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July 18, 2014
By: Allison Sheehan
If you walk into a dark, unfamiliar room, what is your first instinct? Probably to find the nearest light and turn it on. If you’re stressed and under a lot of pressure at school or work, why do people say, “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel?” And why was there an Oprah quote on my Starbucks cup today, telling me to “know what sparks the light in [me],” and to “use that light to illuminate the world”? Finding “the light” is a common thing that people are searching for.
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July 15, 2014
By Janet Max Are you a POS scholar? Are you attending the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management? AOM 2014 features more than 25 sessions with elements related to Positive Organizational Scholarship. Sessions include “Thrive! Energizing Ourselves and Others as Academics,” “The Conditions for Compassion,” and “An HR Perspective on Coping and Stress […]
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July 9, 2014
The Guardian | Amt Westervelt
Open-book finance has the ability to break down the divide between workers and management, and to increase productivity. Wayne Baker, professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, teaches open-book finance, and says that over the past few years, there’s been increased interest in understanding this practice. He explains that “It’s a big change, but companies that do it achieve efficiencies and engagement at such a high level that it’s really worth it.” Ari Weinszeig, co-founder of Zingerman’s, explains how this practice has helped his company immensely — “When people know what the game is, they play better,” because when you teach everyone in the company how the business works, they “pay attention in different ways,” because “they feel like they’re part of a team that helps that work.”
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July 7, 2014
Inc. | Will Yakowicz
Wayne E. Baker, professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and Nathaniel Bulkley, who consults on organizational effectiveness issues for Innovation Places, have done research that proves the success of using two types of generalized reciprocity at work to create a cooperative culture. “Pay it forward, where someone helps another person and that person assists a third, and reputation rewarding, where a person who is known to pitch in receives more from co-workers than less helpful colleagues.” They conducted this research on MBA students, and found that after the initial required assigned to “pay it forward” and help fellow students, along with asking their own questions, the students continued to use this practice. “Over time, rewarding reputation and paying it forward may have created a virtuous cycle of cooperation,” the two write. Many other companies have also started to use this strategy, and the results show nothing but success.
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July 5, 2014
The New York Times | Jennifer Conlin
The unique business model that focuses on employee’s wellbeing and engagement, used by Zingerman’s, has been studied by many people, including Wayne Baker, professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, who has turned this research into four case studies. The longstanding successes Zingerman’s has had, and their employee and customer satisfaction, has proven that their business model is one that companies should strive to adopt and implement. This business model is “one that has produced impressive growth while engaging employees who enjoy the opportunity to help run the businesses and even to start new ones.”
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July 3, 2014
By: Allison Sheehan
At last week’s Lunch and Learn, Chris Myers, PhD student in Management & Organizations, explained that “sharing experiences and reflecting jointly with others enhances individual learning.” By sharing, we are able to learn vicariously through the person we’re sharing with.
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July 1, 2014
The Guardian | Amy Westervelt
A focus on workplace happiness and engagement is becoming more popular as companies are starting to discover the benefits of having happy employees. Professor Kim Cameron explains, “Money follows positive, virtuous practices.” However, there needs to be a balance to make sure keeping positivity in the workplace stays professional.
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June 30, 2014
HBR | Gretchen Gavett
Research done by Wayne E. Baker, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and Nathaniel Bulkley of Innovation Places’, shows the power of “paying it forward.” “Essentially, paying it forward is cognitively easy, at least compared to remembering who is helpful, and how often. ‘The sole requirement [of paying it forward] is that a participant be aware of his or her own experience,’ they write.”
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June 30, 2014
By: Adam Grant
When you become the head of a major company, you instantly join the ranks of the rich and famous. Ethical questions aside, new evidence shows that the perks of celebrity life are bad for companies. Here are six situations that CEOs might want to refuse.
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June 27, 2014
By: Allison Sheehan
It’s a hot summer day, and all you want is vanilla ice cream. So you go to the ice cream shop, and you see they have vanilla ice cream. You’re happy. They have the ice cream you wanted, so now you can end this incessant craving you’ve been having. But wait – now you see that they offer over twenty different ice cream toppings. Instead of getting plain vanilla ice cream, you decide to add cookie dough, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a cherry on top. You would have been perfectly happy if you had walked away with your plain vanilla ice cream, but now that you have all these toppings, you’re even happier.
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June 24, 2014
Forbes | Ruth Blatt
After Adam Lambert filled in for Freddie Mercury on Queens latest tour, the reviews of the performance “were mostly ecstatic.” This brought up the question of whether one can “evaluate the effectiveness of a mature organization using the same criteria we use for upstarts.” Ross professors Robert Quinn and Kim Cameron’s study of “Organizational Life Cycles and Shifting Criteria of Effectiveness: Some Preliminary Evidence,” was used to answer this question.
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June 23, 2014
By: Adam Grant
Here are some of my favorite surprising studies. What do they have in common?
–People are more likely to buy jam when they’re presented with 6 flavors than 24.
–After inspecting a house, real estate agents thought it was $14,000 more valuable when the seller listed it at $149,900 than $119,900.
–When children play a fun game and then get rewarded for it, they lose interest in playing the game once the rewards are gone.
–People conserve more energy when they see their neighbors’ consumption rates.
–If you flip a coin six times, people think Heads-Heads-Heads-Tails-Tails-Tails is less likely than Heads-Tails-Tails-Heads-Heads-Tails, even though the two are equally likely.
–Managers underestimate the intrinsic motivation of their employees.
They’ve all appeared in the media as research done by behavioral economists, when in fact they were done by psychologists.
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