To have a good relationship is one thing; to have a good partnership is another. One view of integrative leadership encourages leaders to (1) cultivate good relationships and then (2) nurture these relationships into “full-fledged partners.”
 
In the March/April 2016 issue of EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing, Bonnie Horrigan provided tips for building good relationships (see my previous blog) and then tips for developing those relationships into partners. Here I summarize her tips for leaders concerning partnerships.

1. Ensure people understand and embrace the organization’s vision. “Explain the benefits that will be derived when the vision is realized.” (p. 139)
2. “Create opportunities for others to experience the vision,” to own it.
3. “Encourage new ideas about old things and promote innovation.”
4. “Extend people the space and authority to do their jobs”. . . thus creating “active ‘partners’ rather than passive ‘employees.’ “
5. “Celebrate accomplishments” both big and small, saying thanks “for jobs well done.”

My take-aways:
 
On #1. Employees should understand and embrace both the mission and the vision. The Society for Human Resource Management differentiates mission and vision as follows:
 
A mission statement explains reason for existence, what organization does, its intent, purpose. "A vision statement describes the organization as it would appear in a future successful state . . . An effective vision statement is inspirational and aspirational.” 
 
My guess is that there are enormous differences here among organizations. Do you have a mission statement? A vision statement? Are they current? Still valid? Do people truly understand the mission? The vision? Are they more than words on a business card or sign? Have you hired, developed, and rewarded to create an environment where people want to be part of achieving the mission and vision? 
 
On #2. Part of experiencing the vision is recognizing those moments, those events, in accomplishing the mission where the vision can be glimpsed.  Perception is important here. Without the leader acknowledging or communicating how the current outcome represents what we want to achieve, those experiences of the vision might not be recognized. There will be times when people or teams far exceed current expectations and demonstrate what is indeed possible, the vision. These moments need to be recognized, rewarded, and celebrated.
 
On #3. This seems straightforward but in my consulting experience it was not. I consistently found people had great ideas to solve problems, to innovate, but management was not receptive. A common remark from managers: “If they had good ideas, then why aren’t they in this job and not me.” Leaders build organizational climates and cultures where people share insights and ideas and are rewarded for them.
 
On #4. Empowering employees by letting them make decisions can be motivating for many. In Decoding the Workplace (pp. 33-34) I tell the story of a hotel clerk who did not have the authority to make relatively small decisions that would increase customer satisfaction. Her supervisor had approval authority and was often not available. When the hotel became part of a different hotel chain, she was given that authority and her job satisfaction greatly increased – and probably resulted in more satisfied customers. Even so, it should be noted that not everyone wants more authority.

#5 Herbert Shepard had eight “rules of thumb for change agents.” In a 2012 blog I proposed a ninth, Rule IX: Celebrate the moment. It is easy to let moments, big and small, pass by without celebrating when celebrating would have been good. Sometimes leaders fail to celebrate the successes made possible by those they lead. I had an older graduate student who led an organization that had a very successful year. After we discussed celebrating the moment, he realized that he had not done this with his company, that he barely acknowledged the great year before focusing on the next. The next Monday when he went to work, he corrected that situation. They celebrated the moment. Celebrate the moments, large and small, that unfold to you.

Horrigan, B. (2016). Integrative leadership means partnering. EXPLORE, 12 (2), 139-140. 

In memory of Bonnie Horrigan. Modified from my blog posted April 1, 2016.

Image, "Bonnie Horrigan", courtesy of the journal EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing

© John Ballard, PhD,  2019. All rights reserved.
_______________________
Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. 

Each January I pose the question: What book are you reading now? My experience is the best leaders read. They always have a book from which they develop insights and opinions. And not just books about management or businesses but also books of fiction or creative nonfiction.
 
Lifelong learning is essential to grow as a leader. A habit of reading books is important to that growth. What role do books play in your life? In your learning? Making time to read books is important. I usually have several books in my study that I am working through. On long car trips I enjoy audio books. I have friends who like audio books best. I was very pleased that my book Decoding the Workplace made it to audio in 2018.  
 
The book I enjoyed most in 2018 was the surprising Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata translated from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori. Working in a convenience store, Keiko Furukura finds purpose, fulfillment, and scripts for social interactions while her friends and family encourage her to find a "proper" career. A great read with insights on finding meaning in the workplace and life. 

In 2019 I look forward to reading Êloge de Gantner, a folio about my favorite artist, the late Bernard Gantner. A painter and lithographer in the Alsace region of France, Gantner's landscapes have affected how I see the natural world around me. Great art.

The folio is in French. Foreign languages are not my strength. As my teacher Mrs. Suther said to me several weeks into my first high school French course: "Johnny, I had heard such nice things about you and have been looking forward to having you in my class. You are such a disappointment." Fortunately though, the aptitude for language, while skipping me, landed nicely with my two children. Today we have Google Translate and various apps so I will be able to read Êloge de Gantner.

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them”, Mark Twain. 

Or as the comedian Groucho Marx said, “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.”   
 
What are you reading?

Modified from my previous annual January blogs about the importance of reading,

Image, "Route en Forêt" by Bernard Gantner. Photo © John Ballard

© John Ballard, PhD,  2019. All rights reserved.
_______________________
Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. 

This time of the year I like to revisit a Christmas classic from Thomas Stetz of Hawaii Pacific University, “What Santa Claus Can Learn from I-O Psychology: Eight Performance Management Recommendations.” The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist originally published the article in 2012 and it can be read in full at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s website. Here I will summarize (and elaborate upon) Dr. Stetz’s astute observations and recommendations concerning Santa Claus’s questionable performance management system.

1. “Develop refined rating scales.” How does Santa determine whether a child is “naughty” or “nice”? What is naughty? What is nice? How can a child improve performance if the child does not have clear guidelines and examples of the behaviors expected?
2. “Develop SMART performance objectives.” A child needs clear goals to be successful at “nice,” goals that are “specific, measureable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.” Ideally these would flow from the family strategic plan.
3. “Increase feedback throughout the year.” It’s either a lump of coal or presents one day a year. 364 days with no feedback is just not acceptable in the 21st Century. If feedback is too much for Santa to handle, he should delegate and train others, such as parents. 
4. “Establish a naughty review board.” There may be review boards in organizations that are naughty; this recommendation concerns grievances. What’s a child to do if deemed naughty and considers this an unfair assessment? Is it fair to not have a grievance procedure, especially in the absence of feedback?
5. “Get a handle on rating inflation.” Let’s be real. It seems most children get a “nice” rating and the associated benefits. Refined rating scales would definitely help here.
6. “Explain how he obtains his information.” This one puzzled me as a kid. How does he know if I am being naughty or nice? As Stetz’s very appropriately noted, “at least a consent-to-monitoring statement should be made.”
7. “Decide between developmental or administrative evaluations.” “Under the current system how can naughty children improve. They can’t” (p. 36). There is no feedback. Children simply did not know how to improve their performance. Santa’s performance system is administrative with only “rewards and punishments.”
8. “Institute self-assessments.” Instead of writing letters to Santa once a year, which not all children do, there should be periodic self-assessments from children. This could be an online system with elf’s perhaps providing feedback. Currently children have little opportunity to speak to the naughty or nice question with relevant supporting data.

Stetz concluded Santa would do well to employ an I-O psychologist.
 
My take-away:
 
Can any of the recommendations for Santa’s performance system be applied to your organization? If so, 2019 might be a good year to work toward improvements. Feedback is key to employee development and organizational growth and renewal.
 
Best wishes for the holiday season and a great 2019.
 
Stetz, T. A. (2012). What Santa Claus can learn from I-O psychology: Eight performance management recommendations. The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 49 (3), 35-37.
 
Image, Santa, by Jo-B. Image obtained from https://pixabay.com/en/santa-claus-christmas-parties-joy-1827265/ Used in accordance with: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en
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© John Ballard, PhD, 2018. All rights reserved.
 _________________________
Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Now also available as an audiobook. 

What does it mean to “find your passion?” A Google search using that phrase in quotation marks yields over 9 million results. “Find your passion” is advice you have probably heard, read, or given. But what does it mean? More important, what do you believe about finding your passion? Do you think interests are innate just waiting to be discovered (fixed)? Or do you think strong interests grow and develop (growth)? 
 
In a 2018 study in Psychological Science, Paul O’Keefe (Yale-NUS), Carol Dweck (Stanford), and Gregory Walton (Stanford) discussed these two implicit theories of passion, fixed versus growth, and reported several experimental studies. They suggested how one thinks about passion has practical implications. 

If a person views interests as fixed, then once interests are found:

• less likely other interests will be explored
• more likely to expect continuing motivation to be high
• less likely to anticipate difficulties or frustration in pursuit of passion

On the other hand, if a person view interests as developing, then:

• “strong interest in one area does not preclude developing interests elsewhere”
• more likely to understand “development may sometimes be difficult”
• more likely to be maintain interest when facing frustration and difficulties

Their research supported these implications. People with a fixed mindset were more likely to experience decline in interest once pursuit of interest was found to be difficult. O'Keefe and his colleagues suggested, “Urging people to find their passion may lead them to put all their eggs in one basket but then to drop that basket when it becomes difficult to carry.” 

Like most psychological research, the participants in the studies were college students. The authors called for future research exploring their findings in “real-life settings” and among different cultures. 
 
My take-aways:
 
1.  I find passion to be a very interesting subject and enjoyed this paper. I concur with the authors that more research is needed. Here are some of my thoughts:

• Can one have both fixed and growth mindsets about passion? Some passions may be innate, got to pursue, whereas other passions develop out of life experiences. 
• Can we measure what one thinks about passion? There are different scales for different types of passionate engagement but is there a more global measure? Perhaps some people tend to find or develop passions whereas others never do.
• If people understand whether they have a fixed or growth mindset about passion, will that help them “find their passion”? 
• What are the implications for counseling and coaching? 
• Does having a passion lead to a better quality of life than not having a passion? Or vice versa?

2. I found this article good for personal reflection. In high school I became very interested in astronomy, learned the stars, plotted meteors, and tried unsuccessfully to photograph a lunar eclipse (would have helped to have loaded film). I applied to colleges and universities to major in astronomy, astrophysics, or physics. My passion was to be an astronomer. But then I encountered calculus, found it more difficult than expected, and at the urging of a psychology professor, pursued another interest – the inner workings of the mind instead of the outer workings of the universe. 
3. So what is your passion? Your passions? 
 
O’Keefe, P. A., Dweck, C. S., & Walton, G. M. (2018). Implicit theories of interest: Finding your passion or developing it. Psychological Science, 29(10), 1653-1664.
 
Image, "Untitled", by Isucc. Image obtained from https://pixabay.com/en/adult-business-businessman-cartoon-1260380/  Used in accordance with: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en
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© John Ballard, PhD, 2018. All rights reserved.
 _________________________
Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Now also available as an audiobook. 

How does a narcissistic leader affect an organization? In Decoding the Workplace I differentiated healthy narcissistic leaders from unhealthy ones, stating “healthy narcissistic leaders understand their strengths and know when to seek the advice of others” (pp. 105-106). In a 2014 blog I shared findings from a literature review of narcissists.
 
In a 2018 The Leadership Quarterly article, Charles O’Reilly III (Stanford), Bernadette Doerr (UC,Berkeley), and Jennifer Chatman (UC,Berkeley) concluded “although some researchers have suggested that narcissistic CEOs may have a positive influence on organizational performance . . . a growing body of evidence suggests that organizations led by narcissistic CEOs experience considerable downsides.” Their research focused on “grandiose narcissism” in which the narcissist is highly assertive, extroverted, with high self-esteem. Characteristics include:

•  Inflated sense of entitlement
•  Unrealistic sense of personal superiority
•  Viewing others as inferior
•  Overconfidence
• “Willingness to manipulate others”
• “Hostility and aggression when challenged”

In reviewing studies of narcissistic leaders, they found narcissistic leaders:

• “More likely to emerge as leaders”
• “Charming,” good first impressions
•  More persistent at focusing on task at hand
• “More willing to take chances”
• “Overly confident about own judgment”
• “Discount negative feedback”
• “See others as less competent”
•  Pursue activities and strategies that are self-enhancing.
• “Believe themselves less vulnerable to being penalized for their overconfidence”
• “Lower in integrity”
• “More likely to engage in unethical behavior”
•  More likely “to engage in sexual harassment”
•  More likely to bully others
•  Inhibit the exchange of information among group members

Studies indicate narcissistic CEOs more likely to:

• “Manipulate corporate earnings”
• “Aggressively avoid paying taxes”
•  Produce financial reports “with lower accounting quality”
• “Misreport financial status”
•  To “be at risk of committing fraud”

O’Reilly and his colleagues reported two experimental studies and a field study of 32 technology companies. Their field study found companies with more narcissistic CEOs had “more lawsuits filed against them and the lawsuits” endured “for longer periods of time.” Companies “with more narcissistic CEOs are more likely to be sued and this litigation will take longer to be resolved.”
 
My take-aways:
 
1.  Hiring: It may be difficult to identify unhealthy narcissists when hiring. References may or may not be forthcoming with accurate assessments. In interviewing notice how much credit the potential hire gives to others when discussing accomplishments. There is advice online about how to tell when hiring if someone is a narcissist but I would need to see the research before recommending.
 
2. Promoting: Interestingly highly narcissistic leaders get promoted. They charm, take credit for accomplishments, and so forth. Where input can be obtained from subordinates, such as in a 360-degree assessment, the organization should obtain more information and perhaps a more accurate picture. 
 
3. Managing: Those who supervise a highly narcissistic individual who is damaging the morale or financial health of the organization should do their jobs. Be accountable and hold that individual accountable. Corporate boards should do likewise. 
 
O'Reilly III, C. A., Doerr, B., & Chatman, J. A. (2018). "See you in court": How CEO narcissism increases firms' vulnerability to lawsuits. The Leadership Quarterly, 29, 365-378.
 
Image, "Narcissism", by Jills. Image altered from the original image at https://pixabay.com/en/narcissism-narcissist-shadow-bad-3752409/  Used in accordance with: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en
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© John Ballard, PhD, 2018. All rights reserved.
 _________________________
Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Now also available as an audiobook. 

Think about your workplace. Are people happy? Engaged? How is their well-being? In the past decade much has been written about happiness, engagement, and well-being in the workplace. While there is probably some overlap, these are different terms with different meanings – and the definitions of each may vary with different sources.
 
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science asked authors of the 30 most-cited articles across all APS journals to contribute an essay about their research. 23 did. One who did was Carol Ryff (University of Wisconsin-Madison) whose work on well-being has been impetus to over 750 studies worldwide. Three of her studies (two with colleagues) have been cited by other researchers over 20,000 times. 
 
Aristotle’s concept of eudaimonia is the philosophical inspiration for Ryff’s model. I discussed eudaimonia in one of my first blogs six years ago: “While the definitions vary somewhat, most come down to a distinction between hedonic or pleasure-based well-being and eudaemonic or meaningful, purposive well-being.” Happiness is pleasure-based. Eudaimonia is about knowing yourself and becoming what you can be.
 
So what is Ryff’s model? Well-being has six components:

• Purpose in life: “being meaningfully engaged”
• Personal growth: realizing one’s potential
• Self-acceptance: “experiencing positive self-regard” 
• Positive relations: “being connected to others”
• Autonomy: self-determining, independent
• Environmental mastery: “being capable”, competent

Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWB) has been subject to numerous psychometric studies, translated into other languages worldwide, and used in many research studies. While psychometricians may debate some of the finer points of scale construction (some overlap among components), the scale has high reliability and has lead to meaningful research across disciplines, especially health studies. In the workplace Ryff noted well-being studies related to “whether one was engaged in paid or unpaid work, the degree to which work was stressful, and how work life enhanced or undermined family life.”
 
My take-aways:
 
1.  I was not familiar with Ryff’s model until now. However, I am familiar with the components of the model and I have been writing about them for years directly and indirectly. Here are a few examples:

• Purpose in life - Purpose & Life Themes, On Purpose and Longevity, Christensen, Frankl, & Rychlak
• Personal growth – Maximizing Human Potential, Living a Meaningful Life, Carli Lloyd
• Self-acceptance – Self-compassion, Self-compassion Revisited
• Positive relations – Compassion & the Leader, Value of Chit-Chat
• Autonomy – Authenticity & Autonomy, Autonomy & Burnout
• Environmental mastery – Job Crafting, Letterman & Person-Job Match, Anita Emoff

 
2. Ryff listed several psychologists as “theoretical underpinnings” of the model, including Abraham Maslow. Having read Maslow extensively, I can relate Maslow to much of the model. His hierarchy of relative prepotency (the need hierarchy) is about growth. The higher the well-being, the more higher level needs are satisfied. Ryff’s model fits into the positive psychology/management movement as well as humanistic psychology/management.

3. So where are the practical applications? Well-being is probably related to workplace engagement. According to Gallup, only about one third of employees are actively engaged in the workplace. Over half are “not engaged” with the rest “actively disengaged.” A well-being metric might be useful in assessing psychological health of an organization, or parts thereof. Most importantly, self-assessment and understanding one’s own well-being through reflection could potentially help anyone but especially those who lead, those who set the example. 

Ryff, C. (2018). Well-being with soul: science in pursuit of human potential. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(2), 242-248. 
 
Image, "Aristotle", by Nick Thompson. Image slightly reduced from the original image at https://www.flickr.com/photos/pelegrino/6884873348  Used with permission: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
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© John Ballard, PhD, 2018. All rights reserved.
 _________________________
Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Now also available as an audiobook. 

​Are you less productive because of your manager’s behavior and actions? Do you feel that some of your boss-inspired projects are a waste of time? Are others wasting time because of something your boss said? My guess is that managers wasting their employees’ time is common in most organizations.  
 
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Bob Sutton (professor at Stanford) discussed the ways leaders unintentionally waste the time of their employees. Here are some insights I gleaned from this article, ways managers may cause employees to be less productive. 

• Adopting fads: Jumping on the latest management fad or program, thus disrupting the workplace with “a new round of training, meetings and paperwork.” Employees may react with “fad surfing” and do the minimums to support the initiative while concentrating on getting their jobs done. 
• Not delegating: As organizations grow or change, there is a limit to how much one person can do. Leaders may fail to realize they are overextended and thus fail to delegate responsibilities. They invest their time in tasks others should be doing (“cookie licking”).
• Rewarding wrong people: Boat-rockers (people who always seek to improve operations, challenge old practices) often are not rewarded to the extent that “status quo” employees are. Boat-rockers facilitate organizational learning and renewal. 
• Making “throw away” comments: Some employees (trucklers) will move into action to make something happen based on a boss’s offhand comment, a reaction the boss may never have intended (“Executive magnification”).

Sutton’s advice to leaders: 

• Be skeptical if all news is good news.
• Be careful in making offhand comments or minor complaints. But if you do, add “Please don’t do anything, I am just thinking out loud.”
• Act on employees’ suggestions, feedback, don’t just give “lip service.”
• Reward employees “who end old, obsolete and effective programs and practices” as “star employees.”

 
My take-aways:
 
1. Bob Sutton nails it. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this employee complaint about time wasted, well let’s just say I’d have a nice wad of cash. Just last week a friend told me about all the time being wasted in his organization because of a fad training program of little or no value in his workplace. Faddism is a problem in organizations. We need more evidence-based evaluations of programs and initiatives, more evidence-based decisions.
 
2. Leaders should work on self-awareness and the effect of our words on others. There will be people eager to please and who will act on your words, regardless of your intent. Self-monitor. Incorporate Sutton’s suggested phrase about thinking out loud into your verbal scripts. I recall in my Air Force days a general commenting offhandedly on the color of a gym. Next visit it was the color he was wondering about. He had just been thinking out loud – and was not happy about the time or expense wasted by those who had it painted. 
 
Sutton, R. L. (2018, August 13). How bosses often waste their employees’ time. The Wall Street Journal. 
 
Image, "Wasting Time", by C x 2. –Image slightly reduced inside from the original image at https://www.flickr.com/photos/c_x_2/23853285506  Used with permission: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
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© John Ballard, PhD, 2018. All rights reserved.
 _________________________
Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Ron Riggio, Book Review, Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Now also available as an audiobook. 

How many leadership theories do we need? Since the early 1980s transformational leadership has dominated leadership research. We also have other popular and positive approaches to leadership: authentic, servant, and ethical. The degree to which these four leadership theories overlap are empirical questions. Fortunately we now have a study that moves us closer to having answers. 
 
Julia Hoch, Bill Bommer, Jim Dulebohn, and Dongyuan Wu published their research in the February issue of the Journal of Management. Using meta-analytic techniques they examined results from over 300 studies involving thousands of working adults. Among their findings were the following:

• Authentic leadership was highly correlated with transformational leadership (.75).
• Ethical leadership was highly correlated with transformational leadership (.70).
• Servant leadership was moderately correlated with transformational leadership (.50).
• Overall servant leadership was most distinct from transformational leadership.

They also examined each theory in relation to behavioral outcomes (e.g., job performance, organizational citizenship), attitudinal outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, engagement, commitment), and relational perceptions (trust, leader-member exchange). 

• The relationships between the outcome variables and authentic leadership and ethical leadership were about the same as transformational leadership 
• On the other hand, servant leadership explained about 12% more of the variance than transformational leadership alone
• “Servant leadership is the only emerging form that seems to support construct nonredundancy [with transformational leadership theory].

The authors suggested, based on their findings, that the primary instrument used to measure transformational leadership, the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), “could be augmented by including a fifth explicit ethical dimension.” For organizations, they suggested incorporating training in moral and ethical behavior, adding an ethical component to evaluations, and hiring ethical leaders.
 
My take-aways:
 
1. I have stated my opinion about leadership in my book, blogs, and other writings. Leaders inspire others to go above and beyond the normal requirements of the job. Transactional leadership is management; transformational leadership is leadership. 
2. Hoch and associates have offered empirical results that suggest authentic and ethical leadership theories cover leadership activities mostly covered by transformational leadership. However what they do offer, and what is brought more to the forefront by servant leadership, is the importance of ethical, moral conduct by a leader. Increasingly in popular media, we see the need for ethical leadership. 
3.  Organizational culture is important in nurturing and supporting ethical conduct. Unfortunately leaders who are less ethical or morally inclined may damage long-standing organizational norms.
 
Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., & Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), 501-529.
 
Image, "Leadership", by Nick Youngson - http://www.nyphotographic.com/. Attribution: Alpha Stock Images - http://alphastockimages.com/  Original image:  http://creative-commons-images.com/handwriting/l/leadership.html Shared with permission: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
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© John Ballard, PhD, 2018. All rights reserved.
 _________________________
Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Ron Riggio, Book Review, Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Now also available as an audiobook. 

The headline on the opinion page of The Wall Street Journal: “Why Do Women Shun STEM? It’s Complicated.” In the article Barbara Oakley, PhD, Professor of Engineering at Oakland University in Michigan, argued that professors “outside scientific fields” degrade STEM careers. They suggest to students that engineering is “not creative,” even “dehumanizing.” Non-STEM professors steer potential STEM students into non-STEM areas of study. As for the STEM workplace, she noted STEM career fields are not the only ones with “jerks” and “bullying.”
 
I understand Dr. Oakley’s arguments. The low number of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) is very complicated. In Lean In Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, suggested stereotype threat “is one of the key reasons that so few study computer science.”  Women are more likely to pursue careers seen as more appropriate for women.
 
Often overlooked is that many women come to STEM careers after pursuing something else. For example, Dr. Oakley graduated from university with a degree in Slavic Languages and Literature. Five years later, she pursued her degree in Electrical Engineering. Turner, Bernt, and Pecora (2002) noted that “the field of information technology is a roadway with many on-ramps . . . for many successful women, interest and talent in IT emerged gradually and developed overtime” (p. 16). One survey of 275 women in IT found only a third had an undergraduate degree in IT or computer science. 
 
In 2006 I published a research study conducted with an IT professional, Karen Black, who came to IT after she was in the workplace, and also co-authored by a university colleague, Mary Ann Edwards, DBA, who came to academe after working in industry.  Part of our paper was a literature review of factors affecting STEM decisions for women. In 2013 I blogged about our findings. Here are several highlights:

• For women pursuing undergraduate degrees in IT or computer science, by far the most frequently mentioned influence: fathers. The enthusiasm of fathers for engineering or IT was “infectious.” Parents were highly influential but especially fathers.
• Surveys suggested some educators were discouraging: High school teachers (17%); guidance counselors (12%) –“not a field for girls.” 
• Schools emphasizing mathematics and science produced more women interested in STEM. 
• Positive experiences with mathematics correlated with interest in pursuing in STEM degrees.  
• STEM marketing should embrace the problem-solving, creativity, and variety in these careers.

My take-aways:
 
1. Increasing the percent of women in STEM careers will take time. Early influences are easy to overlook and difficult to affect as a society. The finding about fathers I found surprising so I discussed with a good friend, a woman prominent in IT. She agreed with the finding and suggested the seeds are sown by the 6th grade. It would be interesting to see if this finding is still valid in 2018. 
 
2. I agree with Sheryl Sandberg about stereotyping. I think Barbara Oakley makes a similar point. From media to some educators, there is a message that STEM careers just aren’t for women. To some degree rumors from male-dominated tech cultures may feed that stereotyping. But there are women in key positions in tech companies. Women leaders in tech may be the best to diagnose the problem and seek solutions. 
 
3. There is much interest in getting women into STEM degree programs. I think it is important to remember the many on-ramps. For women whose interest in STEM comes later, institutions of higher education and companies might find ways to provide educational support. 
 
4. I agree that STEM careers have opportunities for problem-solving and creativity. These positive attributes should be built into STEM marketing and media. 

Ballard, J., Scales, K., & Edwards, M. A. (2006). Perceptions of information technology careers among women in career development transition. Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal, 24 (2), 1-9.  
 
Oakley, B. (2018, July 14/15). "Why do women shun STEM? It's complicated. The Wall Street Journal. 
 
Image modified from https://pxhere.com/en/photo/693727. Public domain. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
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© John Ballard, PhD, 2018. All rights reserved.
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Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Ron Riggio, Book Review, Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Now also available as an audiobook.

Recently I traveled to Wisconsin to attend the memorial service for my friend and colleague, Ben Arbaugh. A much-lauded professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Ben was a leader in the Academy of Management (AOM), an international organization of over 20,000 management scholars and practitioners. Among his service over the years was chairing the Management Education and Development Division and being editor of the Academy of Management Learning & Education (AMLE) journal. Ben pioneered online education in business and wrote the definitive Online and Blended Business Education for the 21st Century.
 
There are many who worked more closely with him and knew him far better but for me our relationship was special. I first met Ben in 2002 at an AOM meeting in Denver. When he assumed editorship of AMLE, he invited me to join the editorial board even though I did not work at a major research university. As much as I grew to know Ben over the years, it was not until his memorial service that I learned that he enjoyed line dancing!
 
In Ben’s story I think there are lessons that are useful regardless of where you work or where you are in life. As I have reflected on his story, here are a few of my take-ways. I am sure others could add many more.

• Bring people together. Herbert Shepard is his classic article, "Rules for Change Agents," suggested that when you know people with similar interests who do not know each other, bring them together. Ben knew many people and was expert at bringing people together, often creating synergies for initiatives and research projects.
• Don’t just build networks, build friendships. In his last lecture Ben talked about the joy of working with friends. His manner of interaction made you feel special, appreciated. He was an easy person to like.
• Work hard but seek balance. I know this was a tough one. Ben was prolific in his many undertakings. But he knew his priorities and he stuck to them even when conflicting priorities also offered rewards. He liked the question posted by Clayton Christensen, how will you measure your life?
• Time management is about tradeoffs. Choose wisely.
• Know your metrics, be evidence-based. Let the data speak and try to understand what the data are saying. Decisions based on evidence will usually be superior to those they are not.
• Read. Never stop growing, developing. At Ben’s memorial service there were tables and displays from a life well-lived. I should not have been surprised when I saw that one display was “Favorite Books.”
• Help others, support others. I was deeply moved when I realized that one of his last activities on Twitter was in support of the release of the audio version of my book. Helping others is not just an attitude but involves behaviors. Hang around Ben long enough and you could see that being kind and supportive was in his DNA. 
• Live a life of integrity. Know who you are. Have virtue.

It was my honor and privilege to have called Ben Arbaugh my friend.

Image,"Hawaiian Flowers," © John Ballard.
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© John Ballard, PhD, 2018. All rights reserved.
 _________________________
Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Ron Riggio, Book Review, Academy of Management Learning & Education June, 2018