139 posts · 55,683 views
The British Psychology Society's Occupational Digest is a blog dedicated to how psychology matters in the workplace. It follows the success of the award-winning BPS Research Digest which reports on psychology of every flavour. The Occupational Digest continues this spirit of reporting what matters, but keeps its sights firmly on what matters at work. This extends beyond academic findings to knowledge gathered through case studies and expert testimony. The purpose is to share evidence to help us understand work and make the most of it.
BPS Occupational Digest
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- February 22, 2012
- 08:17 AM
- 348 views
What kind of personality helps you engage with work?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Job engagement is one type of wellbeing at work, where an engaged worker is one who both feels positive about work and invests a great deal of energy into it. Engagement has taken the stage from the more passive notion of 'job satisfaction', grabbing the attention of organisations and those who study them. Research has focused on how a job's features make it engaging, but another line of study has begun to understand how personal attributes add to the mix.In this vein, Ilke Inceoglu and Peter Wa........ Read more »
Ilke Inceoglu, & Peter Warr. (2012) Personality and Job Engagement . Journal of Personnel Psychology . info:/
- February 7, 2012
- 09:41 AM
- 372 views
Leadership positions for women are often atop a glass cliff
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Back in 2003, Michelle Ryan checked her pigeonhole and found an article from the business section of The Times in 2003, stating that the ‘triumphant march of women into the country’s boardrooms has wreaked havoc’ on companies' performance. This was to be the spark for a line of enquiry that has borne years of fruitful research, and the story began her DOP keynote tour of the 'glass cliff'. The term riffs on the metaphor of the glass ceiling – the invisible limit which prevents women from........ Read more »
Ryan MK, Haslam SA, Hersby MD, & Bongiorno R. (2011) Think crisis-think female: the glass cliff and contextual variation in the think manager-think male stereotype. The Journal of applied psychology, 96(3), 470-84. PMID: 21171729
- December 20, 2011
- 07:48 AM
- 403 views
Does a man's facial dimensions influence his leadership performance?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
You might notice thatmany studies we cover rely on survey rating data. This reflects thefield's research focus and its desire for 'ecological validity' -examining real-world contexts rather than simplified laboratoryset-ups. Nonetheless, as someone with a heterodox psychologybackground, I find it heartening when studies choose more imaginativemeasures.Here's a great example,entirely rating-free: a study that evaluates whether male CEOappearance affects company performance by actually measuring C........ Read more »
Wong, E., Ormiston, M., & Haselhuhn, M. (2011) A Face Only an Investor Could Love: CEOs' Facial Structure Predicts Their Firms' Financial Performance. Psychological Science, 22(12), 1478-1483. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611418838
- December 19, 2011
- 05:34 AM
- 384 views
Impediments to private sector careers for women in science, engineering, and technology
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Morethan ever, women are taking advanced degrees in SET subjects:science, engineering and technology. Yet a 'leaky pipeline' meanswomen are significantly under-represented at higher levels inacademia. What's the experience of those who take their expertiseinto the private SET sector? A recent study investigates. AuthorsLisa Servon and M Anne Visser surveyed 2,493 women who hold or haveheld SET management positions in private companies, following up withfocus groups. Many women experienced a gri........ Read more »
Servon, L., & Visser, M. (2011) Progress hindered: the retention and advancement of women in science, engineering and technology careers. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(3), 272-284. DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-8583.2010.00152.x
- December 15, 2011
- 03:05 AM
- 2,831 views
Productivity forecasts depend on whether you focus on work completed or time taken
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Peopleestimate small tasks to take longer than they actually do, butunderestimate the time needed for larger tasks, leading to dangerousoverconfidence - a good reason to view projects as series of smallsteps. But what happens when you focus estimates on how much workwill be completed in a fixed time period, as is done in incrementallymanaged projects, common in IT and other industries? A recent articledemonstrates that flipping your focus reverses the biases: peoplebelieve they will be less prod........ Read more »
Halkjelsvik, T., Jørgensen, M., & Teigen, K. (2011) To read two pages, I need 5 minutes, but give me 5 minutes and I will read four: how to change productivity estimates by inverting the question. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25(2), 314-323. DOI: 10.1002/acp.1693
- December 9, 2011
- 12:28 PM
- 567 views
How mixing work incentives put us on the horns of a dilemma
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
To encourage collaboration, many organisations structure incentives so that whole groups are rewarded – or not - based on their collective output. However, the groups-eye view allows for social loafing, where people shirk duties and assume team-mates will carry their load, so it's tempting to keep everyone accountable by adding incentives to individual performance too. Christopher Barnes and his colleagues set out to see just how these mixed incentives turn out in practice.The researchers used........ Read more »
Barnes, C., Hollenbeck, J., Jundt, D., DeRue, D., & Harmon, S. (2010) Mixing Individual Incentives and Group Incentives: Best of Both Worlds or Social Dilemma?. Journal of Management, 37(6), 1611-1635. DOI: 10.1177/0149206309360845
- December 1, 2011
- 09:48 AM
- 573 views
Formal mentoring relationships gain momentum over time
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Thesupport that mentors offer can have considerable benefits, for boththeir proteges and the organisation at large. Recognising this, manydevelop formal mentoring programs to encourage and manage thisprocess. However, such a managed system provides different conditionsto an informal one, where parties identify an alignment of person andcircumstance. Frankie Weinberg and Melenie Lankau at the Universityof Georgia decided to explore what this means for mentorcontributions within formal mentoring r........ Read more »
Weinberg, F., & Lankau, M. (2010) Formal Mentoring Programs: A Mentor-Centric and Longitudinal Analysis. Journal of Management, 37(6), 1527-1557. DOI: 10.1177/0149206309349310
- November 29, 2011
- 05:38 AM
- 586 views
What makes a great programmer?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Experience and brutebrainpower enhance programming skill by helping programming knowledgeto build over time, rather than by directly boosting currentperformance, according to a new article in the Journal of IndividualDifferences.Authors Gunnar RyeBergersen and Jan-Eric Gustafsson put 65 professional programmersthrough their paces for two straight days, tackling twelve meatytasks in the Java language to prove their programming skill; this waswhat the study ultimately wanted to better understand.P........ Read more »
Bergersen, G., & Gustafsson, J. (2011) Programming Skill, Knowledge, and Working Memory Among Professional Software Developers from an Investment Theory Perspective. Journal of Individual Differences, 32(4), 201-209. DOI: 10.1027/1614-0001/a000052
- November 28, 2011
- 05:29 AM
- 490 views
Cynicism is bad for business
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
When someone we trust takes us for a ride, the bump back to earth is something we're unlikely to forget. But when we suspiciously reject an offer from someone else, we may never know what we've missed out on due to too little trust. Over time, such asymmetries in feedback can tip us toward an unwarranted cynical stance. It's clear that cynicism is as unhelpful a bias as naivety: it leads to guarded communication, reduced sharing, and more self-serving biases, all of which may cause interac........ Read more »
Tsay, C., Shu, L., & Bazerman, M. (2011) Naïveté and Cynicism in Negotiations and Other Competitive Contexts. The Academy of Management Annals, 5(1), 495-518. DOI: 10.1080/19416520.2011.587283
- November 21, 2011
- 08:47 AM
- 418 views
Provoking behaviour: training roleplayers at assessment centres
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Assessment days for evaluating work-relevant behaviours ofapplicants or job incumbents often draw on actors to perform as difficultteam-members or curious clients in meeting simulations. A recent study hasshown that these role-playing actors can be trained to effectively weave pre-writtendialogue prompts into the improvised simulations. However, whether this helpsmeasurement of participant behaviours is less clear.The study authors Eveline Schollaert and Filip Lievens gave19 role-players trainin........ Read more »
Schollaert, E., & Lievens, F. (2011) The Use of Role-Player Prompts in Assessment Center Exercises. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 19(2), 190-197. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2389.2011.00546.x
- November 14, 2011
- 11:21 AM
- 576 views
MBA early career challenges: handling others and reconceiving yourself
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
MBA courses are meant to prepare their students to become effective business leaders, and give a lot of attention to that goal. This mid-late career focus makes it reasonable to wonder how MBA graduates are equipped for their earlier career, when they take their classroom knowledge to a managerial role with significant responsibilities. Beth Benjamin and Charles O'Reilly of Stanford University conducted a qualitative investigation into early-career challenges for 55 such “manager-graduates”,........ Read more »
Benjamin, B., & O'Reilly, C. (2011) Becoming a Leader: Early Career Challenges Faced by MBA Graduates. The Academy of Management Learning and Education, 10(3), 452-472. DOI: 10.5465/amle.2011.0002
- November 8, 2011
- 04:30 AM
- 388 views
Extreme numbers influence initial salary offers
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Despite some schools of thought, it's generally to your advantage to name a price first in negotiations. This is thanks to the anchoring effect, where presenting a value skews later judgments towards it. There is plenty of evidence that setting salary for a new role is influenced by relevant anchors, such as the applicant stating their previous pay or expectations for this job. But decision-making research suggests that estimates and attributions can be influenced by even arbitrary and ext........ Read more »
THORSTEINSON, T. (2011) Initiating Salary Discussions With an Extreme Request: Anchoring Effects on Initial Salary Offers1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(7), 1774-1792. DOI: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00779.x
- October 31, 2011
- 11:23 AM
- 412 views
Stuck on your ideas: fixation in group brainstorms
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Brainstorming, when people gather to generate ideas together, is great in theory: many perspectives mesh to generate diverse outputs. In practice, evidence shows that brainstorming groups often perform more poorly than an equivalent number of soloists (often called a 'nominal' group). Some reasons are social, such as a pressure not to offer wild ideas in public; these can be mitigated by changing norms or tweaking process, e.g. sharing ideas anonymously using computers. A recent article focuses ........ Read more »
Kohn, N., & Smith, S. (2011) Collaborative fixation: Effects of others' ideas on brainstorming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25(3), 359-371. DOI: 10.1002/acp.1699
- October 27, 2011
- 08:09 AM
- 386 views
Black and white applicants more engaged by diversity-friendly recruitment websites
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Organisations don't make recruitment websites for their own gratification, but to attract applicants. Ideally, they want informed ones who've gathered a realistic sense of whether the organisation is for them. So recruiters should take note: a recent study has shown that sites that present cues of racial diversity encourage both black and white applicants to browse for longer and encode more information about the organisation.H. Jack Walker and colleagues had expected that racial diversity cues ........ Read more »
Walker, H., Feild, H., Bernerth, J., & Becton, J. (2011) Diversity cues on recruitment websites: Investigating the effects on job seekers' information processing. Journal of Applied Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/a0025847
- October 25, 2011
- 06:14 AM
- 660 views
Charisma involves teachable behaviours
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Is charisma innate or can we acquire it? This question has preoccupied scholars of leadership certainly since Max Weber proposed it was a gift "not accessible to everybody" over a century ago. Research suggests charismatic leadership - the use of ideology and emotion to rouse feeling and motivations - involves explicit behaviours, such as body language techniques, showing moral conviction and using metaphor. Is it possible to teach these so-called charismatic leader tactics (CLTs), and does this........ Read more »
Antonakis, J., Fenley, M., & Liechti, S. (2011) Can Charisma Be Taught? Tests of Two Interventions. The Academy of Management Learning and Education, 10(3), 374-396. DOI: 10.5465/amle.2010.0012
- October 23, 2011
- 06:08 PM
- 391 views
Offering pseudo opportunities for expression to employees leads to conflict and withdrawal of voice
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Giving organisational members a say on work-related issues is well understood to heighten a sense of trust, respect and fairness. But a manager who invites opinions may not be planning to consider them. They may want to increase employee engagement through paying lip service to 'dialogue'; they may be an autocrat who feels obliged to appear consistent with the organisation's ethos; they may be reflexively doing something they were told to do at business school. So what happens when the opportuni........ Read more »
Vries, G., Jehn, K., & Terwel, B. (2011) When Employees Stop Talking and Start Fighting: The Detrimental Effects of Pseudo Voice in Organizations. Journal of Business Ethics. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-011-0960-4
- October 14, 2011
- 06:31 AM
- 427 views
When work and home collide, your take on time matters
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Tension between work and family life is an understandable concern for organisations. As research on how it affects organisational commitment has been equivocal, many researchers are looking for individual differences that may mediate these relationships. A recent article suggests one such difference may relate to how you answer the question: what does the future hold?A research team led by Darren Treadwell drew on the sociological theory of socioemotional selectivity, proposing that a person's m........ Read more »
Darren C. Treadwell, Allison B. Duke, Pamela L. Perrewe, Jacob W. Breland, & Joseph M. Goodman. (2011) Time May Change Me: The Impact of Future Time Perspective on the Relationship Between Work–Family Demands and Employee Commitment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(7), 1659-1679. DOI: Time May Change Me: The Impact of Future Time Perspective on the Relationship Between Work–Family Demands and Employee Commitment
- October 10, 2011
- 09:29 AM
- 499 views
Managers in the middle shape change their own way
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
The middle child can be an awkward position in a family, and this is just as true in the workplace. Middle management juggle responsibilities to their reports and their managers, a feat trickiest when leadership decide that the organisation needs to change. Do they dutifully implement the bosses' plans, or cling to the manageable status quo? A recent qualitative study suggests this group take a third role, of ambivalent change agents.Edel Conway and Kathy Monks of Dublin City University conducte........ Read more »
Conway, E., & Monks, K. (2011) Change from below: the role of middle managers in mediating paradoxical change. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(2), 190-203. DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-8583.2010.00135.x
- October 3, 2011
- 06:20 AM
- 436 views
Noise and music are more distracting to introverts at work
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Many workplaces allow the playing of radio or recorded music during working hours, providing a chance to personalise and brighten the working climate. But how does music affect our ability to perform tasks at work? And does this depend on the kind of person we are? A recent study by a team from University College London sheds more light on this topic.Stacey Dobbs, Adrian Furnham and Alastair McClelland worked with 118 female schoolchildren (aged 11-18) to investigate how tasks that demand focus ........ Read more »
Dobbs, S., Furnham, A., & McClelland, A. (2011) The effect of background music and noise on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25(2), 307-313. DOI: 10.1002/acp.1692
- September 20, 2011
- 08:36 AM
- 499 views
Why do subgroups emerge? And how do groups stay productive if they do?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Group working can be sociable, fulfilling and effective, yet there are many ways for it to fall short of the ideal. A mass of similar opinions can lead to groupthink, rushing to agreement without questioning a line of thinking. But a group splintering into subgroups can also lead to problems. Subgrouping doesn't take much, as minimal group research has revealed, and it creates barriers across which information struggles to flow, due to confusion or outright hostility. A new study in the Journal ........ Read more »
Cronin, M., Bezrukova, K., Weingart, L., & Tinsley, C. (2011) Subgroups within a team: The role of cognitive and affective integration. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(6), 831-849. DOI: 10.1002/job.707
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