Monitor and Address Complaints Quickly To Keep Employees From Quitting

Today’s best managers know how to avoid a stampede of employees leaving the company. A mass exodus can happen when two or more individuals make a complaint to their manager. The manager then does not adequately address or resolve the complaint. Then, the problem escalates as employees continue to discuss the complaint with each other, and the problem becomes more serious than it was at first. As a result, a large number of employees then leave the organization. Today’s best managers know to monitor and address employee complaints quickly and thoroughly, so that things don’t get out of hand, which helps keep large groups of employees from quitting the company.

Source: Bartunek, J. M., Huang, Z., & Walsh, I. J. 2008. The development of a process model of collective turnover. Human Relations, 61, 5-38.

Pay Satisfaction Can Be Low For Employees Who Compare Themselves to the Highest Paid Employees

Employees tend to compare their pay levels to other individuals in order to decide whether they are satisfied with their pay or not. Employees tend to be dissatisfied when they are paid less than the highest paid individuals in their same field with the same level of skill and experience. Interestingly, employees also tend to be dissatisfied when they are paid more than the lowest paid individuals in their same line of work who have similar skills and experience. However, the level of pay dissatisfaction was much lower when compared to the lowest paid employees versus comparison to the highest paid employees.

Source: Harris, M. M., & Anseel, F., & Lievens, F. 2008. Keeping up with the Joneses: A field study of the relationships among upward, lateral, and downward comparisons and pay level satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 665-673.

Mutual Contributions To Team Success Can Result in Team Members Contributing Even More

More and more organizations are requiring employees to work together in teams. Team success often depends on how well team members cooperate with each other. Today’s best managers know that some team members may not contribute, but instead may ride on the efforts of other team members. To decrease this problem, managers can help create a feeling of reciprocity, meaning that team members see how much everyone is contributing and benefitting in return. When team members perceive a reciprocal relationship, then they contribute even more and overall team performance will continue to rise.

Source: Biele, G., Rieskamp, J., & Czienskowski, U. 2008. Explaining cooperation in groups: Testing models of reciprocity and learning. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 106, 89-105.

Employees Can Fake Emotional Intelligence So Use Additional Measures When Making Decisions

Today’s best managers know the importance of being able: 1) to recognize one’s own emotions, 2) to manage those emotions, 3) to recognize the emotions that others are experiencing, and 4) to manage our relationships with others based on those emotions. The ability to do these four behaviors is called emotional intelligence or EI. Today’s best managers don’t hire, fire, or promote an employee solely based on emotional intelligence because it is possible to fake being emotionally intelligent. For example, employees may work extra hard to make a good impression when they are being evaluated, but then may not act this way normally on the job.

Source: Day, A. L., & Carroll, S. A. 2008. Faking emotional intelligence (EI): Comparing response distortion on ability and trait-based EI measures. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 761-784.

Ahead Of The Curve: Two Years At Harvard Business School

This book examines the author’s two-year experience as a student at the Harvard Business School. He is happy that he went to Harvard, but is critical of the experience. He says that HBS is about making money, not about changing the world. The two main foci of the curriculum were to make money and to give back. He wonders why his classmates pushed so hard to get jobs after they graduated where they knew they would be miserable. He wonders how he can succeed financially without losing his soul in the business world. In sum, he says that Harvard Business School should produce more problem-solvers and fewer wind bags.

Source: Ahead Of The Curve: Two Years At Harvard Business School. By Philip Delves Broughton, 2008, Penguin Press, ISBN: 978-1-59420-175-2.

The Need to Change Organizations Can Decrease Over Time

Mangers used to believe that organizations changed more and more often over time. It was thought that change was like a snowball rolling down a hill that got bigger and bigger. The amount of organizational change increased as managers improved their skills at making effective changes and saw change as an effective way to improve their organization. However, today’s best managers know that successful organizational changes can lead to less and less need for more change. The more that you successfully help change an organization, then the less likely that you may have to help change that organization again in the future.

Source: Beck, N., Bruederl, J. & Woywode, M. 2008. Momentum or deceleration? Theoretical and methodological reflections on the analysis of organizational change. Academy of Management Journal, 51: 413-435.

Giving Employees A Voice When Giving Them Negative Feedback Can Bring Benefits

Managers say that giving negative feedback to their employees is one of their least favorite activities. As a result, they tend to avoid or delay doing it. Today’s best managers know the best way to give negative feedback to employees. The most effective way is to: 1) give employees the opportunity to rate their own performance, 2) give employees some positive feedback along with the negative feedback, and 3) allow employees to respond to your negative feedback of them. Using all three of these feedback methods may be difficult to do, but can be more effective and less risky than not using them.

Source: Lizzio, A., Wilson, K., & MacKay, L. 2008. Managers’ and subordinates’ evaluations of feedback strategies: The critical contribution of voice. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 919-946.

Overall Performance Ratings Can Incorrectly Label Employees

Performance evaluations usually end with employees receiving a single overall performance rating, such as “below expectations” or “exceeds expectations”, etc. Today’s best managers know that overall performance scores can incorrectly “label” an employee and can overlook employee strengths and weaknesses. An overall performance label can hurt employee self-esteem and lower motivation. To help solve this problem, some companies are avoiding overall ratings, and giving employees only scores for specific job performance skills that could be improved or changed. This approach can lead to higher job performance and higher employee self perceptions.

Source: King, J. F. 2008. How managers think: Why the mediated model makes sense. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1, 180-182.

Team Conflict Should Be Managed Rather Than Ignored

Today’s best managers know that conflict can escalate as employees become members of teams with increasingly diverse individuals. Some employees may try to avoid or ignore conflict on their teams, but that strategy won’t be effective. Today’s best managers need to show employees how to cool off when they get into heated team conflicts, then how to slow down and focus on solving conflict problems. Managers need to show employees how to solve the two main types of conflict: task conflict and relationship conflict. Relationship conflict is more likely the cause of conflict that leads to poor team productivity compared to task conflict.

Source: Flanagan, T. A., & Runde, C. E. 2008, May/June. Hidden potential: Embracing conflict can pay off for teams. Leader In Action, 28, 8-12.

How You Present Tasks To Employees May Increase Their Choice To Get Work Done

Today’s best managers know that employees are often faced with the choice of getting work done versus goofing off and doing other things on the web. Which activity employees choose to do can depend on how the items are presented. When a work activity and a fun activity are presented together, then people tend to choose doing some of both, work some and play some. However, when the two activities are presented to people separately, people more often tend to do the right thing, and get the work done, and forego playing around.

Source: Fishbach, A., & Zhang, Y. 2008. Together or apart: When goals and temptations complement versus compete. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 547-559.

Not Meeting Employee Expectations May Not Be As Bad For Organizations As Was Thought

Managers know that unmet employee expectations on the job can negatively affect: organizational commitment, job performance, absenteeism, motivation, job satisfaction, and turnover. However, today’s best managers know that the influence of unmet employee expectations on job attitudes and behaviors may be less powerful than was once thought. Instead, actual experiences may play a more important role than meeting or not meeting employees’ expectations. Although meeting employee expectations is still important, today’s best managers can worry less about the negative results that doing so might have on employees’ behaviors and attitudes on the job.

Source: Brown, S. A., Venkatesh, V., Kuruzovich, J., Massey, A. P. 2008. Expectation confirmation: An examination of three competing models. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 105, 52-66.

Simple Principles: To Think Big And Achieve Success.

Success is different for everyone. What you define as success should be what you aspire to have and to become for your life. The book stresses that individuals should become people of increasing value. The book offers 200 simple principles for achieving success, and is written around three main areas: increased productivity, importance of networking, and taking the initiative and making things happen. Simple principles include: identify the skills that you have, then put them to use, never eat alone, write your own blog, be sure not to burn bridges, don’t wait to be told, make your voice heard, and don’t be afraid to break the mold.

Simple Principles: To Think Big And Achieve Success. By Alex A. Lluch and Helen Eckman, 2008, WS Publishing Group, San Diego, CA, ISBN: 978-1-934386-07-1.

Employees Assess Fairness By Looking at Both the Decision Maker and the Overall Organization

Managers would like employees to believe that organizational processes and outcomes are fair. Today’s best managers know that employees assess the fairness of both people making decisions and the fairness of the organization as a whole. Employees can have higher perceptions of fairness when they trust a decision-maker compared to when they don’t trust that person. Employees may have higher levels of commitment to the organization and may be more likely to be a good citizen when they believe that the overall organization is fair. Improving employee fairness perceptions of the organization doesn’t happen quickly, and must be developed over time.

Source: Choi, J. 2008. Event justice perceptions and employees’ reactions: Perceptions of social entity justice as a moderator. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 513-528.

Agreeable, Conscientious, and Emotionally Stable Employees May Quit Less Frequently

Today’s best managers know that most organizations use job applicant information to predict future job performance. However, they also know that personality information, measured during the application process, may also be important for improving job satisfaction and lowering turnover. Employees who are more conscientious and agreeable are more likely not to quit. An agreeable employee is warm, likeable, and caring. A conscientious employee is dependable, prepared, and detail oriented. Employees who are less emotionally stable may be more likely to quit. Employees who are low in emotional stability tend to be unsure about their ability to perform their job. Using personality information in your hiring process may help lower employee turnover.

Source: Zimmerman, R. D. 2008. Understanding the impact of personality traits on individuals’ turnover decisions: A meta-analytic path model. Personnel Psychology, 61, 309-348.

Pay Arrangements Tend To Influence Employee Productivity

Today’s best managers know that how employees are paid can influence their productivity levels. Employees in payment arrangements where pay is a function of worker productivity tend to earn more and be more productive than when employees are not in such arrangements. An example of this is a piece rate system where employees make more money when they produce more pieces of product. Unfortunately, this trend tends not to hold for executives or for profit-sharing plans. In general, employees paid on a piece rate basis tend to make more money than those on a fixed rate pay plan.

Source: Pekkarinen, T., & Riddell, C. 2008, April. Performance pay and earnings: Evidence from personnel records. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 61, 297-319.

Macho Behaviors Can Prevent Men From Being Successful

Managers used to believe that male employees where successful when they were mean, macho, roughnecks. Today’s best managers know that jettisoning unnecessary macho behaviors can be more beneficial to an organization than will stereotypical masculine behaviors. Male employees have been found to be successful when they admit mistakes, publicly appreciate their fellow male employees, and talk about the stresses that they face on the job. The characteristics that make male employees successful today include: being open to new information, challenging their assumptions about how things should be done, and admitting when they are wrong.

Source: Ely, R. J., & Meyerson, D. 2008, July-August. Unmasking manly men. Harvard Business Review, 20-21.

Small Behaviors Can Hurt The Company In Big Ways

Today’s best managers avoid doing small things that can undermine organizational success in big ways. Many managers gripe constantly about the horrible state of affairs in their organization. Today’s best managers try to stay positive and up-beat at all times about the company. Many managers hold an “us versus them” view of the organization. For example, saying that you wanted to give an employee a raise, but human resources rejected it. Managers often give low-performing employees passing grades to avoid confronting bad performers. Today’s best managers don’t avoid problems. Instead, they confront and deal with them.

Source: Studer, Q. 2008, July. Accidental saboteur: Smalls sins undermine in a big way. Leadership Excellence, p. 8.

Personality May Influence How Employees Cope With Workplace Stress

Employees can react to workplace stress in different ways. Today’s best managers understand that some employees cope with stress by avoiding stressful situations, but some employees cope by engaging in stressful activities to get them out of the way. How employees react to stress may be related to their personality. For example, out-going employees may be more likely to restructure problems when faced with stresses. Today’s best managers get to know their employees and help them uncover the best ways to cope with stress that will work for their own unique personalities.

Source: Conner-Smith, J. K., & Flachsbart, C. 2008. Relations between personality and coping: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 1080-1107.

The Power of Story: Change Your Story, Change Your Destiny In Business And In Life.

This book examines the power that stories have to change your destiny and change your life. Everything that a manager says is a story. Find the right stories that reflect your ultimate mission and your purpose in life. Get rid of false purposes for your life. Are you really living your story or are you living someone else’s story for you? The three main rules of storytelling are: purpose or what you are living for, truth or your honest and authentic self, and action or what you should start and stop doing in your life. Tap into your four sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual, and you’ll tell great stories.

Source: The Power of Story: Change Your Story, Change Your Destiny In Business And In Life. By Jim Loehr, 2008, Free Press, NY, ISBN: 978-0-7432-9468-3.

Be A Safe Haven To Help Employees Improve Negative Emotions At Work

One of the most common sources of negative emotions at work is the relationship between employees and their boss. Feeling badly about work for a long period of time can lead to burnout, lower job satisfaction, decreased motivation, and increased turnover. Today’s best managers know that one way to help improve employee emotions at work is to become a dependable base of security. Employees may improve their attitudes toward work if they can temporarily go to their manager for support in times of need. Today’s best managers provide employees with a safe haven where they can securely discuss and work through their emotions.

Source: Game, A. M. 2008. Negative emotions in supervisory relationships: The role of relational models. Human Relations, 61, 355-393.