Last month, I-O Psychologists met in California to share the latest cutting-edge research. The 31st annual conference of the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (SIOP) was a huge success. We’ve partnered with numerous SIOP presenters, and they’ve provided us with the nitty-gritty on some of the very best presentations, which we now offer to you in a multi-part series.
Last month, I-O Psychologists met in California to share the latest cutting-edge research. The 31st annual conference of the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (SIOP) was a huge success. We’ve partnered with numerous SIOP presenters, and they’ve provided us with the nitty-gritty on some of the very best presentations, which we now offer to you in a multi-part series.
Last month, I-O Psychologists met in California to share the latest cutting-edge research. The 31st annual conference of the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (SIOP) was a huge success. We’ve partnered with numerous SIOP presenters, and they’ve provided us with the nitty-gritty on some of the very best presentations, which we now offer to you in a multi-part series.
Serial entrepreneurs are people who continually come up with new ideas and start businesses. These people tend to be highly successful when embarking on new projects because they can draw from their prior experience to make informed business decisions. In this study, researchers examine how serial entrepreneurs respond to failure: Are serial entrepreneurs more likely than amateurs to change industries from one venture to the next? Further, how does changing industries after a failed venture affect how well serial entrepreneurs perform in their next venture?
How do luxury brands excel at talent management? If you’re anything like me, the words “luxury” and “brands” likely conjure up images of couture clothing. Maybe you think of models, or stiletto heels? A Harvard Business Review article by Shipilov and Godart (2015) outlines how the world’s most influential luxury groups have more than just an eye for design; they also have an eye for talent.
To understand the future of human resources, one must first know its past. HR emerged during the industrial revolution when there was a need to manage employees and overcome organizational challenges such as high turnover and low productivity. As a result of these human capital issues, scientific management began as a way to address organizational inefficiencies and it introduced job analysis to management practices.
What is the role of HR in the modern workplace? The world of work has changed a great deal over the last few decades, but there is one truth that continues to stand the test of time; people are a firm’s greatest asset. Human capital, or the knowledge and collective intelligence inherent in a company’s workforce, can be a businesses’ strongest competitive advantage, and also its greatest source of risk. It is incumbent upon CEOs and CHROs, or Chief Human Resources Officers, to work together to manage their firm’s people assets, and to unlock the potential in every employee. The authors of the current article suggest that organizational decision making can be enhanced through open dialogue and discussion among the “G3” or the CEO, the CFO, and the CHRO.
Human capital refers to specific employee characteristics that can make a business successful. Traditionally, industrial-organizational psychologists have used the acronym “KSAO”, which stands for knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics, to classify an employee’s work-related capabilities. When these KSAOs are useful for an organization’s overall economic outcomes, they are considered human capital.
What is the future of HR? A new article in Harvard Business Review (Cappelli, 2015) discusses some of the ways that HR can shed its bad reputation and prove itself a strategic business partner:
People are always claiming to know what factors contribute to effective negotiation, but a new study shows that expressing sadness can work in certain situations. The authors begin with a really interesting anecdote to illustrate:
One way organizations can make recruitment more successful is by stressing person-organization fit. Person-organization fit is a term that I-O psychologists use to describe how compatible employees are with the organizations that employ them. If an organization and a specific employee share values or ideas of how work ought to be done, or if they fulfill each other’s work-related needs, then we might say that there is a high degree of person-organization fit. It’s easy to imagine some of the ways that this would be beneficial to the organization, and past research has indeed supported this idea. New research (Swider, Zimmerman, & Barrick, 2015) took a novel approach by measuring how the perception of person-organization fit fluctuates over time, specifically during the recruitment process.
In recent years the topic of Corporate Social Performance (CSP) has become increasingly of interest to major corporations.
It’s becoming more important for organizations to have a social presence, display their dedication to the community and adopt positive practices that go beyond the company’s bottom line. Some may wonder just how important corporate social performance actually is to a company’s stakeholders.
In a series of four studies, Van Kleef, Steinel, and Homan show that status in a group, either as an insider (i.e., a group member) or as an outsider (i.e., not a group member) is related to the ability to negotiate. For example, if you are a woman in a group of four men, you are considered on some level you are an outsider; you are different in some aspect from the majority of the group. This status as an outsider relates to your ability to perform skills that are important in a negotiation process. Outsiders experience heightened sensitivity to social cues, increased motivation to process incoming information, improved recall of information acquired, and an ability to achieve win-win solutions. So, if you an in a situation in which you are outnumbered four to one, you can take solace in the fact that being on the outside makes you a better negotiator.
In the movie Office Space, Peter Gibbons, a programmer at a software company, shows up late to work, takes his boss’s parking spot, and disregards requests from his supervisor. Despite this behavior, the human resource consultants hired to assist with the company’s downsizing promote Peter, because, by being frank about the company’s problems, he makes a positive impression on them. Thanks to Junqi Shi of Sun Yat-sen University, Russell E. Johnson of Michigan State University, Yihao Liu of the University of Florida, and Mo Wang of the University of Florida and Peking University, this type of promotion behavior is now scientifically supported. Supervisor rewards (or recommendations for rewards) were linked to the number of times an employee interacted with a supervisor at work, their political skills, or the ability to make a good impression on colleagues and supervisors. Specifically, a subordinate with greater political skill was likely to interact with their supervisor more frequently. Unsurprisingly, supervisors tended to recommend rewards more for those subordinates with whom they interacted with most often.
Retailers aren’t perfect. When they screw up, how do they try to get you to fall in love with them again?
Science to the rescue! In this study, researchers investigated customers’ spending after filing of a customer service complaint to a grocery retailer. Some customers received a coupon after complaining. Some didn’t. Some customers received a quick response from the retailer. Others received a slower response. Overall, they found that those who received the coupon actually spent less after filing their complaint, and those who received a quick response spent more in the time following.
At some point in our lives we’ve all had that nagging worry of being replaced or displaced by someone younger, smarter, better looking, or more talented. Well, navigating the business world is much the same. You’ve got to be vigilant and constantly on the lookout for new products or services that come to market and threaten to steal your client base.
Topic: Business Strategy, Change Management
Publication: Harvard Business Review (DEC 2012)
Article: Two Routes to Resilience
Authors: Clark Gilbert, Matthew Eyring and Richard N. Foster
Reviewed By: Susan Rosengarten
Strategists at every organization worry about keeping their companies’ products and services relevant for the twenty first century. With new electronics brought to market before you can say the word “i-phone,” its no wonder companies are finding it harder to compete and maintain market share, yet alone dominate their industries. What’s the secret to not just staying afloat, but flourishing in this economy? Well, Gilbert, Eyring and Foster have the answer for you in their article “Two Routes to Resilience.”
Topic: Business Strategy, Change Management, Leadership
Publication: Harvard Business Review (JAN/FEB 2013)
Article: Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills
Authors: Paul J. H. Schoemaker, Steve Krupp, and Samantha Howland
Reviewed By: Susan Rosengarten
Whether you set your sites on becoming CEO or simply want to take your lemonade stand to the next level, there are a couple of essential skills you’ll need to have. According to Schoemaker, Krupp and Howland, mastery of these six skills will help you navigate the murky waters of the 21st century and become a strategic leader in your own right.
Topic: Business Strategy, Change Management
Publication: Harvard Business Review (NOV 2012)
Article: Accelerate!
Author: John P. Kotter
Reviewed By: Susan Rosengarten
Organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the rapid pace of consumer, industry and worldwide change. Technological advancements as well as cross-cultural integrations have allowed for tremendous economic opportunities. At the same time though, the stakes are much higher, and the threats more real. Today’s leaders feel progressively more pressure to carefully consider how their investments in new ventures and R&D to remain competitive in changing markets will impact stakeholders’ perceptions and affect their bottom line.
Topic: Business Strategy, Creativity, Strategic HR
Publication: Harvard Business Review (SEPT 2012)
Article: Bringing Science to the Art of Strategy
Authors: A. G. Lafley, R. L. Martin, J. W. Rivkin, and N. Siggelkow
Reviewed By: Megan Leasher
Strategic planners sit down once a year. They pride themselves on their scientific rigor in how they analyze and shoot down every idea they generate. They then proceed with a less-than-stellar, not-so-innovative idea, and they wonder why the organization doesn’t swoon with delight? Lafley and colleagues (2012) assert that a key component of science is missing in these proceedings: the inquiry. They argue that the scientific method must first begin with the brainstorming of novel hypotheses, then proceed into the design and testing of these hypotheses. The authors detail a series of steps that incorporate the inquiry of science into strategic planning to achieve a more creative, successful, and efficient direction.
Topic: Business Strategy, Decision Making, Evidence Based Management, Statistics
Publication: Harvard Business Review (APR 2012)
Article: Good Data Won’t Guarantee Good Decisions
Authors: S. Shah, A. Horne, and J. Capellá
Reviewed By: Megan Leasher
When we were in grade school, we learned that 1 + 1 = 2. We quickly realized and celebrated the immediate success in figuring out what came after the equal sign. This celebration built faith; blind faith that we should always believe in the result of an analysis.
Topic: Business Strategy, Off the Wall
Publication: Journal of Management
Article: Closing the Technology Adoption–Use Divide: The Role of Contiguous User Bandwagon
Authors: G. Lanzolla & F. F. Suarez
Reviewed By: Katie Bachman
Did you ever buy something that was really expensive, but you could sort of justify the purchase because you were so sure you’d use it every single day and it would save you time and money? Come on, we all have. But, did your purchase end up sitting on a shelf somewhere? Well, if it was some new, cool technology for your organization that you purchased, then chances are actually pretty good that it did. A ridiculously large portion of new technology adopted by organizations never gets used by the employees. But, why? Here’s where I am going to totally rock your world—just because you invest in a new piece of technology, doesn’t mean you’ll use it.
Topic: Performance, Human Resources, Culture, Business Strategy
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (2012)
Article: Impact of High-Performance Work Systems on Individual- and Branch- Level Performance: Test of a Multilevel Model of Intermediate Linkages
Authors: Samuel Aryee, Fred O. Walumbwa, Emmanuel Y. M. Seidu, & Lilian E. Otaye
Reviewed By: Lauren A. Wood, M.S.
With the rapid growth of global competition and the speed with which competitors can imitate products and technology, organizations are turning to human capital to differentiate themselves. As such, researchers and practitioners have stressed the value that employees play in creating and sustaining an organization’s competitive edge. As a result, many organizations have implemented high-performance work systems (HPWS), which are HR programs closely linked to the goals and culture of the organization that are designed to develop employee skills and organizational commitment in order to create a self-sustaining competitive advantage.
Topic: Development, Job Performance
Publication: Harvard Business Review
Title: Get ready for your next assignment
Authors: K. S. Milway, A. G. Gregory, J. Davis-Peccoud, and K. Yazbak
Reviewed by: Liz Brashier
How do we make the most of an internal move? While most managers and executives know about internal role changes long before that actually take effect, few actually take advantage of their time leading up to the transition to prepare well. According to Milway, Gregory, Davis-Peccoud, and Yazbak (2011), this is a serious missed opportunity. Viewing role transitions as important steps in one’s career is essential to success in the new position – success that could have lasting impact, and building a knowledge base to help in these transitions is imperative. The authors identify three steps for building knowledge capital in order to thrive in new roles: phase zero, learning tour, and affinity groups.
Topic: Business Strategy, Creativity
Publication: Harvard Business Review (OCT 2010)
Article: Building the co-creative enterprise
Authors: V. Ramaswany, F. Gouillart
Reviewed By: Liz Brashier
We all know that companies care about their customers – especially when it comes to the customer experience with products. After all, where would any company be without customers? Ramaswamy and Gouillart (2010), however, challenge us to consider other stakeholders (i.e., employees, distributors, etc.) who have a tremendous impact on the customer experience.
Topic: Business Strategy, Strategic HR, Talent Management
Publication: Harvard Business Review (OCT 2010)
Article: Competing on talent analytics
Authors: T. H. Davenport, J. Harris, J. Shapiro
Reviewed By: Liz Brashier
How many times have you made a “people” decision based on gut instinct? Whether it’s deciding which department needs attention, selecting a customer population to target, or trying to determine our organization’s overall health, Davenport, Harris, and Shapiro (2010) encourage us to make these critical talent decisions based on analytics rather than “going with a gut instinct.” In an article rife with illustrations of organizations that effectively use analytics to save money, increase profits, and retain the best talent, the authors give us six types of analytics to use when addressing talent issues:
Topic: Business Strategy, Marketing
Publication: Harvard Business Review (MAR 2010)
Article: Bold retreat: A new strategy for old technologies
Authors: R. Adner, D. C. Snow
Reviewed By: Liz Brashier
So your company specializes in – and relies on – a technology that is now being threatened by a new technology. Do you respond by trying to change your existing technology, or do you fight the new technology by improving what you have? Or, do you explore a third, and often ignored, option: making what Adner and Snow (2010) call a bold retreat into a niche market?