Ugly Employees Are Targets of Abuse at Work

Posted on 2013/09/302014/01/16 by Jason Hensel

Looks shouldn’t matter, but they do, especially in the workplace. That’s the conclusion two researchers came to in a study about counterproductive work behavior (CWB), defined as “behavior intended to hurt the organization or other members of the organization.” They wanted to know why particular employees are targets of abuse.

“Over the years, much attention has been devoted to understanding CWB and its related concepts,” wrote Brent A. Scott and Timothy A. Judge in “Beauty, Personality, and Affect as Antecedents of Counterproductive Work Behavior Receipt.” “We tested a model that positioned CWB receipt as a function of employees’ personality (neuroticism, agreeableness), their appearance (physical attractiveness) and the negative emotions felt toward those employees by their coworkers.”

Two studies showed that disagreeable and physically unattractive employees received more abuse from their coworkers, coworker negative emotion felt toward employees was associated with CWB receipt, and the relationship between employee agreeableness and CWB receipt was due, in part, to coworker negative emotion, the authors write.

“For managers, knowing who the targets of harmful behaviors such as CWB are likely to be may help them to monitor susceptible employees to prevent them from becoming victims or to provide counseling and social support if prevention attempts fail,” Scott and Judge wrote. “For employees, although it is difficult to alter one’s physical attractiveness and, presumably, one’s level of agreeableness, employees should realize that, whether fair or unfair, appearances and personality matter in the workplace.”

(Image via Flickr: Lin Pernille Kristensen/Creative Commons)

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What Change Are You Trying to Make In People?

When to Avoid Face-to-Face Meetings

Adaptability Linked to Staff Retention

Posted on 2013/02/222013/02/22 by Jason Hensel

Interests change over the course of a career. What you’re passionate about now, you may hate a year later. This change of focus shouldn’t be viewed negatively, though. It’s actually a sign of adaptability, and it should be considered in job evaluations, according to a study from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and published in Human Performance.

The study looked at statistics from professional basketball players for its data and conclusions.

Researchers assessed data on more than 700 members of the NBA to see how players shifted their focus on different on-court skills and tasks over several years. A player displaying high performance scoring baskets in one season might show a shift in focus towards rebounding missed shots in another season. That could be because they were responding to a shift in their team’s needs and/or a change in their coach’s instructions.

Researchers found that about 10 percent of players refocused their efforts over time and were more likely to play again for the league in the next season. The findings support the idea that refocusing among job tasks is an important component of employee adaptability and should be a part of overall performance assessments. As well, they suggest that adaptability is linked to staff retention.

“Our paper is drawing attention to the measurement of performance, that refocusing is something that’s important in the workplace, exists in the workplace, and for organizations to think about it as part of the job, ” said Maria Rotundo, a professor at the Rotman School.

Rotundo is aware of the differences between sports and workplaces.

But “there are parallels,” too, she says, including the fact that NBA athletes are focused on a goal and must work together as a team to achieve it as they confront the different opponents. In the same way, employees in a company must work together to face market competitors and achieve their company’s goals. And just like basketball players who go through changes in their team’s make-up, many workplace staff must adapt to changes brought on by restructuring or the adoption of new technologies, requiring a refocus in their job’s tasks.

How easily do you adapt to changes in the workplace? Does your focus change year over year?

(Story materials from University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Image via Flickr: Keith Allison / Creative Commons.)

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Why Employee Empowerment is Important in the Workplace

Posted on 2012/11/26 by Jason Hensel

I’ve always said I’m at my most productive and innovative at work when I’m given autonomy. That feeling of empowerment and trust from management motivates me to help the company succeed because it’s all on my shoulders.

Now there is some research from the University of Illinois that shows autonomy plays a major role in increasing “employee commitment to continuous improvement initiatives.”

“Continuous improvement initiatives are typically bundled with employee empowerment techniques,” said Gopesh Anand, a business professor at Illinois. “We always hear, ‘If you empower employees, they will take care of the improvements.’ But what happens repeatedly is that this employee empowerment is management-driven, and it does not work.”

“It’s a paradox–employee empowerment being forced upon employees by management,” said Dilip Chhajed, a business professor at Illinois and director of the technology management program in the College of Business. “What usually ends up happening is that employees feel they are being forced into doing something that they may not even see as being very useful.”

The research offers three points on how to enhance employee commitment to improvement at work.

The day-to-day work environment needs to be perceived by employees as autonomous.
As continuous improvement involves making changes to the very practices that frontline employees use in their day-to-day work, trust in leadership is critical.
A higher degree of trust in leadership further leads to proactive behaviors by frontline employees, encouraging them to use the autonomy in their day-to-day jobs to seek out and make systematic improvements to work practices.

“Many times, employees end up working on continuous improvement projects simply because the CEO is telling them to participate in the initiative,” Anand said. “But they aren’t really sold on this idea of making an effort to improve their workplace and work practices.”

“Workers need to have a sense of control over their work environment,” said Luis Delfin, a graduate student who co-wrote the research. “They need to be able to decide how and what to do in their day-to-day work. And that’s actually what motivates them to improve. Their buy-in becomes even stronger when leadership provides them the support to do this.”

However, employees shouldn’t think of improvements as extra work.

“Employees can’t think of it as, ‘This is something being brought down upon us by upper management,’ ” Anand said. “If they do, it becomes extra work that they’re not compensated for.”

“The big one for employees is, ‘What’s in it for me?’ ” Chhajed said. “Management is trying to make things more efficient, so what does that mean for my job, my work hours? That’s why employees need to trust that management is looking out for their best interests. If they don’t have that trust, then even autonomy is not going to help as much. Trust is huge, because you don’t want the perception that management is coercing employees to do this.”

Also, management shouldn’t be the main instigator of change.

“There should be some top-down direction in terms of where the initiative should go and what are we in business for,” Anand said. “But there needs to be balance between the top-down goals and the bottom-up improvements.

“It’s like building a bridge from both sides,” Delfin said. “Upper management usually has the vision, but at the same time they’re not the experts on how things get done on the ground. So you need to have frontline employees who have some freedom because you are trying to get all of this to meet in the middle. That means that the leaders in management need to act more like coaches, and less like dictators. You need a cooperative environment where leaders are guiding and coaching, and employees are participating.”

Are you given a lot of autonomy at your job? Or does management dictate your every move and decision?

(Story materials from the University of Illinois. Image via Flickr: Ryan / Creative Commons.)

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GOOD Job Looking for a Partner

Posted on 2012/04/25 by Jason Hensel

I subscribe to The Daily GOOD, an e-newsletter sent by GOOD magazine that highlights something positive someone is doing around the world. I’ve learned about a lot of great projects and ideas by reading it, some that I even pass on to my features editor for possible profiles in our magazine.

I’ve also learned that GOOD magazine hasn’t fulfilled its L.A. features editor position in a long time. Every now and then there’s a house ad in the e-newsletter that says “GOOD is Hiring!” I click on it to see what’s available (to co-workers or bosses reading this, I’m not looking actively for a new job, just checking out the landscape). The L.A.-based features editor position is always there, looking like the last person asked to dance.

Perhaps GOOD has fulfilled the position and just hasn’t taken down the posting, which if so, isn’t very nice to people who keep submitting resumes for it. Or maybe the magazine just can’t find the perfect candidate, which I think in L.A. shouldn’t be that hard to do. I don’t know the full story; it’s just strange to me the same job is always listed, especially for a great magazine like GOOD.

It’s also strange that they’re limiting the pool of applicants to only L.A.-based editors. I’m sure there are a ton of great applicants that could do the job working from home. Yes, I know all about the benefits of casual conversation in the workplace and its role in innovation. GOOD magazine, though, pushes forward-thinking ideas, and a flexible work arrangement is one of the best workplace ideas around, especially in terms of environmental sustainability, physical and mental health, and compensation.

As I said, I don’t know the full story. If you’re in L.A., though, and looking for an editorial job, there’s one waiting for you. Don’t leave it hanging.

(Photo via Flickr: Luce Beaulieu / Creative Commons)

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