Show compassion in redefining ‘back to work’
As areas of the country begin to relax and do away with stay-at-home orders, things will not snap back to normal for all employees and organizations. This may seem obvious, but it has huge ramifications for what employers can and should expect from employees during this time, according to an expert at Washington University in St. Louis.
Black workers’ status in a company informs perceptions of workplace racial discrimination
Based on 60 in-depth interviews with black medical doctors, nurses and technicians in the health care industry, a new study from Washington University in St. Louis finds that wherever black workers are positioned in an organization — top, middle or bottom — informs and shapes their impressions about workplace racial discrimination.
Workplace theft is contagious (and strategic)
Three Olin Business School researchers completed a study of workplace theft among restaurant workers that details, for the first time, how such stealing is contagious — and new restaurant workers are particularly susceptible.
Dishonest acts hurt one’s ability to read others’ emotions
Dishonest deeds diminish a person’s ability to read others’ emotions, or “interpersonal cognition,” finds a new study from four researchers, including one from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. Another finding: dishonesty breeds “a vicious cycle.”
How America’s family-hostile policies are hurting women and children
When it comes to family-friendly policies, the United States lags far behind most European countries — and practically every other industrialized nation. But work-family conflicts don’t need to be an inevitable feature of contemporary American life, suggests a new book by Caitlyn Collins, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
Time is not on your side
The central finding of an Olin Business School study published May 15 in the Journal of Consumer Research was that people faced with scheduled appointments in an upcoming hour or more: (a) perceive they have less time than in reality; (b) perform fewer tasks as a result; and (c) are less likely to attempt extended-time tasks that can be feasibly accomplished or more lucrative.
Why customer-facing companies have happier workers
It’s possible the Keebler Elves aren’t as happy at work as they seem. Or SpongeBob SquarePants’ dour fast-food colleague Squidward might be a little cheerier than he lets on. New research from Olin Business School shows that people working in customer-facing companies, such as retailers (or cartoon burger joints), tend to be happier at work, while workers for companies further removed — manufacturing, for example (or treehouse cookie factories) — tend to be less happy.
Want to kill creativity of women in teams? Fire up the competition
Women tend to outperform men when it comes to collaboration and creativity in small working groups, but force teams to go head to head in highly competitive environments and the benefits of a female approach are soon reversed, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.
Dinner explores legal history and feminist vision of sex equality in the workplace
Litigation and legislative reforms have achieved formal rights to equal treatment for women in employment. But women continue to perform disproportionate amounts of caregiving in the home, to suffer economic penalties for childbearing and to face discrimination on account of motherhood in the workplace. “The disconnect between formal equality and the deepening work-family conflict is no accident,” says Deborah Dinner, JD, legal historian and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.
Employees are most likely to cut corners when they lack clear goals and feel overworked
The television show “The Office” portrays more truth than fiction. But the consequences of bad management can be more serious than the awkward moments portrayed on the program. Employees get cynical when they endure multiple changes in company strategy and when they are overworked, according to experts at Washington University’s Olin School of Business. As a result, people produce work, but they don’t care how they produce it. The drive to get things done in today’s business environment is so strong that workers start thinking only of short-term gains and ignoring long-term consequences. More…
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