manedge

If you’ve found yourself putting off important tasks over and over again, it’s time you consult a psychologist. Going by a new study, you may be suffering from a condition that can require therapy. A team of international researchers has found that procrastinators are impatient people. In fact, they have traced a clear link between the two opposite traits which are “actually different aspects of the same condition.” “Procrastination seriously affects our productivity at work and can cost people considerable amounts of money as they postpone work indefinitely. “People don’t want to procrastinate — it is just that their impatience gets in the way, researcher Ernesto Reuben of the Kellogg School of Management told The Daily Telegraph . — PTI Ref: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/11/stories/2008021156502000.htm For the full paper, send a mail to manedge@gmail.com

It’s critical to distribute information quickly and reliably throughout an organization. Today, e-mail is the primary means of information dispersal, but is it the most efficient? In their paper titled Productivity Effects of Information Diffusion in Networks, t he authors – Sinan Aral, Erik Brynjolfsson and Marshall W Van Alstyne – analyzed 10 months’ worth of e-mail (more than 125,000 messages in total), as well as five years of revenue data and employee interactions at a mid-sized executive recruiting firm. They identified two types of information that employees shared with one another. The first was “event news”: simple, declarative messages, about such news as forthcoming layoffs or a significant change in top management, that were spread both vertically and laterally throughout the organization in a rapid and pervasive manner. The information moved quickly among employees with little regard to reporting relationships. The second type was labeled “discussion topics”: more specific...

As every company knows, employees are its greatest resource. It's more than a shame, then, that many workers are either not encouraged or afraid to speak up and communicate ideas at work. Employers are losing valuable knowledge and experience, and their companies are weaker for that loss. Latent voice episodes and Upward voice Latent voice episodes describe those moments at work when someone considers speaking up about an issue, problem, or even an improvement opportunity. How do people think about speaking up? The episodes are called "latent" because they are potential communications that may or may not in fact occur. Understanding the factors that encourage or inhibit people speaking up at work with the relevant ideas and concerns they have is the focus of this research. Upward voice refers to communications directed to someone higher in the organizational hierarchy with the perceived power or authority to take action on the problem or suggestion. T...

Do Indian CEOs and business leaders operate in a way that is markedly different from those in other parts of the world? What is the source of their competitive advantage? Can other managers learn from their experiences? Four Wharton professors – Peter Cappelli, Harbir Singh, Jitendra Singh (now dean of the Nanyang business school in Singapore) and Michael Useem – answer these questions in a new study titled, "The DNA of Indian Leadership: The Governance, Management and Leadership of Leading Indian Firms," co-sponsored by India's National HRD Network. Based on interviews with 100 CEOs of leading Indian companies, the researchers concluded that while top Indian leaders do share several attributes with their U.S. counterparts, they also have distinctive characteristics. In contrast to U.S. business leaders, Indian CEOs tend to be more preoccupied with internal management, long-term strategic vision and organizational culture. Financial matters, on the other hand, are ...

Only one out of five employees of major global corporations is engaged in his or her work, and top managers may be to blame, according to a study released by a global professional services firm. A survey of 90,000 workers in 18 countries by Towers Perrin HR Services, US-based consultancy, found that only 21 percent of employees are engaged in their work, while 38 percent are disenchanted or disengaged. The study defined "engagement" as being willing to do more than is required to help their employers succeed and measured it by their responses to questions about their feelings about work, as well as their behavior. Mexicans proved to be the most engaged, followed by Brazilians and Indians. U.S. respondents ranked fourth. The least engaged workers were the Japanese, followed by residents of Hong Kong and South Korea . The study found that worker engagement was most driven by senior managers -- not by an employee's upbringing or relationship with a direct mana...