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Showing posts with the label organizational behavior

Is Your Best Performer Pathological or "Driven"?

High performers are welcome in any business and people who consistently meet their performance objectives are likely to be promoted over those who do n’t. Some employees are so "driven" they spend every waking moment accomplishing their career goals and soon become budding stars . Is your best performer "driven" or is there something else going on ? Driven people are highly motivated and focused on their goals . They make compromises in their life to reach those goals . There are times when they make mistakes and make a wrong choice , but ultimately they continue on the right path . They believe that through persistence and hard work they can obtain what is important to them. Pathological workers may also show high drive toward their goals and similarly make mistakes . However , they also carry with them other traits such as hostility , risk-taking , deceitfulness, callousness,

Designing Your Team for Effectiveness

Teams are a popular method of organizational problem solving. The very design of the team is often ignored in an effort to hastily put together a team of people who can achieve goals in the least amount of time and effort. However, the formation of the team, personalities contained within, and the background of members will have an unyielding influence on whether or not that team will succeed in its endeavors. Let us consider a problem a department is having in terms of making themselves more efficient and customer focused. The standard approach is to gather together the leadership team of the department and demand that they come up with new solutions. They will certain put their minds together and come up with a laundry list of solutions of which they have already said before. The problem is that we are not necessarily sure that this will lead to the "right" solution. The right solution is that which is comprehensive and streamlines processes while raising customer satisfa

Persuasion and Manipulation Among Managers

Persuasion and manipulation are two workplace activities that follow many of the same paths yet have different means of achieving their ends. Some managers will engage in persuasion while others will lean towards manipulation. Those who are engaged in persuasion are more likely to gain the respect of their employees while those who are more manipulative often receive immediate gratification but loose out on long-term effectiveness. Companies should recognize and remove manipulators to ensure a positive work environment. Persuasion is an attempt to show certain facts in a positive light without hiding or leaving out crucial information. It is generally a positive experience. Ultimately the listener can make a free choice on the issue as all the important information is presented to them. The influencer seeks to create a prevailing logic that both parties can agree with that leads from agreement to performance. Manipulation attempts to leave out particular facts and distort their mean

Call for Papers: 2014 Summer Global Symposium on Women Leadership

Date: July 25-26, 2014 Los Angeles, United States of America Web address: http://www.uofriverside.com/conferences/global-womens-leadership-symposium/ Submission of an abstract, topic of interest or proposal will be accepted for the purpose of registration. Time schedule to be determined later after all the papers have been received. 30 minute presentation per paper. Topics: Abstracts of research papers in 150-200 words are invited from female professionals, females of any age interested in career growth, men who are supportive of women in leadership, executives, supervisors, managers, administrators, educators and Ph.D. scholars/Post Graduate students on contemporary issues in Women's Leadership befitting any of the conference tracks mentioned below. Topics of interest for submissions include, but are not limited to: -Gender and history -Women in the university: benefits and barriers -Market limitations -Glass ceilings -Trials and triumphs -Economics of G

Book Review: Theory U-Leading from the Future as it Emerges

Dr. Otto Scharmer builds off of previous research in the concept of presencing of self to further help executives and managers find a more creative and genuine place within their management style. His book Theory U Leading from the Future as it Emerges discusses understanding the blind spot, entering the U field, and presencing. Decision-makers who can enter the U field are capable of managing to a higher and more accurate degree than those who don't. Theory U is a change management process originally developed by Dr.Friedrich   Glasl and Dirk Lemson. They sought to develop a method by which consciousness is used to handle conflict and processes manifested in relationship dynamics and conflicts. The Theory was then picked up by Dr. Otto Scharmer who included the concepts of presencing and capitalism. It is this presencing that releases creative and productive energy. The original theory analyzed technical/instrumental subsystems, social subsystems and cultural subsys

Developing Strong Socialization Processes in the Workplace

New employees are often confused about the expectations and requirements of their new positions and the organization where they work. These uncertainties result in feelings of stress, confusion, anxiety, awkwardness and uneasiness (Louis, 1980). Such feelings create insecure inaction that begins to clear up the longer the employee is employed. Yet managers can speed up the socialization process by developing stronger communication networks and transference of information through a proper socialization process. One of the first things new employees look for to clear up this confusion is a point of reference. This typically is the person they are first introduced. Such points of reference are based upon interpersonal communication and the information they can secure through the work network. This point of reference is fostered from another employee, organizational information, or their managers (Barge & Schlueter, 2004). It is important for managers to understand precisel