Category Archives: Uncategorized
Keeping Your Business Model Afloat Before It Goes Under Water
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.
The best way to protect your organization from a typhoon that could be heading your way is to accurately assess the current state of your business environment, and compare the pros and cons of the goods or services you provide against those of potential threats or “disruptions” to your business. Disruptive innovations are those products that possess technological or business model advantages over their competitors. These advantages enable them to gain traction and maintain their industry status as they become more advanced and continue to gain market share.
Wessel and Christensen provide a basic framework through which you can accurately evaluate whether a threat is looming on your horizon, and if so, plan a strategic response accordingly. First off, identify the strengths of your disruptors’ business model, or their “extendable core.” What are your competitors doing really well that is allowing them to expand their market share and gain traction? Next, identify what your organization’s strengths or areas of competitive advantage are, and why consumers turn to your company to meet their needs. What aspects of your competitors’ “extendable core” may enable them to develop better products or offer better services, but in what strategic spheres might you still have a clear advantage? Finally, look to the future. What conditions could enable a looming disruptor to subsume your business and what circumstances might thwart or hinder its hostile takeover within your domain?
Consider online grocers, for example. Consumers love that they no longer have to drive to the store, search for their items, stand on long lines and drive all the way back home again. With one click of a button you can have everything you need brought straight to your door. At the same time though, your local supermarket or grocery store serves its purpose for last minutes runs to pick up ingredients for dinner. Also, there’s something about being able to squeeze your tomatoes before you buy them that online grocers will never be able to compete with. Online grocers certainly have a clear advantage when it comes to nonperishable, staple items that people stock up on. However, the necessary changes to their business model that would allow them to meet consumers’ last minute shopping needs would destroy their competitive advantage.
Hold on tight: How to prevent choking under pressure
Topic: Performance
Publication: Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2012)
Article: Preventing motor skill failure through hemisphere-specific priming: Cases from choking under pressure
Authors: Jürgen Beckmann, Peter Gröpel, and Felix Ehrlenspiel
Reviewed By: Scott Charles Sitrin, M.A.
In 2012, soccer players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo – two of the best in the game – missed penalty kicks that would have sent their respective teams to the final of the UEFA Champions League. To those unfamiliar with soccer, Messi and Ronaldo’s misses are akin to Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant missing an open layup. If this analogy still falls short, let’s have coffee, and we’ll talk sports. Anyway, in both instances, a penalty kick or a free throw is made more times than not, and the probability of success increases with the skill of the player. So, in short, Messi and Ronaldo choked – they messed up when they should have succeeded. Given that choking occurs in most every sport and the consequences can make or break a season – not to mention the team’s finances – Beckmann, Gröpel, and Ehrlenspiel discovered that a possible antidote is squeezing a ball or your left hand in order to stimulate a particular part of the brain. In three experiments with soccer, tae kwon do, and badminton teams, athletes who squeezed their left hand, an action that stimulates the brain’s right hemisphere, performed better than a control group who did not. Though helpful for athletes who perform sports that require precision, the authors caution that the results are likely not applicable to, for instance, runners and those who engage in stamina and strength-related sports.
human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management
source for picture: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Outdoor_Sports__Land_g220-Cropped_View_Of_Football_Player_p117212.html
Maximum vs. typical performance: Is there really a difference? (IO Psychology)
Topic: Performance
Publication: Human Performance (NOV 2012)
Article: The relationship between typical and maximum performance: A meta-analytic examination
Authors: Beus, J.M., & Whitman, D. S.
Reviewed by: Alexandra Rechlin
Think about how hard you work when nobody is around. Now, think about how hard you work when your boss is looking over your shoulder. Is there a difference? Research suggests that typical performance (how hard you work day-to-day) and maximum performance (your performance when you put in maximum effort) are probably not the same, but findings regarding the extent of that relationship have been mixed. In a recent meta-analysis, Jeremy Beus and Daniel Whitman investigated the extent of the typical/maximum performance relationship as well as what other variables might affect that relationship.
The authors found that typical and maximum performance were only moderately correlated (p = .42), so it does appear that there is an important difference between how people typically perform and how people are able to perform. In addition, individual abilities and openness to experience were more strongly related to maximum performance than they were to typical performance, providing further evidence that typical and maximum performance are different constructs.
So what does this mean for practitioners? If you’re looking to assess job performance, you need to ask yourself two important questions. First, do you want to assess maximum or typical performance? The answer may depend on the job and what you want to use the performance information for (e.g., you may want to assess maximum performance if you will use the information to determine training needs). Second, are you currently assessing maximum or typical performance? If you want to assess typical performance and you’re assessing maximum performance, then that’s a problem you’ll want to address. You want to make sure that you’re assessing the type of performance that is appropriate for the decisions you will make using that information.
human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management
Conflict Cultures: That’s How We Roll (IO Psychology)
Topic: Conflict, Culture, Leadership, Performance
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (NOV 2012)
Article: Conflict Cultures in Organizations: How Leaders Shape Conflict Cultures
and Their Organizational-Level Consequences
Authors: M.J. Gelfand, L.M. Leslie, K. Keller, C. de Dreu
Reviewed By: Ben Sher, M.A.
Conflict happens in all workplaces. That’s why we talk about managing conflict instead of preventing it. Traditionally, research has explored how individuals or small teams deal with conflict. New research by Gelfand, et al. (2012) has shown that entire organizations have conflict cultures. This is when people who work together share a common style toward dealing with conflict.
In a study of close to 100 bank branches, the authors found three distinct conflict culture styles: Dominating, collaborating, and avoiding. In a dominating culture, employees are not afraid to confront each other and engage in heated debate. They believe that this is the best way to solve disputes. In a collaborating culture, employees take a proactive approach toward friendly negotiation and problem solving. In an avoidant culture, employees believe that they should not engage in conflict, and they will do anything possible to avoid it. Employees may even sensor their true thoughts in order to avoid expressions that lead to conflict.
So how are conflict cultures formed? The authors discuss two possible explanations. For the most part, the study found that specific styles favored by organizational leaders match the conflict styles used in their organizations. In other words, the way that leaders handle disputes with employees may be influencing the way that the entire organization handles disputes. On the other hand, it is possible that employees form conflict cultures. This happens when organizations attract, select and retain a homogenous group of employees (Schneider, 1987) who probably share similar ideals concerning conflict management.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: Which conflict style is best? The authors found key evidence that will help answer this question. They found that a collaborative conflict style is related to positive outcomes, such as organizational viability and low employee burnout rates. The dominating style is related to lower levels of group cohesion and worse customer service. Finally, an avoidant style was related to lower levels of creativity.
This study is important because it informs that conflict management is not merely something two individuals engage in, based on their specific personalities. Conflict management is something we all do together, and when we all do it together, we tend to do it the same way. The style that we collectively adopt for managing our disputes leads to actual organizational outcomes. Finally, we should not underestimate the role of the leader in influencing the operative conflict style.
human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management
Coaches: Who, What, and Where
Topic: Coaching
Publication: Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice (2012)
Article: The nature and focus of coaching in the UK today: a UK survey report
Authors: Linda Jenkins, Jonathan Passmore, Stephen Palmer & Emma Short
Reviewed By: Scott Charles Sitrin, M.A.
In taking the pulse of the current state of coaching in the UK, the authors conducted a survey in 2010 and 2011. The results provided information on who coaches are, what they do, and where they tend to work. So, here we go:
Who: Coaches tend to have a background in business and management and be accredited by some coaching-related governing body.
What: Their work is primarily focused on business and management.
Where: In lieu of working for large firms, most coaches operate as independent consultants.
Now, when you hear someone refer to herself as a coach, you’ll have a better idea of what she’s talking about.
human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management
source for picture: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Business_People_g201-Business_People_In_The_Meeting_p40851.html
Lost Sleep Equals Lost Productivity (IO Psychology)
Topic: Counter-Productive Work Behavior
Journal: Journal of Applied Psychology (2012)
Article: Lost Sleep and Cyberloafing: Evidence From the Laboratory and a Daylight Saving Time Quasi-Experiment
Authors: David T. Wagner, Christopher M. Barnes, Vivien K. G. Lim, D. Lance Ferris
Reviewed By: Isaac Sabat
New research shows that for every lost hour of uninterrupted sleep, employees are engaging in 12 additional minutes per hour of cyberloafing (using company time to check personal emails and visit non-work related websites). This lost time can be very costly to organizations seeking to maximize employee productivity.
So why does this happen? Past research has found that a lack of quality sleep is related to problems with self-monitoring and self-regulation. Sleepy people are less able to stay focused, less likely to suppress their prejudices, and less likely to control addictive impulses (such as smoking). Thus, it stands to reason that if we lose sleep, we will be unable to control the overwhelming impulse that most of us share of checking our Facebook pages while at work.
To test this hypothesis, researchers from Universities in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Singapore examined data from Google search engines for a six year time period (involving data points from over 203 metropolitan areas). What they found was that the Mondays following daylight savings time (a day in which people typically sleep 40 minutes less than average), employees were searching for entertainment related websites at a rate of 3.1% more than the Mondays prior.
Based on these results, ninety-six undergraduate students were given sleep monitors to wear for one night to assess the quantity and quality of sleep that they engaged in. Students were then told to sit in front of a computer and watch a 42-minute video-recorded educational lecture, and naturally, many of them chose to spend this time surfing the net. Results of this experiment indicated that participants who slept for one hour less, spent 3 minutes more online (7% of the total task time). Participants who engaged in one hour less of uninterrupted sleep spent 8.4 minutes longer than average online (20% of the total task time). Had the task been one hour, this would translate into 12 additional minutes of cyberloafing! These differences were smaller for participants who scored highly on conscientiousness, as these types of employees were believed to try harder to control these cyberloafing impulses.
Based on this research, employers should do more to emphasize the importance of getting a good night’s rest. They should also be sensitive to making their employees work overtime and realize that trying to get more out of their employees by making them work into the night could end up causing lost productivity in the long run.
human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management
source for picture: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Computing_g368-Woman_Hand_Typing_On_Keyboard_p98767.html
Job Do-ers and Job Watchers Aren’t Interchangeable (IO Psychology)
Topic: Job Analysis, Measurement
Publication: International Journal of Selection and Assessment (SEP 2012)
Article: Only Incumbent Raters in O*NET? Oh Yes! Oh No!
Authors: P. T. Walmsley, M. W. Natali, and J. P. Campbell
Reviewed By: Megan Leasher
The Department of Labor hosts and updates a massive database for a growing number of occupations. This web-based database, O*NET, is available for free to the public and serves as the nation’s leading resource (and my personal nerd playground) for job information. O*NET is a candyland of knowledge that can be leveraged for many purposes and audiences. Human resource professionals can use it to create job descriptions, develop criteria for selection and performance appraisal systems, and structure compensation systems. Students and job seekers will find value in researching future roles and career paths.
The occupational information in the O*NET database is based on a series of descriptors that identify work skills, abilities, activities, and the context in which work takes place. Descriptor data comes from two ratings sources: incumbents who are currently employed in the job as well as occupational analysts, commonly industrial and organizational psychologists who are expertly trained in job analysis. Although most agree that ratings from each of these data sources provide unique job information, others have proposed eliminating the analysts’ ratings in an effort to conserve resources. But instead of simple elimination, some have suggested that a series of statistical calculations could accurately estimate how the analyst would rate each work descriptor, thus substituting an imputed “rating” for what a real, live human analyst actually observing the job would rate.
This research tested this idea, to see if the would-be ratings of an analyst could be accurately computed. If so, it would suggest that analysts would no longer be needed to rate job descriptors, as we could simply calculate what their ratings would be. Who needs more humans when you have stats to compute their thoughts? The authors tested multiple statistical methods, all combinations of work descriptors, and substituted calculated ratings in both directions (incumbent for analyst and vice versa). Overall, they found that it was not possible to accurately substitute one group’s rating for another, nor accurately calculate the would-be ratings of analysts. We need both analyst and incumbent viewpoints for the most accurate O*NET database.
Said another way, the analyst is a job watcher. Peering in from the outside, the job watcher is trained in the art of observation and the science of how to operationalize and measure it. There is most likely a lab coat involved. And a pocket protector of some sort. Then you have the incumbent, the job do-er. The job do-er is trained in the mental and physical steps required to accomplish the tasks of the job. Picture the 30-year-tenured employee who could tell you “back in the good ol’ days” stories about every single nuance and technology and equipment aspect that has changed, as well as every horrible manager they have worked for. It’s like a battle over who knows more (or better?): the job do-er or the job watcher. The answer here, is neither. Both the do-er and the watcher capture valuable, meaningful aspects of the job that the other cannot. They are not mathematically substitutable. They are not imputable from a series of formulas. They are a necessary pair, each unique in the value they bring, much like ranch dressing and Louisiana hot sauce on my pizza.
In reading this article, it sounded very much like the same debates over using 360° feedback tools for development. People have different perspectives for a variety of reasons. These perspectives have been found, for the most part, to be unique enough (from a statistical perspective) that we should pay attention to the different viewpoints. By doing this, we are able to see a more complete, holistic view of a person in order to provide every angle of unique developmental feedback possible. O*NET descriptor ratings appear to follow suit; we want to tell the best, most accurate story possible, and the moral of the story is that one storyteller simply cannot accomplish this alone.
human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management
5 Challenges to Overcome When Searching for a Job
Topic: Recruiting, Unemployment
Publication: Personnel Psychology
Article: Navigating the black hole: Explicating layers of job search context and
adaptational responses
Authors: Wanberg, C., Basbug, G., Van Hooft, E.A.J., & Samtani, A.
Reviewer: Neil Morelli
Researchers have typically studied the job search process by focusing on how hard someone is trying, what method they are using, or how their personality predicts the former. Instead, Wanberg et al. recently defined the contextual variables, or situational demands, that affect a person’s job search by categorizing interviews with over 70 white-collar job seekers. They placed the responses into five categories that describe the demands of the job search:
1. Omnibus: These are the overall environmental aspects of the job searching process that can potentially affect all the other aspects; for example, national economic conditions and the stigmas associated with the person’s employment status. In other words, these are demands from “it just being the way it is.”
2. Organizational: These demands are experienced when an organization insists on perfect fit (“buyers market”) or publishes vague or dated advertising about the job. The frequency of these demands can vary from organization to organization, but that makes them no less frustrating.
3. Social: We’ve all heard it, network network network. These contextual demands include the frustrations of not having an expansive network, or the hit your network takes when you become unemployed.
4. Task: These demands are those that come from the job search itself: depersonalization due to technology (automatic responses or automated resume scanners), uncertainty with what to do next, or repeated rejections.
5. Personal: These demands hit closest to home. They include the negative impact on home finances and personal relationships, and the stress that comes with accepting lower offers or relocating. These demands are the most proximal because they affect one’s everyday life.
Why list out these demands? Because the authors believe knowledge is power. Knowing these demands on the front end can help future job seekers prepare for what’s to come, as well as encourage them to see these demands as challenges instead of hindrances (a useful coping technique). Understanding these demands is also helpful for HR professionals and recruiters. Making the hiring process less depersonalized and updating job opening information is a useful way to boost your organization’s reputation with job seekers.
human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management
source for picture: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Business_People_g201-Business_People_In_The_Meeting_p40852.html
Workplace humor: Keep it nice
Topic: Personality, Leadership, Fairness
Publication: Personnel Psychology (Winter 2012)
Article: Am I the only one this supervisor is laughing at? Effects of aggressive humor on employee strain and addictive behaviors
Authors: Huo, Y., Lam, W., & Chen, Z.
Reviewed by: Alexandra Rechlin
It’s nice to have a supervisor with a sense of humor, right? It makes work much more pleasant. However, have you ever witnessed a supervisor who thought he was being funny but he was just being mean? If so, that aggressive humor probably had pretty unpleasant consequences.
In a recent study, Yuanyuan Huo and her colleagues examined how a supervisor’s aggressive humor can affect employees’ strain at work and addictive behaviors. If someone uses humor to criticize, belittle, denigrate, or embarrass another person, then that humor is considered aggressive. In this study, employees who were victims of a supervisor’s aggressive humor showed more strain at work. In addition, that strain often led to addictive behaviors like problematic alcohol, tobacco, or Internet abuse. The researchers also found that this relationship was stronger for an employee when the supervisor used aggressive humor with that particular employee but not with others.
These results indicate that humor is not necessarily good; aggressive humor should be avoided. Aggressive humor has negative consequences on employees, and employee performance will likely be reduced due to strain and potentially negative coping mechanisms. If the employee ends up with an addiction as a result of that strain, then the supervisor has contributed to a potentially life-long problem for that employee. Managers should receive training to better understand what type of humor is acceptable and unacceptable in the workplace, as many people may use aggressive humor without even realizing the harm it is causing others. Finally, because aggressive humor leads to addictive behavior indirectly through strain, company programs aimed to reduce employee strain could possibly prevent many of the negative consequences found in this study.
human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management
Happy New Year!
We are so thankful for our readers, and for a great 2012. Looking forward to more great reading in 2013!
Thanks for coming back!
The I/O at Work Team
