interagency cooperation described in the 9/11 Commission Report are the same
kinds of breakdowns observed in other large and complex bureaucracies. (August
2006)
Keep Main Street Safe for Local Opinions
Can grassroots movements be noticed in this era of corporate control and
background noise? Professor Hayagreeva Rao studied the emergence of low-power FM
radio stations as an example and says when local organizations offer a rich
variety of opinions, they can indeed make a dent in the control of larger
corporate organizations. (May 2006)
Introducing New Ideas—The Dangers of Mixing Foie Gras and
Arugula
Categorical boundaries are ideological fault lines in all industries, but
particularly in music, food, wine, and art. Innovators who cross those
boundaries can be seen as traitors and booed by their audience, says Professor
Hayagreeva Rao. (April 2006)
The Necessary Evil of Hierarchies
In achievement-oriented democracies, people complain about the
inefficiency of top-down-managed organizations, but ultimately they
can’t live without them, says Prof. Harold Leavitt. (August 2005)
Discredited
"Mozart Effect" Remains Music to American Ears
There is no scientific proof that listening to classical music enhances
intelligence. Professor Chip Heath has tracked this scientific legend and
finds it has grown because problems attract solutions and Americans are
obsessed about their children's education. (February 2005)
Good
News and Bad for Women's Careers
Women across the board seem to be enjoying greater parity with men-except in
"good-old-boy companies," where a woman's personal style and needs for
work/family balance may clash with organizational expectations, values, and
demands. (November 2004)
Even
the Furniture Can Affect Business Attitudes
Researchers say objects, whether it's a briefcase or a flower pot,
can affect the behavior of individuals. Objects that seem to represent
a business setting will prime people for a different reaction than more
everyday things. (October 2004)
Admitting
Missteps May Boost Stock Prices
Corporations that accept responsibility for a bad financial year
rather than blame external forces may see rewards from the stock
market, according to recent research. (August 2004)
When First Impressions Flop: The Power of Getting a Second Chance
Many people can overcome a bad first impression if they're given a second
chance. But, says professor Jerker Denrell, human nature and many
corporate environments make it very hard to get that second chance. (June 2004)
Better Decisions Through Teamwork
The U.S. Supreme Court benefits from differences of opinions among the
justices. Research that included studying how teams make decisions says
when a narrow majority exists, pressure of the minority forces the
majority to make think with more complexity and to consider diverse
evidence. (April 2004)
Failure Is a Key to Understanding Success
Studying success has become almost a cottage industry for writers and
consultants. Jerker Denrell warns that by not studying failure too, these
pundits may present a very skewed picture of what it takes to succeed.
(January 2004)
Too Much Management Can Block Innovation
Commonly used management processes can stifle creativity, writes
Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer. Practices as widely accepted as annual
performance reviews and goal setting can actually work against innovation
and change. (September 2003)
Doing Deals in Tinseltown
The Hollywood studio executives ("suits") who decide what movies
will be made are often seen as copycats afraid of new ideas. Yet two
researchers argue these decision makers are smart, expert at evaluating
creativity, and capable of sealing a multimillion dollar deal in a
20-minute meeting. (April 2003)
Scrooge May Really Want to Help
Letting people pretend they are supporting worthy causes because there is
something in it for them may increase their participation. Researchers say
nonprofit organizations need to recognize the wide range of motives behind
donations of both money and time. (March 2003)
The Life Cycle of Business is Studied Through Organizational Ecology
Glenn R. Carroll and Michael T. Hannan, Princeton
University Press, 2000
The Demography of Corporations and Industries is the first book to present
the demographic approach to organizational studies in its entirety. It
examines the theory, models, methods, and data used in corporate demographic
research. Carroll and Hannan explore the processes by which corporate
populations change over time, including organizational founding, growth,
decline, structural transformation, and mortality. (August 2002)
Make Mine a Microbrew
The life cycles of various industries — ranging from airlines and auditing
to music recording and newspaper publishing — tell the same paradoxical
tale. Increased dominance of large firms actually creates an environment
that is hospitable to the entry of smaller, specialist organizations. (August 2002)
Weird Ideas That Work: 11-½ Practices for Promoting, Managing, and
Sustaining Innovation
Robert I. Sutton, Free Press, 2001
In his latest management book Robert Sutton, professor of organizational
behavior (by courtesy) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, shakes
readers out of their box, helps them break out of the rut of their past,
and see old problems in new ways. (October 2001)
Hot Groups: Seeding Them, Feeding Them, and Using Them to Ignite Your
Organization
Jean Lipman-Blumen and Harold J. Leavitt, Oxford
University Press, May 1999
(Named the best business book of 1999 by the Association of American Publishers.)
"A hot group is just what the name is just what the name implies:
a lively, overachieving, dedicated group — usually small — whose members
are turned on to an exciting and challenging task," say Lipman-Blumen
and Leavitt, the Walter Kenneth Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational
Behavior and Psychology, emeritus. (December 1995)