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The Ticking Clock
You’re sitting at your computer in the middle of a busy work day, merrily tapping away at your keyboard, when all of a sudden you look up at your clock, and panic strikes. That meeting you should have been in started 10 minutes ago! As you rush to join your colleagues you may wonder, What does my tardiness say about me as an employee? Will my colleagues think less of me? I hope I’m not the only one who’s late. So what does meeting lateness actually say about us as employees? Unfortunately, little research has specifically examined the definition, correlates, and implications of meeting lateness.
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Bonuses More Satisfying When Spent on Others, Study Suggests
The holiday bonuses that employers began giving to their staffs at the turn of the last century have been shrinking — and even disappearing at some organizations — ever since the economy tumbled several years ago. But it turns out those end-of-the-year cash rewards may not be an effective way to motivate workers, anyway. A recent study suggests that encouraging employees to give money to others is a better morale booster than simply giving them cash to spend on themselves. In a recent report on PLOS One, a team of psychological scientists and business scholars discussed their findings on the effectiveness of “prosocial bonuses,” such as donations to charities on an employee’s behalf.
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Are You a Career Adapter?
Over the course of your career, you’ll change jobs, get promoted, take on new responsibilities, encounter new technologies, and adjust to new supervisors, co-workers and subordinates. You might assume that your ability to navigate through those changes rests in large part on your personality traits. But new behavioral research paints a more nuanced view of what scientists call career adaptability—the ability to manage existing and impending career challenges. An international team of vocational psychologists recently developed a new measure, the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS), to assess how individuals manage their career development.
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It’s Not That Easy Being Mean
An impatient commuter shoves us out of the way to get onto the subway train. The bullying boss enjoys berating us in front of colleagues. We routinely deal with people who seem socially reckless, quick to retaliate at any perceived slight, and unremorseful if not downright sadistic. And some of us ourselves can spew misery on our colleagues, friends, and family members. In truth, though, the modern mantra “mean people suck” fails to capture many underlying drivers of aggression, cruelty, and hostility — traits that often fire up rampant conflict in the workplace.
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Cell Phones on Planes? Forget About Getting Work Done
Last month the US Federal Communications Commission announced that it may allow airlines to experiment with permitting passengers to use cell phones during flights. That’s good news if you need to make some business calls during a long trip. The downside is that you’ll have to listen to other passengers gab away on their own handhelds — something you already endure if you commute on a train or bus to work. But aren’t conversations between two of your fellow passengers just as distracting or annoying? And what about the screaming baby in the row behind you?
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Beware the Long-Winded Leader
The most overbearing talkers in the office can be bad for business. Whether it’s in the conference room or by the water cooler, they display an incessant need to dominate every meeting and every conversation. And if they’re in positions of authority, they can douse any ideas from others. But loquacious folks who aren’t in leadership roles don’t get away with controlling the dialogue, new research shows. Their colleagues simply don’t allow them to hijack a meeting or override anyone else’s input. And that leads to better sharing of information and ideas. The research is based on experimental studies led by psychological scientist Leigh Plunkett Tost of the University of Michigan.
