Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.

This book examines how people come together in an organized way without being in an organization. A trend of the age is for communication tools to bring people together and help determine who we are and what we do. Social tools allow many people to come together and communicate at a faster and faster rate, such as through “flash mobs” that occur, perform, and disband within minutes. Everyone can be a media outlet of information. Technology has lowered the cost of failure, so many people will try things that only a few people used to try.

Source: Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. By Clay Shirky, 2008, Penguin Press, NY, ISBN: 978-1-59420-153-0.

A New Definition of Employee Commitment to The Organization

Managers used to believe that employee commitment was defined as: a feeling of attachment to the organization, the perceived costs of leaving it, and a feeling of obligation to stay with the company. Today’s best managers know that commitment means that an employee is willing to go above and beyond their regular job and perform acts on behalf of the organization. Having organizational commitment means that an employee: 1) has an emotional attachment to the organization, 2) identifies with and agrees to organizational norms, goals, & values, and 3) is ready to serve the organization when called upon to do so.

Source: Solinger, O. N., Van Olffen, W., & Roe, R. A. 2008. Beyond the three component model of organizational commitment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 70-83.

Employees May Believe That They Are More Objective Than They Actually Are

Organizations should make decisions that affect employees based on data and facts. However, managers know that sometimes employees can make employment decisions, such as hiring and firing, based on personal biases and prejudices, instead of on real information. Today’s best managers know that the problem is even worse than was thought. When employees believe that their biases and prejudices are factual, then those employees are more likely to act on their erroneous beliefs. This means that today’s best managers should help employees rely on facts and figures, and not trust that their own personal views are accurate when making employee decisions.

Source: Uhlmann, E. L., & Cohen, G. L. 2008. “I think it, therefore it’s true: Effects of self-perceived objectivity on hiring discrimination. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 104, 207-223.

Employees Who Are Passionate About Their Job Would Take A Pay Cut

Today’s best managers know that the best job performance comes from employees who are passionate about the work that they do. Most employees in the United States and around the world, about 80%, say that they would take a pay cut if they could pursue their dream job. More and more employees are willing to forego pay in order to have more fulfilling and meaningful careers, instead of getting higher pay. This is especially interesting in that even with a struggling economy, employees are willing to get paid less in order to have a job that they are really passionate about.

Source: Many workers would take pay cut for the ‘dream job’. HRfocus. 2008, July. Page 9.

Employee Monitoring Of Other Employees Can Result In Successful Performance

Managers usually monitor their employees and make assessments about their job performance. Monitoring can be merely observing employee behaviors, or it can be advisory, in which the monitor corrects poor performance. Today’s best managers know that employee monitoring of other employees can successfully influence employee job performance, but only when done correctly. When employees are paid in a traditional, individual performance-based way, then employee observation-style monitoring of other employees can result in improved productivity levels. When employees are paid in a group-based manner, then advisory-style monitoring can also result in improved performance.

Source: Welbourne, T. N., & Ferrante, C. J. 2008, April. To monitor or not to monitor. Group & Organization Management, 33, 139-162.

Work Helps Employees Maintain Their Health And Well-Being

Today’s best managers know that work is important and plays a big role in determining employees’ psychological health and well-being. When large numbers of employees lose jobs, the result is neighborhood decline, increased crime, and declines in family relationships, and even increases in substance abuse, violence, and apathy. Work helps employees: have access to resources that help ensure survival, have access to social support and personal relationships, and determine their own course and direction in life. Today’s best managers know that work is more than just a job. Work helps in the development, expression, and maintenance of employee health and well-being.

Source: Blustein, D. L. 2008, May-June. The role of work in psychological health and well-being. American Psychologist, 63, 228-240.

Improve Employee Social Environment To Help Increase Employee Psychological Health

Today’s best managers know that they should spend a significant amount of time improving the quality of the social environment for their employees. Managers who would like to help improve the psychological health of their employees should pay attention to the quality of interpersonal relationships between employees and their supervisors. Managers should also focus on actions that enhance the interaction of team members and foster team work, such as helping employees bond through activities like common work breaks and offsite meetings and retreats.

Source: Rousseau, V., Aube, C., Chiocchio, F., Boudrias, J.-S., & Morin, E. M. 2008. Social interactions at work and psychological health: The role of leader-member exchange and work group integration. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 1755-1777.

Tribes: Why You Need To Lead Us.

This book examines tribes and how they need leaders. A tribe is a group of people who are connected to each other, who are connected to a leader, and who are connected to an idea. Tribes are all about faith, and belief about an idea and about a community. Lots of tribes now exist because of communication technology that connects the members. Tribes need leaders, so why don’t you lead one? Leaders of tribes help move shared interest to passion, provide tools for communication, and leverage the tribe to help it grow and gain new members.

Source: Tribes: Why You Need To Lead Us. By Seth Godin, 2008, Portfolio, NY, ISBN: 978-1-59184-233-0.

Tell Stories to Help Improve Employee Commitment To the Organization

Today’s best managers know that telling stories is an important indicator of employee commitment to the organization. There are two primary purposes for telling stories in organizations: grounding and instruction. Employees tell stories to point out and clarify key values, called grounding. Employees tell stories about how things are done, called instruction. Organizational commitment means that employees have strong feelings about and identify with the goals and values of the organization. The more frequently that employees tell stories about the organization, the more strongly committed they tend to be about that organization, and the better able to withstand turbulence at work.

Source: McCarthy, J. F. 2008, April. Short stories at work: Storytelling as an indicator of organizational commitment. Group & Organization Management, 33, 163-193.

Sales Volume And Customer Loyalty Can Make Small Businesses Profitable

Today’s best managers know the secrets for making a profit even when you are a small business with limited resources. The key is doing whatever it takes to build a loyal customer base. Use technology whenever you can to help cut costs and reduce errors. Standardize your process and practices, cut costs where possible, and train extensively. Work hard to develop relationships with your customers by immersing yourself in the lives of your customers. If you develop enough sales volume, then you can be successful, even if you don’t make much per item sold.

Source: Akula, V. 2008, June. Business basics at the base of the pyramid. Harvard Business Review, 53-57.

Mentoring Relationships Can Have Strengths As Well As Weaknesses

A mentor can be a great teacher for a protégé. However, today’s best managers are aware of potential problems that can occur between mentors and protégés. Three main categories of mentor-protégé problems have been identified: protégé performance problems, interpersonal relationship problems, and destructive relationships. Protégés have reported that their mentors neglected them, sabotaged them, and competed with them. On the other hand, mentors have reported that their protégés were: unwilling to learn, deceitful, jealous, and competitive. Today’s best managers balance the potential benefits with the potential weaknesses of mentor-protégé relationships.

Source: Eby, L. T., Durley, J. R., Evans, S. C., & Ragins, B. R. 2008. Mentors’ perceptions of negative mentoring experiences: Scale development and nomological validation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 358-373.

Motivation To Gather Information Results In Finding More and Better Information

Today’s best managers know the importance of information gathering for effective managerial performance. Managers who have access to more and better sources of information are better able to make sense of their environment, are more effective at spotting trends, and are more able to achieve higher levels of performance compared to managers without such information. The larger the social network, the more time managers spend looking for more information, and the more information they find. However, having a large social network is only helpful for managers who are motivated to take advantage of the information that is available from that network.

Source: Anderson, M. H. 2008. Social networks and the cognitive motivation to realize network opportunities: A study of managers’ information gathering behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 51-78.

Positively Coping With Change Can Lessen Employee Sick Time, Intentions to Quit, and Turnover

Today’s best managers know the importance of managing employees’ reactions to organizational changes. Sometimes employees view organizational changes as harmful and threatening. When employees have negative feelings about change, they can then have increased sick leave and higher intentions to quit, and can be more likely to leave organizations entirely. Today’s best managers discuss organizational changes with employees and that helps reduce uncertainty about change. They help employees to vent their feelings about the changes. They also show employees the positive side of changes, such as job security, and new opportunities for advancement, and that helps reduce negative employee reactions to change.

Source: Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. J., & Prussia, G. E. 2008. Employee coping with organizational change: An examination of alternative theoretical perspectives and models. Personnel Psychology, 61, 1-36.

The Six Characteristics of Great Executers

Today’s best managers know the six traits shared by people who are great at getting things done: 1) they carefully consider matters that come to them and make a decision, rather than avoid making decisions about difficult things, 2) they stay realistic about what they can and can’t accomplish with the time and money they have, 3) they set clear and accurate goals, 4) they reward people who perform well and don’t reward poor performers, 5) they coach and guide their employees, and 6) they know themselves well, such as what they can and can’t do.

Source: Bossidy, L. 2008. Executive orientation: Cultivate six characteristics. Leadership Excellence, 25/3, p. 9.

Relevance: Making Stuff That Matters.

This book explains how to create relevant brands and make your product matter. Relevance and success will come to those who listen more than talk, and who deliver more than just advertise their product. The author states that profit should not be your primary goal. Instead, make a relevant product and profit happens when you do everything else right. The book explains about relevant solutions, which are: insights, innovations, investment, design, experience, and value. The book describes how to control the conversation with customers, and provides an incredible amount of company examples.

Source: Relevance: Making Stuff That Matters. By Tim Manners, 2008, Portfolio, NY, ISBN: 978-1-59184-220-0.

Fair Processes and Focus on Others Can Motivate Employees to Take Charge at Work

Taking charge means to go beyond one’s job description and help bring about new and innovative change to an organization. Today’s best managers understand that employees who are more self-centered and strive to achieve tend not to take charge compared to employees who are less self-centered and less interested in striving to achieve. Also, when employees have a high sense of duty to help others, then they are more likely to take charge compared to employees with a low sense of duty. Employees may be more likely to take charge when they believe their organization uses fair processes to make employee decisions.

Source: Moon, H., Kamdar, D., Mayer, D. M., & Takeuchi, R. 2008. Me or we? The role of personality and justice as other-centered antecedents to innovative citizenship behaviors within organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 84-94.

Improving Perceived Customer Value Is The Key To Innovation

Managers used to believe that improving product value was the key to innovation. Today’s best managers know that altering value as defined by the customer is the new key to innovation. For example, recognize that when customers buy new software, they are taking home a CD, but what they are really getting is a new way to perform a desired task. Today’s best managers focus on improving customer value of performing the task and not on improving the value of the CD itself. Find new ways to identify and co-solve customer problems. Customer value is realized, or brought out, in the use of the product.

Source: Michel, S., Brown, S. W., & Gallan, A. S. 2008, Spring. Service-logic innovations: How to innovate customers, not products. California Management Review, 50, 49-64.

Employees Process Positive Information Faster Than Negative Information

Today’s best managers know that employees can process information at varying speeds. For example, employees will process, or think through and make conclusions about, information that is positive faster than they will process negative information. This happens because employees have much more positive information about themselves stored in their brains than they do negative information. When employees hear positive information, then this new positive information quickly matches up with the positive information that is already there. This employee tendency helps explain why employees rapidly absorb positive feedback, but then take more time to process negative feedback.

Source: Unkelbach, C., Fiedler, K., Bayer, M., Stegmueller, M., & Danner, D. 2008. Why positive information is processed faster: The density hypotheis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 36-49.

Sharing Expectations About Communication Can Improve Employee Satisfaction

Today’s best managers know that effective communication is important for employee satisfaction. When employees have similar expectations about the communication process, then they tend to have higher levels of satisfaction. For example, when employees understand how polite and how efficient communication should be, then they tend to be more satisfied on the job. Polite communication refers to being considerate and respectful of one’s co-workers. Efficient communication refers to how truthful, clear, and relevant someone is when they communicate.

Source: Park, H. S. 2008, February. Communication Research, 35, 88-108.

Establish a Plan That Measures Employee Performance

Today’s best managers understand the need for a plan that measures employee performance. The plan should help communicate the vision, mission, strategy and goals to employees. The plan should help define desired performance, motivate employees to perform, and help employees achieve their performance goals. An effective plan should: 1) identify and explain the performance criteria, 2) accurately measure actual employee performance, 3) be continually re-evaluated and updated, and 4) clearly let employees know what is expected of them.

Source: McCoy, J. 2008, July. Align performance with your strategy: Choosing the right team matters. Leadership Excellence, 25, p. 17.