There is quite alot of discussion about the importance or otherwise of employee engagement to productivity and performance of individuals at work. There is correlational data which suggests organisations with high levels of engagement (however that is defined and measured) have higher levels of productivity, discretionary effort or job satisfaction. There is much less data … Continued
Professor Adam Grant, is an organisational scholar who undertakes research into pro social behaviour and is one of my favourite reads. In his book ‘Give and Take’, he defines people in one of three ways. Mostly people are ‘givers…people who contribute to others without expecting anything in return.’ Some others are ‘matchers… (who) aim to … Continued
An interesting blog at IDEO highlighting an experiment in client empathy ended up emphasising how the little things in life really matter. IDEO is a creative design company which is justifiably proud of their fantastic work culture. In their words ‘We provide the small things that enable the day to run smoothly so individuals can … Continued
Alain de Botton, philosopher, writes books that have been described as ‘a philosophy of everyday life’. Recently he was interviewed by an HR based job site about work and meaning (see the full interview here). In particular de Botton was scathing about education which didn’t equip youngsters for working life (nothing new here). But what … Continued
Emotions are a crucial aspect of how we experience our day to day working lives. They are seen as useful markers of optimal well being and experiencing more positive than negative emotions contributes to our happiness. There are significant benefits to employing happy workers. Happy workers take less time off, are less stressed and demonstrate … Continued
After another fascinating weekend at UEL learning about positive psychology applications – in the workplace, school and community – we have learnt how important it is to have a varied and engaging series of interventions to have real impact. This is because of the hedonic treadmill – people get ‘used to’ undertaking gratitude diaries, or … Continued
This appeared in HRZone and it’s a useful reminder about the devil being in the detail….. Posted by Peter Cook on Wed, 13/06/2012 – 10:01 HR often finds itself at the edge of the business and the outside world. As such it is responsible for the external image that the business portrays. I want to … Continued
This is from a recent article from Forbes commenting on the US education system. Unfortunately there are direct parallels with our own education practices which focus far too much on passing exams rather than equipping children with life skills – like teamworking, collaboration, and creative thinking. America’s last competitive advantage — its ability to innovate … Continued
Read this on HBR and couldn’t put it any better myself so…. Everywhere you look, there’s compelling evidence that the single-minded pursuit of wealth often leads smart people to do incredibly stupid things — things that destroy what money can’t buy. Last week, the big story was the conviction of Raj Rajaratnam on 14 counts … Continued
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