Who Does What
Driven to Distraction: The Unintended Consequences of Organizational Learning from Failure Caused by Human Error
Brian Park, David Lehman & Rangaraj Ramanujam
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research to date offers inconclusive and even conflicting evidence regarding whether organizations learn from failure. The present study sheds new light on this debate by highlighting a previously overlooked factor: whether the failure was caused by human error. In attempts to learn from failure, organizational members tend to focus on simplified representations of experiences and, in doing so, distinguish between failures attributed to human errors versus other causes. Our core thesis is that failures resulting from human error attract significant amounts of attentional resources, thereby depleting the limited stock of organizational attention otherwise directed at managing the risk of failures resulting from other causes. We hypothesize that this disproportionate allocation of attention simultaneously is associated with both positive learning outcomes and negative side effects, specifically, a subsequent decrease in failures resulting from human error and also an increase in failures resulting from other causes. We also hypothesize that failures resulting from causes other than human error attract less organizational attention and, thus, lead to weaker learning outcomes. The proposed hypotheses were tested and supported using data from accident reports filed by natural gas pipeline operators with the U.S. Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration from 2002 to 2012. Additional analyses, including text analysis of accident reports, a series of simulations, and a supplementary study, point to organizational attention as the mechanism at play. Taken together, these findings suggest that organizational learning from failure caused by human error produces not only benefits, but also unintended consequences.
Eclipse of Rent-Sharing: The Effects of Managers' Business Education on Wages and the Labor Share in the US and Denmark
Daron Acemoglu, Alex He & Daniel le Maire
NBER Working Paper, March 2022
Abstract:
This paper provides evidence from the US and Denmark that managers with a business degree (“business managers”) reduce their employees' wages. Within five years of the appointment of a business manager, wages decline by 6% and the labor share by 5 percentage points in the US, and by 3% and 3 percentage points in Denmark. Firms appointing business managers are not on differential trends and do not enjoy higher output, investment, or employment growth thereafter. Using manager retirements and deaths and an IV strategy based on the diffusion of the practice of appointing business managers within industry, region and size quartile cells, we provide additional evidence that these are causal effects. We establish that the proximate cause of these (relative) wage effects are changes in rent-sharing practices following the appointment of business managers. Exploiting exogenous export demand shocks, we show that non-business managers share profits with their workers, whereas business managers do not. But consistent with our first set of results, these business managers show no greater ability to increase sales or profits in response to exporting opportunities. Finally, we use the influence of role models on college major choice to instrument for the decision to enroll in a business degree in Denmark and show that our estimates correspond to causal effects of practices and values acquired in business education - rather than the differential selection into business education of individuals unlikely to share rents with workers.
Talking shop: An exploration of how talking about work affects our initial interactions
Sean Martin et al.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, January 2022
Abstract:
This paper explores the linguistic cues that distinguish conversations about work topics from conversations about non-work topics and how those differences affect conversation partners. Using an exploratory analysis of a field experiment in a large U.S. technology firm, we generate hypotheses that when the conversations topic is work, people use more words associated with achievement, which makes them seem less supportive and attentive to their conversation partners. Subsequently, conversation partners are less interested in future interactions. We then test and largely confirm our hypotheses by analyzing data from a laboratory experiment. This research illuminates one potential reason why some new connections persist while others do not and suggests how people might have interactions that endure beyond a first encounter.
In the Face of Opportunities: Facial Structures of Scientists Shape Expectations of STEM Environments
Mansi Joshi et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Impressions of role leaders provide information about anticipated opportunities in a role, and these perceptions can influence attitudes about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pathways. Specifically, the facial structures of role leaders influenced perceived affordances of working with that person, such as the availability of communal and agentic opportunities (e.g., mentorship; achievement). STEM faculty with trustworthy (relative to dominant) faces were seen as valuing communal goals (Studies 1–3), and in turn, perceived as affording both communal and agentic opportunities in their research groups (Studies 2–3b). These heightened goal opportunities aligned with perceptions that trustworthy-faced advisors would enact more group-supportive behaviors (Study 2). Consequently, students anticipated fairer treatment and reported greater interest in labs directed by trustworthy- than dominant-faced leaders (Studies 3a–4a), even when images were accompanied by explicit information about leaders’ collaborative behavior (Study 4b). The faces of leaders can thus function as the “face” of that role and the surrounding culture.
Hidden costs of text-based electronic communication on complex reasoning tasks: Motivation maintenance and impaired downstream performance
Ravi Gajendran et al.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, March 2022
Abstract:
The popularity of remote work and a norm of constant connectivity have made text-based computer-mediated communication (tCMC) such as email inevitable for many organizational tasks. This could be worsening communicators’ performance on their later work. Specifically, drawing on media synchronicity theory (Dennis & Valacich, 1999), we propose that using tCMC for convergence processes — resolving ambiguity and conflicting interpretations to form shared understandings — is more difficult than using face-to-face communication. We use conservation of resources (COR) theory to argue this greater communication difficulty could dampen motivation maintenance for subsequent tasks, which, in turn, is likely to hamper knowledge work tasks that require complex reasoning. Supporting this line of reasoning, four experimental studies show causal effects of using tCMC (relative to in-person interaction) for tasks dependent on convergence processes on motivation maintenance and later complex reasoning tasks. A fifth study using an experience sampling design shows day-to-day changes in tCMC use influence depletion and downstream motivation maintenance for individuals whose jobs require complex problem solving. Together, these five studies indicate using text-based communication media has lasting effects on communicators beyond the communication task itself. These studies raise new questions about the pervasive use of email and other forms of text-based communication in organizations for individuals’ motivation and effectiveness.
Firm Investments in Artificial Intelligence Technologies and Changes in Workforce Composition
Tania Babina et al.
Columbia University Working Paper, February 2022
Abstract:
We study the shifts in U.S. firms’ workforce composition and organization associated with the use of AI technologies. To do so, we leverage a unique combination of worker resume and job postings datasets to measure firm-level AI investments and workforce composition variables, such as educational attainment, specialization, and hierarchy. We document that firms with higher initial shares of highly-educated workers and STEM workers invest more in AI. As firms invest in AI, they tend to transition to more educated workforces, with higher shares of workers with undergraduate and graduate degrees, and more specialization in STEM fields and IT and analysis skills. Furthermore, AI investments are associated with a flattening of the firms’ hierarchical structure, with significant increases in the share of workers at the junior level and decreases in shares of workers in middle-management and senior roles. Overall, our results highlight that adoption of AI technologies is associated with significant reorganization of firms’ workforces.
Genetics, leadership position, and well-being: An investigation with a large-scale GWAS
Zhaoli Song et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 14 March 2022
Abstract:
Twin studies document leadership role occupancy (e.g., whether one holds formal supervisory or management positions) as a heritable trait. However, previous studies have been underpowered in identifying specific genes associated with this trait, which has limited our understanding of the genetic correlations between leadership and one’s well-being. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on individuals’ leadership phenotypes that were derived from supervisory/managerial positions and demands among 248,640 individuals of European ancestry from the UK Biobank data. Among the nine genome-wide significant loci, the identified top regions are pinpointed to previously reported GWAS loci for bipolar disorder (miR-2113/POUSF2 and LINC01239) and schizophrenia loci (ZSWIM6). We found positive genetic correlations between leadership position and several positive well-being and health indicators, including high levels of subjective well-being, and low levels of anxiety and depression (|rg| > 0.2). Intriguingly, we observed positive genetic correlations between leadership position and some negative well-being indicators, including high levels of bipolar disorder and alcohol intake frequency. We also observed positive genetic correlations between leadership position and shortened longevity, cardiovascular diseases, and body mass index after partialing out the genetic variance attributed to either educational attainment or income. The positive genetic correlation between leadership and bipolar disorder seems potentially more pronounced for those holding senior leadership positions (rg: 0.10 to 0.24), partially due to shared genetic variants with educational attainment. Our findings provide insights into the polygenic nature of leadership and shared genetic underpinnings between the leadership position and one’s health and well-being. We caution against simplistic interpretations of our findings as advocating genetic determinism.
Building Status in an Online Community
Inna Smirnova, Markus Reitzig & Olav Sorenson
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We argue that the actions for which actors receive recognition vary as they move up the hierarchy. When actors first enter a community, the community rewards them for their easier-to-evaluate contributions to the community. Eventually, however, as these actors rise in status, further increases in stature come increasingly from engaging in actions that are more difficult to evaluate or even impossible to judge. These dynamics produce a positive feedback loop, in which those who have already been accorded some stature garner even greater status through quality-ambiguous actions. We present evidence from Stack Overflow, an online community, and from two online experiments consistent with these expected patterns.
Happy Soldiers are Highest Performers
Paul Lester et al.
Journal of Happiness Studies, March 2022, Pages 1099–1120
Abstract:
We examined the prediction of affective well-being to work performance in the United States Army. We found that high positive affect (PA), low negative affect (NA), and high optimism predicted awards for performance and heroism in a sample of 908,096 U.S. Army soldiers (mean age 29.60 years old, SD = 9.16 years; with over ¼ of a million ethnic minorities and over 150,000 women). Baseline high PA, low NA, and high optimism predicted awards over a four-year follow up window, in which 114,443 soldiers (12.60%) received an award. Each well-being variable predicted future awards for both women and men, for enlisted soldiers as well as officers, for several ethnicities, for varying levels of education, and controlling for a number of other potential explanatory variables. The effects of high positive and low negative affect were additive, with each predicting significantly beyond the other. Comparing the soldiers highest vs. lowest in well-being predicted an almost fourfold greater award recognition in the high group. Awards were predicted by both high and low arousal positive emotions, as well as low sadness and low anger. The relations between PA, NA, and optimism with award attainment were curvilinear, with the greatest difference in award attainment occurring between low and moderate levels of affective well-being, with little effect between moderate and high well-being.
Learning in Temporary Teams: The Varying Effects of Partner Exposure by Team Member Role
Song-Hee Kim, Hummy Song & Melissa Valentine
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
In many workplaces, temporary teams convene to coordinate complex work, despite team members having not worked together before. Most related research has found consistent performance benefits when members of temporary teams work together multiple times (team familiarity). Recent work in this area broke new conceptual ground by instead exploring the learning and performance benefits that team members gain by being exposed to many new partners (partner exposure). In contrast to that new work that examined partner exposure between team members who are peers, in this paper, we extend this research by developing and testing theory about the performance effects of partner exposure for team members whose roles are differentiated by authority and skill. We use visit-level data from a hospital emergency department and leverage the ad hoc assignment of attendings, nurses, and residents to teams and the round-robin assignment of patients to these teams as our identification strategy. We find a negative performance effect of both nurses’ and resident trainees’ partner exposure to more attendings and of attendings’ and nurses’ exposure to more residents. In contrast, both attendings and residents experience a positive impact on performance from working with more nurses. The respective effects of residents working with more attendings and with more nurses is attenuated on patient cases with more structured workflows. Our results suggest that interactions with team members in decision-executing roles, as opposed to decision-initiating roles, is an important but often unrecognized part of disciplinary training and team learning.
Managing with Style? Microevidence on the Allocation of Managerial Attention
Desmond (Ho-Fu) Lo et al.
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
How does task expertise affect the allocation of attention? Our theory argues that when attention is scarce, expertise and attention are complements: A manager optimally focuses her attention on tasks in which she has relatively more expertise; she “manages with style.” In contrast, when attention is abundant, attention and expertise become substitutes: A manager shifts her attention toward tasks in which she has less expertise; she “manages against her style.” Using microlevel data on managers from two unrelated companies and employing various measures of time stress and managerial attention, we find converging and supporting evidence. A manager’s attention capacity determines whether she manages with style or against it. Whereas current behavioral approaches view managing with style as prevalent and biased, our theory and findings suggest, instead, that it is contingent and optimal.
For Better and Worse: How Proactive Personality Alters the Strain Responses to Challenge and Hindrance Stressors
Jordan Nielsen, Brady Firth & Eean Crawford
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Employees with a proactive personality tend to show exceptional initiative and perseverance, suggesting that they are relatively impervious to stressors. Yet some evidence suggests that proactive personality may exacerbate the effect of stressors on strain. In this study, we clarify these conflicting ideas by systematically distinguishing between different types of chronic work stressors. Integrating the conservation-of-resources model and the challenge–hindrance stressor framework, we suggest that employees with more proactive personalities are especially sensitive to the extent to which chronic work stressors are amenable to their resource investments. Specifically, we hypothesize that, for more proactive employees, challenge stressors (opportunities more amenable to resource investment) lead to less strain (i.e., emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions) but also that hindrance stressors (demands less amenable to proactive expectations of achievement) lead to relatively more strain. We further propose perceived organizational support as a mediator of these interactive effects wherein challenging opportunities are interpreted by proactive employees as particularly indicative of high support and hindering demands as particularly indicative of low support, ultimately leading to lower and higher perceptions of strain, respectively. A three-wave survey of 256 architects generally supports these hypotheses: the effects of challenge stressors on emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions were significantly attenuated and the effects of hindrance stressors on these outcomes were significantly exacerbated for more proactive people. These effects were mediated (partially for exhaustion, fully for turnover intentions) by perceived support. Follow-up analysis demonstrates that this interactive effect extends to turnover behavior 2.5 years later, fully mediated by perceived support.