-
Putting Corporate Quotas to Work for Women
Men outnumber women in corporate leadership positions to such an extent that in the US that there are more top chief executives named John than there are women leading major companies. Across the world, women are underrepresented in leadership positions. One tactic to help break down barriers is for companies or governments to institute requirements or quotas designed to increase women’s representation in leadership positions. But do these well-intentioned tactics actually work?
-
Failure, Emotions, and Explaining It to Your Boss
We all make mistakes in the workplace at one point or another, but is there an optimal way to explain it to your supervisor? In a 2015 paper published by Europe’s Journal of Psychology, David and Hareli Shlomo and APS Fellow Ursula Hess investigated whether showing emotion (or the lack thereof) and whether admitting guilt, blaming someone else, or giving an ambiguous response after a service failure could impact the believability of an employee’s account and their chances of being fired or promoted. The researchers recruited business school alumni from the University of Haifa in Israel to participate in an online experiment.
-
There’s a Better Way to Manage Time Management
For many people, it feels as if we have more to do and less time to do it in than ever before: children need to be fed, bosses need you to stay late, and someone needs to get the car to the mechanic. Juggling all of our responsibilities can make it feel as though there just isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish everything. To wrangle our crunched calendars, we turn to “productivity hacks” and the newest time-saving apps, but new research suggests that maybe we would be better off spending some time managing our time management.
-
Psychological Training for Entrepreneurs Helps Fight Poverty
In 2015, Uganda was named the world’s most entrepreneurial country, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). Although 28% of adults in Uganda own or co-own a business, around 70% of new businesses collapse within two years. "Ugandans are good at starting enterprises but have a high failure rate," Charles Ocici, executive director of Enterprise Uganda told The Guardian. "It is one thing to own economic assets, and it is another to run a business and generate sustainable income." In a new article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, psychological scientists Michael Frese, Michael M.
-
Breaking Bad News Doesn’t Have To Be So Bad
In many situations, it's not just what you say, but how you say it that matters. In the 2009 movie Up in the Air, George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a full-time corporate "downsizer" known for his finesse in firing people. When Ryan starts training a younger colleague on the art of the layoff, his first piece of advice is to never use the word “fired.” Losing a job is one of the most stressful events that can happen to someone, but does candy-coating the bad news actually help soften the blow? Led by Manuela Richter and Cornelius J.
-
Is Success in Our Genes?
Many factors influence the course of a person’s career, from a strong personal motivation to succeed to a leg up because of a family connection. One factor that psychological scientists are increasingly exploring is the extent to which our professional success is shaped by our genes. In a recent study, published in Psychological Science, a team of researchers led by Daniel W. Belsky of Duke University School of Medicine investigated the link between genetics and upward social mobility.
