tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/workplace-leadership-9059/articlesWorkplace leadership – The Conversation2023-11-09T20:33:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2167962023-11-09T20:33:22Z2023-11-09T20:33:22ZSmashing the ‘concrete ceiling’: Black women are still missing from corporate leadership<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/smashing-the-concrete-ceiling-black-women-are-still-missing-from-corporate-leadership" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>While white women may speak of breaking through the “glass ceiling,” for many Black women, it’s more like a “<a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_concrete_ceiling">concrete ceiling</a>.” Black women experience unique and formidable barriers in the workforce that are not only difficult to break, but also obscure their view of career advancement opportunities.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ryerson.ca/diversity/news-events/2020/08/black-leaders-are-nearly-non-existent-on-canadian-boards-according-to-ryerson-s-diversity-institute-s-new-study-of-canadian-board-diversity/">A comprehensive study in 2020</a> exposed the harsh reality of Black representation on Canadian corporate boards: Out of 1,639 board positions across eight major Canadian cities, only 0.8 per cent were occupied by Black directors. </p>
<p>According to the report, in Toronto, where the Black community makes up <a href="https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/441-more-half-canadas-black-population-calls-ontario-home">7.5 per cent of the population</a>, Black people hold a mere 0.3 per cent of corporate board seats. </p>
<p>These statistics become even more disheartening when compared to the representation of Black women on corporate boards. As of 2020, although <a href="https://www.osler.com/en/resources/governance/2020/report-2020-diversity-disclosure-practices-diversity-and-leadership-at-canadian-public-companies">women held about 21.5 per cent of directorship positions</a> in Toronto Stock Exchange companies, Black women held less than 0.8 per cent of these positions. </p>
<p>The numbers paint a clear picture: there need to be continued efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion within Canadian corporate boardrooms.</p>
<p>There are measures Canada can take to crack the concrete ceiling, including establishing racial diversity quotas specifically for Black women, <a href="https://theconversation.com/census-2021-canadians-are-talking-about-race-but-the-census-hasnt-caught-up-158343">collecting disaggregated racial diversity data</a>, providing mentorship opportunities and raising awareness of unconscious bias among recruiters. These are all critical steps toward achieving equitable and inclusive corporate governance in Canada.</p>
<h2>The problem with the term ‘visible minorities’</h2>
<p>The term “visible minorities” is quite a broad category that obscures the representation of Black women, making it difficult to ascertain how and to what extent they are actually represented. </p>
<p>In 2018, <a href="https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-25/royal-assent">significant amendments</a> were made to the <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-44/">Canada Business Corporations Act</a>, which regulates Canadian business corporations at the federal level. </p>
<p>These changes came into effect in 2020 and require companies to report on the inclusion of four equity-seeking groups: women, visible minorities, Indigenous people and persons with disabilities. The goal of these amendments is to improve the diversity at board and senior management levels.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A diverse group of people in business attire sit at a conference table behind a glass door" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558167/original/file-20231107-29-szzl9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558167/original/file-20231107-29-szzl9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558167/original/file-20231107-29-szzl9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558167/original/file-20231107-29-szzl9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558167/original/file-20231107-29-szzl9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558167/original/file-20231107-29-szzl9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558167/original/file-20231107-29-szzl9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Changes made to Canada’s business regulation act are designed to improve the diversity at board and senior management levels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>In October 2023, <a href="https://www.osler.com/en/resources/governance/2023/report-2023-diversity-disclosure-practices-diversity-and-leadership-at-canadian-public-companies">reporting based on this requirement</a> revealed that 10.2 per cent of corporate board members were visible minorities, 0.7 per cent were persons with disabilities, 0.9 per cent were Indigenous people and 28.5 per cent were women.</p>
<p>While mandatory disclosure of representation across these equity-seeking groups — each grappling with their unique challenges — is a commendable step towards transparency, we also need to ask a critical question: “Who are the women being appointed to these boards?”</p>
<h2>Anti-Black racism is a distinct issue</h2>
<p>About seven years ago, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2016/10/statement-media-united-nations-working-group-experts-people-african-descent">the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent visited Canada</a> and emphasized the need to address the unique challenges faced by Black people due to a history of enslavement, racial segregation and marginalization. </p>
<p>It is important to recognize that <a href="https://sustain.ubc.ca/about/resources/towards-healthy-city-addressing-anti-black-racism-vancouver">anti-Black racism is a distinct issue</a> that demands dedicated attention, going beyond the scope of current social justice frameworks. What particularly sets Black women apart is <a href="https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/3007/">how they face overlapping discrimination based on race and gender</a>.</p>
<p>Black women often grapple with the “angry Black woman syndrome” stereotype that characterizes them as <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/b2a44966bb20d1064b5967a910d4931a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750">“combative, easily angered, overly aggressive, and difficult to work with,”</a> despite their undeniable competence. </p>
<p>This stereotype does not bode well for a candidate’s perceived interpersonal skills and their ability to contribute effectively to boards, or to even secure mentors. Consequently, even when Black women are highly qualified, <a href="https://theconversation.com/sarah-jamas-censure-making-people-feel-uncomfortable-is-part-of-the-job-216704">they face systemic biases that hinder their progress</a>.</p>
<h2>Making corporate diversity real for Black women</h2>
<p>Canada’s approach to fostering diversity on corporate boards has largely taken the form of <a href="https://www.cba.org/Sections/Business-Law/Resources/Resources/2022/EssayWinner2022EngBusiness">“comply or explain” diversity rules and disclosures</a>, where companies either follow the rules or explain why they don’t.</p>
<p>However, these measures are clearly not working, as they have not effectively addressed the under-representation of Black women at the corporate level. What we need are <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizelting/2022/09/22/stop-saying-quotas-dont-work-because-they-demonstrably-do/?sh=3a39194c5b9c">specific quotas set by both corporations and governments</a> dedicated to the inclusion of Black women. We also need to collect detailed data on the racial distribution of corporate boards, rather than relying on broad categorizations of “visible minorities.”</p>
<figure class="align-For authentic inclusivity and equity to blossom, we must cultivate a corporate culture that supports and amplified Black women. ">
<img alt="A young Black women points to a whitebaord while giving a presentation to a table of people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557557/original/file-20231103-25-epby01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557557/original/file-20231103-25-epby01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557557/original/file-20231103-25-epby01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557557/original/file-20231103-25-epby01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557557/original/file-20231103-25-epby01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557557/original/file-20231103-25-epby01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557557/original/file-20231103-25-epby01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anti-Black racism is a distinct issue that demands dedicated attention, going beyond the scope of current social justice frameworks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Even still, quotas and racial diversity data are not enough; we must combat the <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/08/why-do-boards-have-so-few-black-directors">deeply ingrained racism entrenched in recruitment processes</a> to ensure that Black women are not mere tokens, but have meaningful roles and opportunities to influence decisions. </p>
<p>Achieving this requires heightened awareness of biases and continuous anti-racism training for recruiters and board members. It also requires establishing and supporting organizations dedicated to providing specialized training, mentorship and coaching sessions tailored to helping Black women succeed in these positions. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/black-lives-matter-movement-uses-creative-tactics-to-confront-systemic-racism-143273">Racial justice movements like Black Lives Matter</a> have shone a spotlight on systemic racism across various facets of society, including the issue of diversity on corporate boards. Current measures to enhance gender parity and racial representation often overlook the unique challenges faced by Black women, resulting in their continued under-representation, or even absence, from corporate boards. </p>
<p>For authentic inclusivity and equity to blossom, we must cultivate a corporate culture that robustly champions, supports and amplifies the voices and contributions of Black women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216796/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oludolapo Makinde does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>October was Women’s History Month in Canada, but some challenges, such as the notable absence of Black women in the highest echelons of corporate leadership, are far from in the past.Oludolapo Makinde, Doctoral Candidate, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1248802019-10-14T11:42:44Z2019-10-14T11:42:44ZEmployment disruption ahead: Three ways federal policy can help workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296499/original/file-20191010-188819-h1cz3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks with construction workers who stopped to listen to his speech in Essex, Ont., Sept. 20, 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/jobs-economy-election-1.5298115">the economy</a> is a key issue this election, a central issue parties need to urgently address is the long-term employability of workers. </p>
<p>Beyond higher-profile election promises like the NDP’s proposed <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-jagmeet-singh-rolls-out-promise-heavy-ndp-platform-for-fall-federal/">$15-an-hour minimum wage</a>, and the Green Party’s plan to <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/election-2019-primer-jobs-the-economy-and-the-deficit/">train fossil fuel workers in renewable energy industries</a>, workers across Canada need Ottawa to be looking ahead to ensure people have the skills they need.</p>
<p>Threats to traditional sectors and jobs abound. Major disruption is predicted <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/green-party-robot-tax-platform-1.5302236">as the result of automation</a> and <a href="https://www.weforum.org/about/jobs-and-the-fourth-industrial-revolution">artificial intelligence eliminating many jobs and drastically reshaping others</a>, a process that’s part of the unfolding <a href="https://www.weforum.org/about/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-by-klaus-schwab">Fourth Industrial Revolution</a>. </p>
<p>In my research <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46365554-an-overview-of-training-and-development?from_search=true">on workplace learning</a> and for a book I’m working on about the career impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, I’ve identified three ways that Canadian policy-makers could promote the long-term employability of current workers. </p>
<h2>Help people maintain needed skills</h2>
<p>A shift from an “acute care” mindset to a “preventative care” one in employment policy would mean becoming more proactive to help people with jobs maintain or develop the skills they need to remain employable. </p>
<p>When a major employer closes (like GM shutting its Oshawa plant), provincial and federal governments often say they’ll <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4762851/general-motors-oshawa-jobs/">assist workers with retraining to find new work</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gm-closures-oshawa-needs-more-than-thoughts-and-prayers-107714">GM closures: Oshawa needs more than 'thoughts and prayers'</a>
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<p>But the GM case represents a more serious issue: As <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2019/09/05/shift-electric-vehicles-radically-change-auto-factories/2208961001/">the automobile industry shifts from petroleum-based to electric cars</a>, new skills will be needed. </p>
<p>An approach based on preventative care would anticipate such changes. It would focus on helping employers and workers prepare for the transition while workers still have jobs — so employers might consider current workers for fundamentally different jobs. </p>
<p>A summer report about how federal departments are preparing for the election and beyond said top civil servants have been told <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/behind-the-scenes-work-on-skills-policy-detailed-in-election-tinged-documents-1.4526130">that employers’ demands for skills will change more and more frequently in coming years.</a> </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296523/original/file-20191010-188829-1urla1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296523/original/file-20191010-188829-1urla1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296523/original/file-20191010-188829-1urla1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296523/original/file-20191010-188829-1urla1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296523/original/file-20191010-188829-1urla1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296523/original/file-20191010-188829-1urla1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296523/original/file-20191010-188829-1urla1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=637&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau speaks to the Economic Club of Canada about the federal budget in Calgary, Alta., in March 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The proposed <a href="https://www.budget.gc.ca/2019/docs/themes/good-jobs-de-bons-emplois-en.html">Canada Training Benefit</a> <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5073057/canada-federal-budget-job-training/">touted in the Liberals’ 2019 budget</a> suggests a shift of focus. It provides workers with a tax credit for half of training costs, and EI for time needed to train. </p>
<p>But with a lifetime tax credit of $5,000 and single technical training courses costing upwards of $2,600, the tax credit is inadequate to actual costs for some lines of work, especially technology-focused ones. </p>
<p>Expecting workers with families to interrupt their careers and live on EI might not be a realistic option for some. </p>
<h2>Broaden training benefits</h2>
<p>Federal policy should encourage employers to provide more training to a wider base of employees — not simply to middle and executive managers. </p>
<p>One of the first lines of defence against atrophying skills is employer-provided training. But evidence suggests that <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=9398&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1">Canadian employers’ investments in training are not keeping up</a>, according to the Conference Board of Canada Learning and Development Outlook. </p>
<p>Spending increased from a mean of $688 per employee in 2010 to $889 in 2017, but when adjusted for inflation, the increase is just $109 per employee. Worse, when adjusted for currency differences, this amount is just over half (52.5 per cent) <a href="https://www.td.org/research-reports/2017-state-of-the-industry">of what the United States spends per employee ($CAD 1,694)</a>.</p>
<p>The same Conference Board research also says that spending increases only benefited senior managers, executives and middle managers, who received more hours of training in 2017 than in 2010. By contrast, supervisors, professionals, trades and non-technical workers — middle- and high-skilled jobs — all saw reductions in training hours. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296434/original/file-20191010-188819-1smxjh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296434/original/file-20191010-188819-1smxjh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296434/original/file-20191010-188819-1smxjh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296434/original/file-20191010-188819-1smxjh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296434/original/file-20191010-188819-1smxjh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296434/original/file-20191010-188819-1smxjh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296434/original/file-20191010-188819-1smxjh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Andrew Cash, federal NDP candidate for Toronto’s Davenport riding, and incumbent between 2011 and 2015, co-founded the Urban Worker Project to push for legislative changes to offer more protection for the growing body of contingent workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode">(Joe Cressy/Flickr)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>This doesn’t even address training for contingent workers, who <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/421/HUMA/Reports/RP10553151/humarp19/humarp19-e.pdf">aren’t technically employees</a> but still need skills to provide their services. </p>
<p>Although some <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2014/01/21/skills_shortage_top_concern_employers_say.html">employers raise concerns about a skills shortage</a>, it doesn’t seem that they’re doing their part.</p>
<p>Employer-focused policy should address how much training employers offer, how employers, professional associations or governments recognize the training, and how employers will distribute training equitably. </p>
<p>Policy should also distinguish compliance training that the employer must provide, and training that enhances worker capacity. Ideally, the government would also offer incentives for organizations to provide capacity-building training to their suppliers and contractors. </p>
<p>Québec’s current Act to Foster Workforce Skills Development and Recognition — formerly called the <a href="http://legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/ShowDoc/cs/D-7.1">Act to Foster the Development of Manpower Training</a> — was passed in 1995 to respond to employees’ low participation rates in training. The act now requires employers with payrolls <a href="http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/bs43427">exceeding $2 million to invest at least one per cent of total payroll in training</a>. Studies suggest that, although not perfect, <a href="http://en.copian.ca/library/research/ccl/quebec/quebec.pdf">the law has increased how many people participate in training</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296553/original/file-20191010-188802-1ia9tid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296553/original/file-20191010-188802-1ia9tid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296553/original/file-20191010-188802-1ia9tid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296553/original/file-20191010-188802-1ia9tid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296553/original/file-20191010-188802-1ia9tid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296553/original/file-20191010-188802-1ia9tid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296553/original/file-20191010-188802-1ia9tid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, François-Philippe Champagne, with Québec’s Justice Minister Sonia Lebel and the province’s Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity, Jean Boulet, at a skills training announcement in Montréal in June 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
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<h2>Give incentives to train</h2>
<p>The federal government should also offer incentives for workers to participate in training, for example in the form of tax credits. </p>
<p>Employers certainly have a responsibility to ensure that their workers have the needed skills. But 64.5 per cent of of 802 randomly selected Canadian workers who participated in the 2018 Conference Board Study of Informal Learning said that <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-Library/abstract.aspx?did=9861">responsibility for continued learning is shared between workers and employers</a>. The workers represented a cross-section of Canadian industries. </p>
<p>But workers’ behaviour suggests limited commitment to continued learning. In the same Conference Board study, 17.7 per cent of workers invested less than $100 a year in their continued learning and another 23.8 per cent spent between $101 and $250 annually. And, 41.5 per cent of workers spent less than one hour learning per week. That’s not all their fault. Some employers actively discourage learning on the job.</p>
<p>Policy should include incentives to participate in both formal and self-study learning, and supports for the latter. </p>
<p>Federal policy should also address the growing range of training options available to workers, like <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2019/02/16/education-micro-credentials-101-why-do-we-need-badges/#3004a7102419">micro-credentials</a>, coding schools, <a href="http://mooc.org/">Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)</a>, certificate programs and voluntary certifications. </p>
<p>The latter two are often treated interchangeably but are unrelated concepts. The government could help clear up confusion and require accurate labelling of programs. This matters because gaining credentials can offer a cost-effective, quicker route to competence than many traditional degree programs, but only if everyone knows what the credential means.</p>
<p>Although public policy cannot prevent the impact of automation and AI, it could define how changes affect employers and employees alike.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124880/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Entente Canada Quebec
Canadian Council on Learning
SSHRC
Memberships: Association for Talent Development; Institute for Performance and Learning; Academy of Human Resource Development; Canadian Network for Innovation in Education; Society for Technical Communication, have served as advisor for the two Conference Board studies referenced in the article, work as Research Director for Lakewood Media (through a research contract with my university); past president of Ometz, a Montreal-based human services agency that provides employment services; </span></em></p>Three federal public policy changes impacting employed and contingent workers could significantly buffer anticipated impacts of automation, Artificial Intelligence and a changing economy.Saul Carliner, Professor of Education, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/852952017-10-17T13:12:18Z2017-10-17T13:12:18ZIn defence of happiness: why emotional intelligence is key in the digital age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190615/original/file-20171017-30386-1pynk7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Much has been written about the <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297385">relationship</a> between a happy, positive workplace and an effective, productive workforce. But the definition of happiness can be misunderstood – often it is seen as the presence of positive emotions and the absence of negative ones, which can lead to work cultures that pressure people into faking positive emotions. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420709/">Research</a> has shown this “faking” can result in long-term physical and emotional illness.</p>
<p>Associating the state of being happy merely with being cheerful all the time creates another challenge as, in the case of academic institutions for example, happiness tends be classified as less serious, superficial and lightweight. This results in universities avoiding the conversation on developing “happy” graduates and adopting a “happiness agenda” for the holistic development of their students.</p>
<p>At a time when depression and suicide are on the rise – currently <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/">300m people</a> worldwide are suffering from depression – this is disturbing. A <a href="http://www.who.int/mental_health/management/depression/wfmh_paper_depression_wmhd_2012.pdf">recent report</a> by the World Health Organisation predicted that if nothing is done, by 2030 depression will be the number one illness in the world.</p>
<h2>Three steps to happiness</h2>
<p>Happiness is not just about developing positive emotions, it has two other constituent parts: purpose and resilience. Having a clear and meaningful purpose is a key element in sustaining long-term happiness. And because negative emotions are an integral part of life, developing resilience is the third highly essential component of happiness, as it enables us to deal effectively with negative emotions when they arise.</p>
<p>Employers who are serious about achieving effectiveness and productivity through a happy workforce need to ensure workers are given the opportunity to do engaging, meaningful and purpose-driven work, are able to develop good relationships and experience a sense of achievement.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190617/original/file-20171017-30422-1dtwiig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While Artificial Intelligence may be surpassing many human capabilities, it still can’t compete with the human skill of emotional intelligence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/artificial-intelligence-playing-chess-concept-robot-447729400">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://aeon.co/essays/the-key-to-jobs-in-the-future-is-not-college-but-compassion">Many indicators</a> suggest that jobs of the future will require much more emotional intelligence to complement the sophisticated machines we work with. Academic institutions need to seriously consider playing a role in developing students’ <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/emotional-intelligence">emotional intelligence</a> and well-being to ensure that universities remain relevant in a world where the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/">fourth industrial revolution</a> demands the integration of physical, cyber and biological systems and the automation of an increasing number of jobs. With the unprecedented levels of complexity and change societies are dealing with, it is crucial to explore how education systems can evolve to help young people develop self-awareness and social awareness if they are to thrive and achieve their full potential once they enter the workplace.</p>
<h2>A space for human connection</h2>
<p>Humans bring three dimensions to the job market: physical, cognitive and emotional. Machines have surpassed us in both the physical dimension (less and less manual work is necessary) and the cognitive dimension (<a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/190/artificial-intelligence-ai">Artificial Intelligence</a> is increasingly able to surpass humans in tasks such as chess and medical diagnosis). This leaves the emotional domain where humans still have the upper hand. As more and more jobs are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/26/jobs-future-automation-robots-skills-creative-health">automated</a>, the nature of the value that humans will add will evolve to focus around creativity, connectivity with others and self-fulfilment. </p>
<p>American psychologist <a href="http://www.danielgoleman.info/biography/">Daniel Goleman</a> defined the four domains of emotional intelligence as: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and relationship management. In 2013, I developed an <a href="https://www.openlearning.com/courses/Success">online course</a> on emotional intelligence which was taken by more than 6,000 students from 150 different countries. The course introduced multiple exercises aimed at developing Daniel Goleman’s four domains.</p>
<p>Students performed two daily exercises: “brain rewiring” which involved stating five things they were grateful for, and “my emotions today” where they articulated their feelings by sharing them online with others participants on the course. These exercises of gratitude and emotional awareness can help create the <a href="http://ei.yale.edu/what-is-gratitude/">foundational habits</a> for emotional intelligence.</p>
<p>Students were also introduced to the practice of meditation and were supported through the development of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Relevant and Timely) goals, a mission statement and a personal vision statement. Some students reported personal triumphs such as being able to climb a mountain, control a stammer, start a business and even getting married and overcoming suicidal thoughts.</p>
<p>More work needs to be done to establish the most effective ways of developing emotional intelligence in young people across all walks of society. But if we are to take on the demands, complexities and shifting sands of the digital age, we will need happy, fulfilled, resilient people to embrace it; our universities have a part to play in teaching these essential skills. As do workplaces, where happy, fulfilled employees can mean increased productivity and turnover. People pretending to be happy in the workplace reaps no benefit for anyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mushtak Al-Atabi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Jobs of the future will require emotional intelligence to complement the sophisticated machines we work with, so we need to equip young people with this vital skillMushtak Al-Atabi, Provost and CEO, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/771042017-05-07T05:33:20Z2017-05-07T05:33:20ZThe agile working style started in tech but it could work for banks<p>The purpose of the “agile” working style is to help businesses adapt to turbulent markets by adopting a fast and flexible approach to work. In one sense, it should come as no surprise that ANZ’s chief executive Shayne Elliot <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-finance/anz-blows-up-bureaucracy-as-shayne-elliott-takes-the-bank-agile-20170428-gvumc2">recently announced</a> that ANZ will be shifting parts of its workforce to this style. </p>
<p>With the bank’s <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-finance/financial-services/bank-analysts-take-knife-to-anz-earnings-forecasts-20170503-gvxvxk">recent withdrawal from Asia</a> and subsequent lower than expected revenues, this is part of ANZ refocus on its core business. In fact, each of Australia’s big four banks might be looking to become more efficient and responsive in the face of a tightly regulated market and slowly building retail banking competition from newer financial technology companies.</p>
<p>In another sense though, it’s surprising that one of Australia’s largest banks should signal such a profound change in work style. Finance is certainly not where agile got its start.</p>
<h2>The origins of agile</h2>
<p>The forerunners of agile stretch back as far as the <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/04/the-secret-history-of-agile-innovation">Plan-Do-Study-Act</a> method developed by Walter Shewart at Bell Labs in the 1930s and the <a href="http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/340360/it_toyota_way/">Toyota Production System</a>, based, in part, on the quality and systems thinking of Shewart’s student, William Edwards Deming.</p>
<p>However, agile as we understand it today is seen as emerging from software programming communities. It crystallised when 17 software developers gathered at the Snowbird ski resort in Utah in 2001 to share and refine their approaches to software development. </p>
<p>One of the participants had been reading a book on major companies coping with turbulent markets, called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Agile-Competitors-Virtual-Organizations-Strategies/dp/0471286508">Agile Competitors and Virtual Organizations: Strategies for Enriching the Customer</a>. Drawn to the agile’s connotations of speed and responsiveness, the group eventually adopted it as the moniker for their movement. </p>
<p>They published their views in <a href="http://www.agilealliance.org/">The Manifesto for Agile Software Development</a>, intending to help accelerate developers’ efforts to reliably produce software of the highest quality. Agile has since spread beyond the confines of IT to the other types of work and other organisations.</p>
<h2>How to work in an agile style</h2>
<p>As academics <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/05/embracing-agile">Rigby, Sutherland, and Takeuchi</a> explain, agile now covers a broad range of methods, each varying according to their guiding principles and work rules. The three most well-known methods are scrum, lean, and kanban.</p>
<p><strong>Scrum</strong> focuses on structuring teams to work across functions in a business, using creative and adaptive teamwork, daily stand-up meetings, and project reviews to quickly invent solutions and improve team performance.</p>
<p><strong>Lean</strong> focuses on eliminating waste in systems and does not prescribe work rules to achieve this in the same way as scrum. </p>
<p><strong>Kanban</strong> aims to shorten the time between the initiation and completion of work by visualising workflows, restricting the work being done at each stage in development, and measuring work cycle times to detect improvement.</p>
<p>ANZ seems to be most interested in the scrum method. <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-finance/anz-blows-up-bureaucracy-as-shayne-elliott-takes-the-bank-agile-20170428-gvumc2">ANZ’s Head of Product Katherine Bray stated</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are vestiges of roles that we recognise, but with the underpinnings of hierarchy totally blown apart…[A scrum coach] is not your boss, that’s a coach, who is a peer. That product owner is not your boss, they’re a product owner who defines the how, and you galvanise around that.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Going back to the origins of agile and system thinking, it seems clear the agile approach is most likely to succeed where the organisation adopting it possesses <a href="https://www.infoq.com/news/2014/11/agile-modularity">structural modularity</a>. Modularity proposes that organisations structure themselves in a way that allows teams to produce work that is layered, discrete, and testable. </p>
<p>This is what Bray is talking about - a radically new approach to roles and work styles at ANZ. </p>
<p>We might dismiss this whole reorganisation as marketing theatre, but intensifying competition and rapid change are all too real. This means many Australian businesses will have to come to terms with agile approaches if they are to remain responsive and competitive. </p>
<p>By taking up agile’s shift from top-down management to teams that organise themselves, and from a focus on compliance to a focus on innovation, ANZ is making its intent clear. It wants to achieve different results by doing things differently – surely a sane approach to change. </p>
<p>Yet this idea challenges the conventional structure and ethos of banks and similarly run businesses. These organisations are built to be secure and centralised in service of efficiency; modularity pushes them to be integrated and decentralised in service of innovation. </p>
<p>Modularity and agility are not easy to achieve. But they are fast becoming necessary if large companies, like ANZ, are to move with the times and adapt well to market turbulence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77104/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The agile working style was originally designed by tech companies for efficiency in software development but now one of Australia’s big four banks wants to implement this.Massimo Garbuio, Senior Lecturer, University of SydneyDreu Harrison, Research Assistant, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/731322017-02-21T19:09:01Z2017-02-21T19:09:01ZWhy algorithms won’t necessarily lead to utopian workplaces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157456/original/image-20170220-15882-1ijw9ke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are reasons to believe the promise of people analytics may not live up to the hype.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Using computer algorithms to make decisions about employees might seem like an objective management strategy, but it could actually give an inaccurate picture of productivity and compromise employees’ rights in the process.</p>
<p>Many businesses are turning to algorithms to make decisions about hiring and firing employees, assessing their performance and enhancing their productivity. This practice, known as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/people-analytics-moneyball-for-human-resources/2014/08/01/3a8fb6ac-1749-11e4-9e3b-7f2f110c6265_story.html?utm_term=.5f2b548e98c5">people analytics</a>, is fundamentally reshaping today’s workplace. </p>
<p>People analytics relies on comprehensive collection of digital data about employees’ behaviour. The data can come from employees’ key performance indicator reports, email traffic, in-office interaction patterns, and social networking activity. Once collected and aggregated, data are analysed for patterns by algorithms to inform managerial decisions.</p>
<p>The increasing use of people analytics gives rise to several ethical issues, as well as questions over whether it actually works.</p>
<h2>Ethical issues with people analytics</h2>
<p>The application of people analytics invades employees’ privacy by tracking their <a href="http://theweek.com/articles/564263/rise-workplace-spying">phone, email and internet browsing activity</a> to understand their work interactions and <a href="http://www.volometrix.com/employee-engagement">level of engagement</a>. In some cases, it requires employees to wear badges that monitor their physical movements, tone of voice and <a href="http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/people-analytics-through-super-charged-id-badges/">conversation patterns</a>. </p>
<p>It also threatens to limit employees’ ability to express their creativity and individuality in the workplace. </p>
<p>Many companies, like UK supermarket giant Tesco, use digital tracking devices that closely watch <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/08/05/are-performance-monitoring-wearables-an-affront-to-workers-rights/?utm_term=.b0f687b2fb47">every step their employees take</a>. This is meant to increase productivity by breaking down work to a sequence of simple processes, each of which is made transparent and subject to optimisation. However, this practice elevates micro-management to new heights and <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/business/21664190-modern-version-scientific-management-threatens-dehumanise-workplace-digital">dehumanises work</a>.</p>
<p>When a human makes a decision, an employee can discuss the decision with their manager to understand why and how it was made. Conversely, algorithms <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/09/not-even-the-people-who-write-algorithms-really-know-how-they-work/406099/">are complex</a>, and often proprietary and inaccessible. People can experience algorithmic decisions as arbitrary since they have no way of understanding the logic behind them.</p>
<p>The use of predictive analytics – applying algorithms to identify current patterns to predict the probability of future patterns – can lead to situations where people are discriminated against or punished before they have done anything wrong. </p>
<p>For example, many companies – such as financial services company Credit Suisse – employ algorithms to identify employees <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com.au/big-companies-create-quit-algos-2015-3">who might quit</a>. This is done by detecting pattern similarities between current employees and those who have quit in the past. </p>
<p>When companies use these data to make training, promotion or firing decisions, they are basing their decisions on what may happen – rather than on what employees have done.</p>
<h2>Does people analytics actually work?</h2>
<p>There are reasons to believe the promise of people analytics may not <a href="https://medium.com/jacob-morgan/people-analytics-the-promise-the-perils-and-the-possibilities-a917ce15f5f8#.d3ws3ojcy">live up to the hype</a>. </p>
<p>Most importantly, the use of algorithms does not make decisions rational or objective. This is because their design involves subjective human judgement. For example, when developing an algorithm to measure employee performance, different metrics can be captured, such as annual revenue, <a href="http://www.custominsight.com.au/360-degree-feedback/what-is-360-degree-feedback.asp">360-degree feedback score</a> and engagement level. Which metrics to use and what weighting to give each one are subjective human decisions.</p>
<p>Moreover, algorithms emulate human decision-making and can reflect <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/discrimination-algorithms-disparate-impact/403969/">societal biases</a>. For instance, if a company has historically promoted more employees of a particular ethnic group to senior levels, an algorithm will learn what “appropriate” promotions are and make biased promotion decisions.</p>
<p>Therefore, algorithms cannot be said to be reflective of an objective truth.</p>
<p>In addition, people analytics is unlikely to accurately measure human behaviour. <a href="http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1055&context=ecis2006">Research shows</a> that when employees do not perceive technology as helping boost productivity, they are likely to game the system by feeding it inaccurate data. This is particularly common in professional services and law firms, where employees are required to report their activities in <a href="http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/opinion/16379-why-timesheets-are-damaging-to-your-practice">minute detail</a>. </p>
<p>Therefore, the veracity of data captured by people analytics systems should not be taken for granted.</p>
<p>Finally, people analytics’ positive impacts on innovation should also be questioned. It may actually curb organisational innovation, rather than increase it.</p>
<p>For example, many companies seek to hire applicants who have the same traits as their top-performing employees possess. By designing a hiring algorithm that looks for those traits in an applicant pool, companies are likely to keep hiring the same type of people. This will reduce diversity of skills, psychological attributes and viewpoints.</p>
<h2>What should companies do?</h2>
<p>The use of people analytics raises ethical questions and may not deliver all that its proponents promise. But an informed approach to using it, which considers its potential adverse effects and limitations, can be beneficial.</p>
<p>Using people analytics can enhance the speed and efficiency of decision-making. However, organisations would be well advised to do so with human oversight, and to make the process visible to those affected by the resulting decisions.</p>
<p>People analytics is not a cure-all solution. Organisations should use it only if their culture is compatible with the technology’s logic. A large company with established hierarchy and processes is likely to get more out of people analytics than a small and innovative start-up whose employees have highly flexible working arrangements.</p>
<p>Companies are attracted to implement people analytics in the hope algorithmic power will enhance their performance. However, managers and employees alike would be better off if they approached people analytics with a critical eye to get the most out of it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Uri Gal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite its promises, people analytics has serious ethical implications and can adversely affect organisations and how people are treated at work.Uri Gal, Associate Professor in Business Information Systems, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/624082016-08-17T01:38:19Z2016-08-17T01:38:19ZHere’s what coworkers think when you suck up to your boss<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132604/original/image-20160801-17037-13uca9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Do you really?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Boss mug via www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Few employees would deny that ingratiation is ubiquitous in the workplace. </p>
<p>This behavior goes by many names – kissing up, sucking up, brown-nosing and ass-kissing. Indeed, the fact that there are so many names that describe this behavior suggests that it’s <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-041015-062337">something that goes on all the time</a> at work.</p>
<p>Ingratiation is <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/apl/94/6/1394/">defined</a> as the use of certain positive behaviors such as flattery, doing favors or conforming to another’s opinions <a href="http://orm.sagepub.com/content/2/2/187.short">to get someone else to like you</a>. This behavior is especially common when employees interact with a supervisor <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1994-98598-000">because of the latter’s status</a> and <a href="http://amj.aom.org/content/58/6/1637.short">control over important work resources</a>, including job assignments, responsibilities, pay and <a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/26015119/media-f7b-97-randd-leaders-business-yukl.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ56TQJRTWSMTNPEA&Expires=1469825619&Signature=wH2Cwrigzxzw%2FnO7dnOGkTYRbwA%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DLeadership_in_organizations.pdf">promotions</a>.</p>
<p>So we all know that this goes on all the time, but what do we really understand about how these behaviors operate at work?</p>
<p>While social influence behaviors like ingratiation are typically thought of as a dyadic phenomenon (that is, involving two people – the ingratiator and the ingratiated), these behaviors are actually embedded in a much more complex and dynamic work environment, which includes many other people. </p>
<p>To get a clearer picture of how these behaviors operate, my colleague and I <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2016-37460-001/">examined how they work from a third party’s point of view</a> – that is, how do observers of sucking up to a boss process it? </p>
<h2>Ass-kissing works</h2>
<p>We do know a few things about how ingratiation works in the workplace. </p>
<p>First of all, we know that <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/apl/75/5/487/">these behaviors are effective</a>. That is, targets of ingratiation tend to like to be sucked up to, and they tend to form more positive opinions of those doing the sucking up. </p>
<p>So is it all positive news for the ingratiator? No, not really. </p>
<p>We also know that <a href="http://search.proquest.com/openview/b156319506b03760ecb0a7947dec3756/1?pq-origsite=gscholar">observers of this behavior</a> <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/70/6/1164/">tend to dislike</a> the <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/74/4/849/">ingratiator</a>. That is, when we see a coworker kissing up to a supervisor, we tend to dislike that colleague and view him or her less favorably. </p>
<p>What is not clear, and what we set out to explore in this project, was how observers of ingratiation felt about the target. In other words, if we see someone sucking up to our supervisor at work, does that affect our opinion of that supervisor? </p>
<h2>Ingratiation: Social or unsavory?</h2>
<p>Ingratiation represents a challenging phenomenon from a social influence perspective, because the cues it sends are technically positive, but unsavory and negative aspects accompany the activity. </p>
<p>That is, when a coworker sucks up to a supervisor, he or she is saying positive things about that person and sending positive signals about him or her. </p>
<p>“I really like your tie,” “Wow, that was a really great idea” and “That’s exactly how I would have done it, great job, boss” are all examples of ingratiation that send others positive signals about the supervisor. </p>
<p>However, there are also aspects of ingratiation that suggest that observers wouldn’t infer positive things about the supervisor because of these signals. Most notably, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15324834basp2004_1">when we know </a>a behavior is false or feigned, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103104001192">we tend to discount it</a>. Since ingratiation is specifically performed to earn another’s liking, it isn’t genuine. </p>
<p>That means we have a challenging phenomenon for observers - they are getting positive signals about the boss but in a way that suggests these signals may not be real. </p>
<p>So how will other employees interpret these signals?</p>
<h2>Newcomers are more susceptible</h2>
<p>What we find in this study is that it depends on the employee. </p>
<p>Specifically, we find that newcomers are in a unique position when it comes to observing ingratiation, and they are much more likely to interpret it as a positive signal about the supervisor. Newcomers, who know very little about the supervisor, <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/80/6/931">are motivated to learn</a> about the boss any way they can. And thus they are more likely to disregard the aspects of ingratiation that suggest that it’s fake and interpret it as being a positive signal about the boss. </p>
<p>In a series of studies, we found that when participants were in the role of newcomers, they regularly formed more positive impressions of supervisors whom they saw being ingratiated. Even when these participants knew a little bit about the supervisor before observing the ingratiation, they still formed more positive impressions. </p>
<p>However, when participants took the role of contractors who had no need to learn about the supervisor because he had no control over their work outcomes this effect disappeared. Observing ingratiation had no effect on non-newcomers’ impressions of the supervisor.</p>
<h2>Lessons for supervisors</h2>
<p>In another study, we examined what role supervisor behavior could play in this phenomenon. </p>
<p>In this study, some participants (“newcomers” to the job) saw an interaction in which a supervisor was kissed up to by an employee and some witnessed the same interaction minus the ingratiation. Then some participants saw a supervisor react by behaving positively toward the ingratiating employee, and others saw the supervisor react in a neutral way. </p>
<p>What we found was that when the supervisor behaved positively by calling the coworker a “good guy” and suggesting that they worked well together, the influence of the ingratiation had almost no effect on observers’ impressions. In other words, when the supervisor signaled that he or she had good qualities by acting in ways suggesting he or she genuinely liked the coworker, onlookers automatically felt positively about him or her, and the observed ingratiation had no influence. The impact of the ingratiation was overridden by the supervisor’s own genuinely positive behaviors. </p>
<p>This suggests that newcomers prefer direct information from the supervisor when forming opinions about the supervisor, but in the absence of this information they will use observed ingratiation as a substitute for direct information.</p>
<h2>Putting it all together</h2>
<p>The results of our study mean a few things. </p>
<p>They suggest that impression management behaviors are actually much more complicated than we realize. We typically think of these behaviors as being episodes between two people (the ingratiator and the target). But what we found here is that these behaviors have more complex effects and actually influence the opinions of those who observe them. </p>
<p>Ingratiation is typically thought of as a behavior that actors use to get others to like them. But what we show here is that this can actually be used as a strategy to get others to like others, as in this case a coworker is able to make someone new form a favorable impression of the boss. </p>
<p>So if a supervisor wants a new employee to like him or her, a realistic strategy may be for him to have another employee kiss up in front of the newcomer. This strategy should be used with caution, however, because of the known damage this behavior can have to the ingratiator (remember – we don’t like ingratiators).</p>
<p>This study also shows both the preference for direct information when forming impressions of others and what we’ll do in the absence of direct information. When supervisors displayed genuinely positive behaviors, participants preferred to use that information to form their impressions, and they discounted the indirect information obtained from the ingratiation episode, showing that we prefer direct information. </p>
<p>However, absent that information, we’ll take what we can get. And even though ingratiation isn’t perfect, and even though we know it’s fake, if we don’t have anything better and we want to form an impression of the supervisor, we’ll use this imperfect information in the same way we would have used direct signals from the supervisor.</p>
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<p><a href="http://aom.org/">Trevor Foulk is a member of the Academy of Management</a></p>
<footer>The academy is a funding partner of The Conversation US.</footer>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trevor Foulk is an Academy of Management scholar.</span></em></p>What happens when you ‘brown-nose’ your boss is more complicated than you think – and can change how she’s perceived by colleagues.Trevor Foulk, Doctoral Student, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/572092016-04-22T00:42:37Z2016-04-22T00:42:37ZThey’re the voice: how workers can be heard when unions are on the wane<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119201/original/image-20160419-5287-1o6to7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Regardless of the channels through which it is done, most employees want to have a say in how their workplaces are run.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Employee “voice” is often heralded as a core characteristic of high-performing, innovative workplaces and as an antecedent to employee engagement. </p>
<p>As Australian workplaces face ever present challenges to increase productivity and innovation, it is no surprise that employee voice is a core consideration. But what happens in workplaces where there are significant power differentials between employer and employees? And what happens where trade unions are absent from the employment relationship? </p>
<h2>How workers can best be heard</h2>
<p>Employee voice is best encapsulated as the means by which employees are involved and participate in matters that affect them at work. Employee voice therefore has a procedural dimension – the channel by which voice is expressed – and a substantive dimension, which is the extent to which voice shapes and impacts on workplace outcomes. </p>
<p>The channels by which employee voice is expressed can be direct or indirect. The latter expresses voice through an intermediary (collective representation), whether union or non-union.</p>
<p>As Australian union membership has steadily declined over the last 30 years, employee voice channels have shifted away from collective, largely unionised channels to direct channels, such as team briefings and semi-autonomous teams. This trend is hardly surprising. The most <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/MediaRealesesByCatalogue/A4A44798D68CAFB9CA257EEA000C5421?OpenDocument">recent union membership figures</a> show that members account for 15% of the workforce. </p>
<p>Does this render the remaining 85% of the workforce silent? Evidence would suggest not.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100146550">series of</a> representation and participation surveys in Australia, modelled on similar surveys undertaken in, among others, the US, Britain and Canada, reveal that employees have fared well with the shift to direct voice. </p>
<p>Direct voice is linked with positive organisational outcomes, such as job satisfaction and a better industrial relations climate (co-operative employment relationship). It has also enhanced individual employment outcomes such as trust in management and perceived influence by employees over job rewards.</p>
<p>While Australian evidence paints a positive picture of direct voice, empirical evidence suggests that employee voice is not a zero-sum game. There are plenty of examples of workplaces that derive positive outcomes from multiple voice channels. Such hybrid arrangements might include unionised representatives plus a non-union employee council, or, semi-autonomous teams alongside union representatives. </p>
<p>Across the Anglo-American world, <a href="http://www.academia.edu/14907959/Trust_in_management_the_role_of_employee_voice_arrangements_and_perceived_managerial_opposition_to_unions">a parallel trend</a> to the increase in direct employee voice has been an increase in the expression of employee voice through non-union representation. </p>
<p>The “never-member” problem – the majority of the workforce never having joined unions – is one explanation for the rise in non-union employee representation.</p>
<h2>How do trade unions fit in with employee ‘voice’?</h2>
<p>In the context of a decline in union membership, and as Australian unions seek to revitalise and redefine their relevance following the damning royal commission, effective provision of unionised voice must remain at the heart of any strategic repositioning. </p>
<p>Recent developments in employee voice are therefore instructive in driving trade unions’ initiatives and strategies to rebuild voice for workers.</p>
<p>First, while there may be many winners of the shift to direct and non-union representative voice in professional services and managerial occupations, unions can still leverage power imbalances and the “voice gap” in precarious employment to ensure employees’ voices are resoundingly heard. Childcare work is a powerful example, due to precarious work arrangements, the feminisation of the workforce, and low pay.</p>
<p>Second, the nuance of union voice must continue to evolve over time. Unions must focus on positive expressions of voice to improve job design, productivity and performance, rather than just on the negative dimension of voice, such as worker dissatisfaction or a grievance. Workplace safety, learning and training remain powerful examples of the positive expression of union voice.</p>
<p>Third, and linked to the first point, hybrid voice arrangements must consider other societal agents who express voice for precarious workers such as public servants. These agents may complement the traditional, more instrumental voice of unions in representing workers, extending voice to issues of identity and advocacy, such as age or disability by way of example. </p>
<p>However, challenges to public servants and the legitimacy of civil service organisations, due to an absence of democratic foundations, may provide a challenge to enlarging union voice in this way.</p>
<h2>Why voice matters</h2>
<p>Irrespective of the channels through which voice is expressed, most employees want the opportunity and expect “a say” in matters that affect them at work. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.academia.edu/14907959/Trust_in_management_the_role_of_employee_voice_arrangements_and_perceived_managerial_opposition_to_unions">Empirical evidence in Australia</a> would suggest that most employees perceive that their desire for voice is fulfilled through the availability of channels. However, the mere presence of voice channels is not enough. The outcomes of voice must also be effective.</p>
<p>As Australian workplaces and unions strive to constantly improve, innovate and progress, it is important to remember that much of the growth in employee voice is informal. This means there are more and more interactions between employers and employees that subsequently provide opportunities for information dissemination, consultation and idea generation.</p>
<p>In this respect, the day-to-day relations between employers, employees and unions remain fundamental to the nature and experience of employee voice. </p>
<p>It is in the complex and enduring power relationships that underpin employment that unions can continue to play a pivotal role in ensuring that marginalised or diverse voices are heard. In high-productivity workplaces of the future, effective, meaningful employee voice will be pivotal: characterised by multiple, mutually reinforcing channels where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. </p>
<p>In creating effective employee voice, it is incumbent on organisations, employers, unions and employees that employees do not refrain from speaking up. Volkswagen’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-10/vw-says-only-small-group-to-blame-for-emissions-scandal/7019768">recent emissions scandal</a> provides a timely reminder of unethical practices and the perverse effects of employees’ discretionary behaviour.</p>
<p>The survival of union voice is contingent on an underpinning ethical process, purpose and meaning that enables genuine dialogue and power-sharing with employers, and, in turn, facilitates a competitive edge in Australian workplaces.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other pieces in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/changing-face-of-unions">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57209/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Pyman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even though union membership has dropped to just 15%, unions still have an important role to play in ensuring that workers have meaningful input into how their workplaces are run.Amanda Pyman, Professor of Management, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/450502015-07-23T05:30:44Z2015-07-23T05:30:44ZJudgement day: farewell but not goodbye to performance reviews<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89422/original/image-20150723-22816-pyc73b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some firms are ditching annual performance reviews and replacing them with more regular evaluations.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image sourced from Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The news that global professional services firm Accenture is <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/goodbye-rankings-accenture-gives-annual-performance-reviews-the-flick-20150722-gihn7y.html#ixzz3gaafMzJW">abandoning annual performance reviews</a> has been greeted with <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/the-death-knell-for-performance-review-anxiety-20150722-gihv07.html">accolades and some relief</a>. Critics are optimistic that this is the beginning of the end for a costly and anxiety-inducing annual workplace ritual. </p>
<p>Yet some caution is required before celebrating, because the end of the annual performance review is not necessarily the end of the problems these reviews can induce. </p>
<p>Performance evaluations of some kind occur constantly. In heavily monitored workplaces like some call centres, workers’ performance is continually assessed by monitoring software. But even in less intrusive workplaces, your performance is being frequently observed and judged in multiple ways. </p>
<p>What is occurring is not the end of performance review but a change in how it occurs. Companies abandoning formal annual reviews have suggested various alternatives, from project-based reviews, to using simpler performance indicators, to the ominous sounding “continuous appraisal”. </p>
<p>But how confident can we be that new performance appraisals will improve on the old? </p>
<h2>The veneer of objectivity</h2>
<p>Many criticisms of annual performance reviews could equally apply to almost any performance evaluation process. </p>
<p>One point performance review critics like <a href="http://recherche.parisdescartes.fr/pcpp_eng/Membres/Titulaires/DEJOURS-Christophe">Christophe Dejours</a> make is that much of what we do at work cannot be properly measured. Even the most astute managers will miss hours we spend in the office, and the innovations, relationships and the compromises we make to keep our organisations going. Other parts of work are almost permanently hidden from public view. Consider the odd experience of getting our best <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/52586/why-do-our-best-ideas-come-us-shower">work ideas in the shower</a>, or waking in the early hours of dawn in a cold sweat over a work dilemma. These experiences reveal how much our time, thoughts and emotions continue to work outside the office. What gets measured is only a small part of what we put into our jobs.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89424/original/image-20150723-22811-1hc5p2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89424/original/image-20150723-22811-1hc5p2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89424/original/image-20150723-22811-1hc5p2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89424/original/image-20150723-22811-1hc5p2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89424/original/image-20150723-22811-1hc5p2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89424/original/image-20150723-22811-1hc5p2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89424/original/image-20150723-22811-1hc5p2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>When it comes to judging performance, performance appraisal research provides a long list of actual and potential biases. These include cognitive biases like the “halo effect”, where a manager’s judgement about one of a person’s characteristics distorts perception of all the others; or the flattening “Veblen effect”, named after a distinguished professor who allegedly gave all his students a C. They also include entrenched social biases, such as women being stereotyped as less able to exercise authority. Given the extensive catalogue of biases, it is remarkable that annual formal performance reviews have survived for so long. </p>
<p>Of course, many judgements at work are subjective. But performance appraisal systems can make these judgements <em>appear</em> objective. Consequently, part of workers’ anxiety over performance measurement can be traced to how performance appraisals can give politicised or partial judgements a veneer of legitimacy in their organisations.</p>
<p>Another recurrent problem is evaluating individual performance in team-based workplaces. Employers invariably <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/tertiary-education/top-10-things-employers-look-for-in-university-graduates-20150114-12mb73.html">value team players</a>, yet typically evaluate and reward individual performance. One intellectual root of individual performance management is an idea popularised by orthodox economics, which is that all workers make a distinctive contribution to production – their “marginal productivity” – that can and should be individually rewarded. But it is far from clear that this is possible in modern workplaces. </p>
<p>Finally, measurement can distort incentives. The flipside to the adage that “what gets measured gets done” is that important tasks that are not measured are often neglected. For example, there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/university-metrics-keep-academics-in-their-ivory-towers-25534">increasing concern</a> that relentless measurement of how many articles academics publish in prestigious journals undermines other crucial university activities, like quality teaching and conducting lower status research that nonetheless matters to local communities.</p>
<h2>Where to now?</h2>
<p>These problems are not solved by ignoring the performance question. Most people care about their work, and value being recognised when they do well.</p>
<p>But the problems with performance appraisal show that replacing annual reviews with more regular or flexible systems does not necessarily get to the heart of the issue, which is how to accurately and fairly evaluate what people contribute. </p>
<p>It is worth seriously considering whether we need <em>systems</em> of performance review at all. We all invariably judge other people’s performance; equally invariably, our judgements are often flawed. When do performance review processes reduce our inevitable biases, and when are they simply a costly and fraught method of reproducing them?</p>
<p>If organisations do retain formal performance measurement, there are no easy answers to what these systems should look like. But given the biases of performance measurement, and their emotional as well as financial costs, a good start would be to acknowledge they are partial and fallible. And to genuinely invite discussion and reflection, rather than issue a verdict. </p>
<p>Replacing annual reviews with new processes might be a step in this direction. But unless the new procedures work to address the flaws of the old, they could just as easily get in the way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45050/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dale Tweedie is a volunteer local branch committee member of the National Tertiary Education Union.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Wild does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Much of the work we do cannot be properly measured, and yet we often get judged unfairly for it.Dale Tweedie, Research Fellow - International Governance and Performance Research Centre, Macquarie UniversityDavid Wild, Senior Research Assistant, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/438442015-07-07T20:07:19Z2015-07-07T20:07:19ZIn the bid for more female leaders, ‘mansplaining’ probably won’t help<p>There is an unspoken divide among women on the role men should play in helping to boost the ranks of female workplace leaders.</p>
<p>Increasingly, men and women are enlisting the support of <a href="http://malechampionsofchange.com/">“male champions”</a> to participate and even lead gendered leadership change. It is this approach that enables Tony Abbott to be <a href="http://www.mamamia.com.au/lifestyle/what-has-tony-abbott-done-as-minister-for-women/">Minister for Women</a>. Some say this strategy is <a href="http://www.womensagenda.com.au/talking-about/top-stories/in-defence-of-the-male-champions-of-change/201411254953#.VZChBFWqpBd">progressive</a>, others believe it is <a href="http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/where-are-those-proud-male-champions-of-change-when-you-need-them-20141124-11t3zs.html">regressive</a>. </p>
<p>Organisations and organisational leadership have been [imprinted](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_(organizational_theory) with the male leadership norm since their inception. External influencers, such as economic depression, war, and technological change have enabled women to enter organisations to challenge the male as leader norm.</p>
<p>But the power of the initial imprinting continues to shape and define organisational structures and behaviours. Despite women now forming close to 50% of the workforce, <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/media-releases/game-changing-gender-data-launched">statistics</a> reiterate the persistent lack of women in leadership. </p>
<p>A recent OECD <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/4215081ec024.pdf?expires=1436248236&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=F0A55C6FB78535D39573B5BCA3285202">report</a> on governments found the gender gap in Australia’s ministry has worsened since 2012 (see chart below), with Australia among the worst of the OECD countries for women in its highest ranks of government.</p>
<p><strong>Share of women ministers</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87585/original/image-20150707-1279-1smuxda.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87585/original/image-20150707-1279-1smuxda.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87585/original/image-20150707-1279-1smuxda.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87585/original/image-20150707-1279-1smuxda.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87585/original/image-20150707-1279-1smuxda.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87585/original/image-20150707-1279-1smuxda.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87585/original/image-20150707-1279-1smuxda.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">OECD/Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) </span></span>
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<p>The OECD says women still face important barriers in reaching senior leadership positions. The gap highlights the need for women to take strategic control of their participation and leadership.</p>
<p>At the core of the organisation remain “self-reinforcing mechanisms” which according to <a href="http://amr.aom.org/content/34/4/689.abstract">European researchers</a> are likely to lead an organisation into a “lock-in”. </p>
<p>Given these circumstances, why bring men along to lead organisational disruption? </p>
<p>A disruption in organisational imprinting requires a hostile takeover to break the path of dependency and disrupt imprinted lock-in about gender and leadership. </p>
<h2>Lessons from hostile takeovers</h2>
<p>In most cases, management and those in power are against a hostile takeover, and will defend the company from outsiders. Given women are seen as <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2004.00227.x/abstract">leadership outsiders</a>, the organisational structures and those in power will defend against more women in leadership. To deflect a hostile takeover, the company will use a number of tactics to maintain status quo.</p>
<p>It may make the stock look less attractive to the new acquirer, for example. In the case of female leaders, they may suggest that leadership is not for women, that they are not suited for the role, that <a href="https://hbr.org/2007/09/women-and-the-labyrinth-of-leadership">they are erratic</a> and don’t have what it takes. Leadership is not about capacity and power, but is constructed like a “poison pill”.</p>
<p>The “crown jewel” defence of a hostile takeover sees the company diminish its best assets - its crown jewels - in order to look less attractive. Under these circumstances, it would be expected that most are deterred from taking over since the prospects for future growth and prosperity look dim. It is also under these precarious circumstances that female leaders are given a go. This often results in a <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/20159315?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">“glass cliff”</a>. </p>
<p>Women who are given rein in times of crisis are set up to fail. With diminished resources, and lack of time and support, women leaders tend to go over the glass cliff. For those who do succeed, a male leader is usually reinstated once prosperity and any hostile threat is over. When the female leader fails, the imprinted notion of male leaders being required to lead growth and development is re-imprinted.</p>
<p>The strength of the organisation in reinforcing this is the way it rewards those in power. The golden parachute strategy prevents those in power from changing sides. Incentives and contracts given to male executives act as an anti-takeover measure. Stock options, cash bonuses, and generous severance payouts strengthen the resolve to retain privilege and stay the course. </p>
<h2>A challenge for women</h2>
<p>Women seeking leadership need to fight the privilege and closed ranks of those in power who are strengthened by their rewards. Women in leadership have an <a href="http://awljournal.org/Vol35_2015/Moor_In_Quest_of_Excellence_Not_Power.pdf">uneasy relationship with power</a>, so women in leadership programs stress ways women can empower themselves, get more skilled, do more to emulate male leaders. Meanwhile those in power continue to imprint the privilege of male leaders and deepen the path of dependency.</p>
<p>Breaking the path of dependency that has imprinted male leadership requires a gendered response to hostile takeover. It will require strategies to counter the deep imprint of male leadership and overcome the resistance of organisations to leave their well-worn path and embrace organisational and behavioural change. </p>
<p>Smart companies see their employees as assets and provide stock ownership plans as preemptive lines of defence against hostile takeovers. Rather than being seen as hostile outsiders, organisations that give greater ownership of work and control to employees can expect greater harmony between employees and management. </p>
<p>Women can lead this kind of change by working on a strategic redistribution of power in which the employee takes greater ownership of the processes so that they are reflective of employee interests. </p>
<p>Women are in a position to take ownership and share the power of control, especially in the many sectors in which they are numerically dominant - education, health, service industries - to name but a few, however it requires a systematic understanding of “hostile” work environments and whether those in power have capacity to change by handing over ownership to women and women’s leadership. This kind of change begs the question, can a male champion ever really get this?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Athena Vongalis-Macrow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Women hoping to disrupt the organisational norm of male as leader can benefit from an understanding of hostile takeovers.Athena Vongalis-Macrow, Director Master of Educational Leadership and Management, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/341372014-11-23T19:12:16Z2014-11-23T19:12:16ZBig data could be a big problem for workplace discrimination law<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64813/original/5hhrt3m3-1416289277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What if whether you got a job was determined by which web browser you used?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Staff recruitment and retention are an ongoing challenge for employers. Proponents of big data in the workplace are now claiming they can change that. </p>
<p>We’re entering a new age of predictive selection that is producing very surprising results. However, these new forms of decision-making and the results they produce could challenge the very basis of our anti-discrimination and privacy laws. </p>
<h2>So what’s new?</h2>
<p>At some point, we’ve all had to apply for a job. We complete an application, with a few positive embellishments here and there. We then submit it. And, fingers crossed, we get an interview. </p>
<p>We then get checked out to see if we’re a good fit. If we are, we get the job. It’s a simple and time-honoured practice. </p>
<p>We have a good idea why we got the job. We went to the “right” university. We got a good GPA. We demonstrated we could be a safe pair of hands. </p>
<p>We also know that our employer would not make a decision to hire us based on our race, gender or sexual preference. That’s against the law. </p>
<p>So what if we didn’t get selected on our GPA? Or because of the “right” university we went to? What if we didn’t even get selected on the basis of our job application? What if the deciding factor for our selection was not our application, but <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/business/21575820-how-software-helps-firms-hire-workers-more-efficiently-robot-recruiters">the browser we used to upload our application</a>? </p>
<p>Welcome to the potentially confounding new world of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com.au/big-data-in-the-workplace-2013-5">big data in the workplace</a>. It’s a world that turns upside down the traditional process of staff selection, one in which algorithmically, data-driven decisions are the norm. This is a world that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/technology/big-data-trying-to-build-better-workers.html?src=me&pagewanted=all">demands the collection of more and more types of information</a>, including the metadata from our working activities, our social media content and anything else that might be remotely relevant (or even irrelevant for that matter). </p>
<p>None of this is entirely new. Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball demonstrated the value of Billy Beane’s data-driven quest and its dramatic effect on the baseball team he was managing. </p>
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<p>However, Beane’s data-driven quest is now being replaced by a predictive quest and it’s producing some rather unusual results. Consider these examples.</p>
<p>A candidate who is creative but not overly inquisitive and is a member of one but no more than four social networks <a href="http://www.evolv.net/success-stories/case-study-xerox/">is more likely to be hired as a customer-care representative by Xerox</a>. Especially if they live close to the office and have access to reliable transport.</p>
<p>Software programmers who have never written open-source code are being recruited for open-source programming positions if they have the right online profile and an interest in Japanese manga websites.</p>
<p>Even a certain <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/12/theyre-watching-you-at-work/354681/7/">combination of words in a tweet or a LinkedIn post</a> can now become a reliable indicator for a good software programming candidate. </p>
<h2>So what’s the problem?</h2>
<p>These new decision-making processes and the results they generate could potentially cause significant problems for our legal frameworks of anti-discrimination and information privacy law. Both of these laws were designed in the 1960s and 1970s and may not be well suited to deal with the challenges of big data in the workplace. </p>
<p>Let’s start with anti-discrimination law. Anti-discrimination laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/guide-australias-anti-discrimination-laws">certain social and physical attributes</a>: race, gender, sexual orientation, disability. It seems obvious to us now that staff should not be selected or rejected on these attributes. We instinctively know that it is wrong to make decisions on that basis. </p>
<p>The problem with big data in the workplace is that it is often impossible to connect discrimination to the inequalities that flow from data analytics. Decisions on employee selection are being made on a range of attributes that are simply unintuitive: the browser we used to upload our application; our like of Japanese manga cartoons; even the words we use in a tweet. Big data techniques therefore recast the very notion of workplace discrimination. </p>
<p>Establishing a link between a protected attribute and a big data discriminatory practice is likely to be evidentially insurmountable. While a prohibited attribute might be a factor in the predictive process, proving the existence of a discriminatory factor and how this factor was considered will almost be impossible in predictive decision-making processes. These processes involve millions of decisions using complicated algorithmic calculations, which the worker is not given access to or <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/d56004b0-9581-11e3-9fd6-00144feab7de.html">even informed is occurring</a>.</p>
<p>Big data also provides significant challenges for information privacy law. The underlying logic of big data is to collect everything and keep it forever. The search for the unintuitive requires nothing less. <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/11/big_data_underground_railroad_history_says_unfettered_collection_of_data.single.html">All information, at all times, could potentially be relevant</a>.</p>
<p>All information therefore has the capacity to be personal information as all information could be used to identify an individual. However, information privacy law was never designed to consider that all information should be classed as personal information and protected. </p>
<p>Big data in the workplace could significantly challenge our existing legal frameworks of anti-discrimination and information privacy law. The real danger is the slippery slope of acceptance creep where we simply accept without question the veracity of a correlated prediction. We then run the risk of creating a new form of discrimination, <a href="http://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/t2_burdon_and_harpur.pdf">info-structural discrimination</a>, in which patterns of discrimination and bias are embedded in information infrastructures.</p>
<p>At that point, the dangers of big data are likely to outweigh its benefits and could negatively impact on all of us. We could find ourselves fruitlessly searching for the unintuitive attribute that will give us that job we are after, but which we can never control. </p>
<p><em>A longer version of this article was published in the <a href="http://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/t2_burdon_and_harpur.pdf">University of New South Wales Law Journal.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34137/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Staff recruitment and retention are an ongoing challenge for employers. Proponents of big data in the workplace are now claiming they can change that. We’re entering a new age of predictive selection that…Mark Burdon, Lecturer, The University of QueenslandPaul Harpur, Lecturer, School of Law, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/332132014-11-03T05:27:30Z2014-11-03T05:27:30ZCan organizations have too much talent?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63422/original/j6pytrdb-1414785964.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A study found that sports teams with too many stars are susceptible to hierarchical disputes and deteriorating performance</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/9713283363/">KeithAllison/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On October 28, journalist Matt Taibbi <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/10/matt-taibbi-disappears-from-omidyars-first-look.html">resigned</a> from First Look Media, a fledgling news organization only ten months old. According to an article <a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/30/inside-story-matt-taibbis-departure-first-look-media/?curator=MediaREDEF">published</a> on The Intercept:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Taibbi and other journalists who came to First Look believed they were joining a free-wheeling, autonomous, and unstructured institution. What they found instead was a confounding array of rules, structures, and systems imposed by [founder Pierre] Omidyar and other First Look managers…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>First Look Media was announced in October 2013 to <a href="http://cjr.org/the_audit/the_extraordinary_promise_of_t.php">much fanfare</a>, with Omidyar pledging to invest $250 million in the company and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/business/media/start-up-site-hires-critic-of-wall-st.html?smid=tw-nytmedia&seid=auto&_r=0">recruit</a> the industry’s top journalists, like Taibbi and Laura Poitras. </p>
<p>So what happened? All organizations look for the best talent and try hard to retain it. Could it be that First Look Media had <em>too much</em> talent? </p>
<p>In fact, <a href="http://faculty.insead.edu/roderick-swaab/documents/Too%20Much%20Talen%20Psych%20Science%20In%20Press.pdf">recent research</a> has found that a high level of talent can damage overall performance in team settings. One study using data from sport teams found that a team with a number of dominant, high-achieving individuals is susceptible to hierarchical disputes and deteriorating performance. More specifically, using data on team performance in both basketball and soccer, the researchers found that once the ratio of elite to non-elite players surpassed approximately 2:1, teams’ results began to diminish. </p>
<p>The negative effects of too much talent seem to extend beyond sports – and even beyond our species. As we might guess from its name, the concept of “pecking order” influences the productivity of chickens: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8786932">a 1996 poultry science study</a> found that keeping too many high-egg-producing chickens in a colony actually reduced the colony’s total egg production. </p>
<p>So, bringing together the most talented individuals (whether they’re chickens or basketball stars) might not necessarily yield the best results. </p>
<p>Now let’s consider another milieu: Wall Street firms. Analysts who work for these firms specialize in particular industries and write reports about the current and expected performance of companies. Their reports predict companies’ future earnings and include recommendations about whether to buy or sell stocks. The publication Institutional Investor <a href="http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/3389774/research-and-rankings/the-2014-rising-stars-of-wall-street.html#.VFFLSlboaAw">designates some of these analysts as “stars”</a> – employees who are among the top in their industry. To the individual analyst, being picked as a star is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual compensation. </p>
<p>But how do these stars impact their employers? Harvard Business School’s Boris Groysberg and his colleagues examined this question by studying over 6,000 industry analysts from 246 research departments in Wall Street firms. They <a href="http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/orsc.1100.0547">found</a> that having a few stars helps a firm and that having a few more doesn’t hurt or help. But at a certain tipping point, having too many stars dampens a firm’s performance. </p>
<p>In other words, in both Wall Street firms and sports teams, there is a curvilinear relationship between the number of stars in the group and their overall performance. When a group is filled with stars, group dynamics degenerate because members spend too much time competing for status. For example, they hold back information that could help the group as a whole but threaten their own standing. When a group has too many stars, members focus on what is best for themselves, view other top performers as obstacles rather than collaborators, and don’t work hard enough to help the team achieve. </p>
<p>It would be easy to conclude from this research that organizations should prioritize creating a balanced team and stable hierarchy over pursuing top talent. Yet some very successful organizations do not experience the potential negative consequences of too much talent, in part because they remove one of its root causes: the presence of hierarchy. </p>
<p>Take the case of Valve Corporation, a video-gaming company based in Bellevue, Washington, that my colleagues and I had the opportunity to study and <a href="http://hbr.org/product/Opening-the-Valve--From-S/an/415015-PDF-ENG">write about</a>. Founded in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington, Valve is the maker of the video game Half-Life and the social-distribution network Steam. A private firm, Valve claims it makes a lot of money: according to its <a href="http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf">handbook</a> for new employees, its profitability per employee is higher than that of Google, Amazon, or Microsoft. The handbook also presents the company’s position on organizational hierarchy:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Hierarchy is great for maintaining predictability and repeatability. It simplifies planning and makes it easier to control a large group of people from the top down, which is why military organizations rely on it so heavily. When you’re an entertainment company that’s spent the last decade going out of its way to recruit the most intelligent, innovative, talented people on Earth, telling them to sit at a desk and do what they’re told obliterates 99 percent of their value. Maybe it’s too much to ask the rigid hierarchies at other development houses to drastically shift to this free-loving hippie way of conducting business, but it shouldn’t be too much for those companies to treat their employees like adults. After all, hiring someone is a sign of trust. Extend that trust to every aspect of the position. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>As the handbook explains, all of Valve’s employees are free to decide which project they should be working on: “This company is yours to steer. Toward opportunities and away from risks. You have the power to green-light projects. You have the power to ship products.”</p>
<p>Other companies utilize a similar strategy. One of them is <a href="http://hbr.org/product/The-Morning-Star-Company-/an/914013-PDF-ENG">Morning Star</a> – the world’s largest tomato processor – where employees make all the decisions, like choosing which projects take on, and hold their peers accountable.</p>
<p>If an organization can remove root causes – which can include eliminating stifling hierarchies – it can avoid the dysfunctional behavior caused by the presence of too many cooks who could spoil the broth. As the cases of Valve and Morning Star demonstrate, when you give freedom to talented people (no matter how many there are), you give them opportunities to reach their full potential.</p>
<p>And perhaps if Taibbi and his peers were given the creative freedom they’d been promised, First Look Media wouldn’t be in the <a href="http://mashable.com/2014/10/30/matt-taibbi-first-look-media/">mess</a> it’s in.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francesca Gino does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On October 28, journalist Matt Taibbi resigned from First Look Media, a fledgling news organization only ten months old. According to an article published on The Intercept: Taibbi and other journalists…Francesca Gino, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/309922014-08-28T05:32:17Z2014-08-28T05:32:17ZDoubt for Lagarde’s leadership means doubt for the IMF<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/57555/original/29qtddrf-1409152913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Under investigation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Maurizio Gamberini</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>To have one leader investigated for serious misconduct may be regarded as misfortune; to have two come under investigation looks like carelessness. But the International Monetary Fund finds itself in that position. </p>
<p>Following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-french-are-seeing-the-dsk-saga-2141">Dominique Strauss-Kahn saga</a>, when the head of the IMF was forced to resign after being charged with sexual misconduct, there now comes the news that its current head, Christine Lagarde has been placed under formal investigation for her <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28948925">alleged role in the Bernard Tapie affair</a>. Lagarde denies the charges, and insists she will not resign.</p>
<h2>Importance of leadership</h2>
<p>Whether or not she does resign, a cloud will still hang over Lagarde and, just as importantly, over the IMF. Rightly or wrongly, the public reputation of an organisation is closely synchronised with the character and personality of its leader. People’s trust in an organisation is proportionate to the trust reposed in its leaders. </p>
<p>This is true of any organisation, be it a business, an NGO, a faith group, a government, an army unit or a sporting organisation. Think of Bernie Ecclestone, whose bribery charges have been dropped by the German government and who is now free to carry on as CEO of Formula One Management. But whatever happened in that Bavarian courtroom, there will always be <a href="https://theconversation.com/dithering-blazers-let-moneymen-like-ecclestone-take-over-sport-17388">whispers about Ecclestone</a>, just as there are whispers about Formula One.</p>
<h2>Trust and responsibility</h2>
<p>This is particularly important given the IMF’s position as one of the guardians of global fiscal responsibility. Governments, financial institutions and people have to feel that they can trust the IMF and, fundamental to that, they have to feel that they can trust its leader. If there is even a shadow of doubt, then uncertainty will set in; and more uncertainty is exactly what the world financial system does not need right now. (The Middle East and the Ukraine are providing more than enough uncertainty already, thank you.)</p>
<p>The IMF knows how important trust is. Its <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/about.htm">own website</a> is full of talk of transparency, good governance, values. It realises that trust closely correlates with stability. </p>
<p>It follows that the IMF needs leaders who inspire trust, whom others will see as being steady and reliable, who will be able to concentrate on doing their job without having to fend off whispers and allegations. This is in no way to criticise Christine Lagarde, who is a highly competent person and may very well be entirely guilt-free in this matter. But, given that this issue was there in her past, it’s worth questioning whether the IMF did the right thing in inviting her to be its leader.</p>
<h2>A lesson for all</h2>
<p>There is a clear lesson here for every organisation, large or small. When choosing leaders, do due diligence on their past records. Look at what they have done, affairs they have been involved in and whether these might at some future date comes back to bit them, and their organisations. </p>
<p>No matter how briefly they have been touched by scandal, no matter their guilt or innocence, there is still a threat, still a risk. And if you know that someone carries a risk with them, and you appoint them anyway, and then it blows up in your face; well, you deserve what you get. Just don’t take down the global economic system with you.</p>
<p>Does this sound harsh? To some, undoubtedly it will. No one is perfect and everyone should be guilty until proven innocent. Plus, people make mistakes and deserve second chances. But this is not about individuals. It is about organisations, and in this case it is also about the economic and financial stability of the globe. That is bigger than any individual. Our need to see justice done to one person should not trump the need for the organisation to retain the trust of its many stakeholders.</p>
<p>I hope Christine Lagarde keeps her job. I have always admired her; she is a woman who has taken on the male-dominated world of finance, and made her mark on it. But whenever and under whatever circumstances she does depart, the IMF needs to read its own website and start living those values. There needs to be absolute transparency about the selection of the next leader, and it must be clear to everyone that this leader has been chosen because he or she can inspire trust and confidence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morgen Witzel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To have one leader investigated for serious misconduct may be regarded as misfortune; to have two come under investigation looks like carelessness. But the International Monetary Fund finds itself in that…Morgen Witzel, Fellow of the Centre for Leadership Studies, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/235952014-03-10T02:46:05Z2014-03-10T02:46:05ZProductivity push should focus on frontline managers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42407/original/jtg42xq6-1393288337.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why do company leaders get a different level of training to frontline managers?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com">www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia has more than two million registered businesses, and at least equally that number of actual places of work. These range from one and two person workplaces to groups of 100 people plus. These work places are the front line in the productivity debate.</p>
<p>The CEO and the operations executives of these businesses may make the big decisions, but the supervisors, coordinators, team leaders and frontline managers are at the sharp end of the game. The face-to-face connection between supervisors and line operators, office workers, nurses, truck drivers, shop assistants and a thousand other occupations is where leadership meets productivity.</p>
<p>It is therefore interesting that in most discussions when “workplace leadership and productivity” is raised we find hundreds of contributions about professional development, mentoring, coaching, and executive courses as they relate to senior managers, engineers, CEOs, and other top line occupations. Learning, education and expensive behavioural “high performance” programs tend to dominate the conversation. Frontline managers are usually relegated to vocational training programs - perhaps a Certificate 4 in Front Line Management if they are lucky.</p>
<h2>Management and leadership are equally important</h2>
<p>There is nothing wrong with vocational training, by the way. It produces competencies and assessments based on national content and common “packages” that deliver the goods to students via Registered Training Organisations. The question is: why put workplace management and workplace leadership into different categories? Executives head off to universities or overseas programs to learn about workplace leadership. Supervisors usually get to go to TAFE and learn about time management.</p>
<p>More importantly, this simplistic view of leadership as an optional adjunct to supervision, and leadership as a core capability for senior managers, misses the point about productivity in the workplace. </p>
<p>We can talk about labour productivity as a factor in national economic matters, but it’s only when we drill down into actual workplaces that we see the basic truth: improved productivity in Australian workplaces is the outcome of the quality of working relationships on the job - where people actually work.</p>
<p>Those relationships are shaped in part by the capacity of the workplace leader or supervisor to maintain and deepen the quality of the connections between people.</p>
<p>In 2003 the Business Council of Australia commissioned field research conducted by myself and a colleague to actually ask people on the job what they thought were the key characteristics of good workplace leadership. Since <a href="http://www.cosolve.com.au/files/simply_the_best.pdf">that research was published</a> it has been affirmed by other academics, and by managers around in the country. </p>
<h2>What makes a good leader?</h2>
<p>There are clear qualities of an excellent workplace leader. They are (in no apparent order and in the words of people on the job): being a player/coach, fairness, accessibility, empowering people, ethical, not getting in the way of people, no ambushes, giving recognition where due, building trust, no bullshit, helping in a crisis, being “out there” for the group, honesty, and “walking the talk”.</p>
<p>Now it’s likely that academic commentators will pounce on these descriptors and label them as “broad and ill-defined attributes”. It simply doesn’t matter how you categorise them. What we have as far back as 2003 (and possibly earlier if we include the <a href="http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv21108">1995 Karpin Report</a> and work undertaken by Telstra on cultural factors in workplace productivity in the mid 1990s) is a vivid picture of workplace leadership as seen by the people who show up for work every day. This is where the discussion must start about leadership and productivity in Australia.</p>
<p>Vocational training and a few short courses at TAFE does not cut it for front line managers. Companies and public service agencies should invest in their workplace leaders with the same intensity and commitment they usually give the more highly paid managers in their organisations. It is ironic that the more senior one becomes the more available leadership education becomes. Funding for such education seems a logical “investment” in the business, while funding for front line management education often seems to be a “cost” to the business.</p>
<p>Leadership on the job requires business to take the same care and attention to selection, recruitment and education as they do for the senior positions in a business. The frontline leaders are the cutting edge of any operation. They are usually the first to appreciate when things are going well, and when they are going wrong. Their intervention on the job can save a situation, or make it worse. They can lead groups to excellence, or drive them to desperation. They can keep a business alive, or bring it to its knees.</p>
<p>The Telstra cultural imprint studies (see the Industry and Business Skills Council - <a href="https://www.ibsa.org.au/sites/default/files/media/Australian%20Cultural%20Imprints%20@%20Work%202010%20and%20Beyond.pdf">IBSA</a> - for a summary report and recent update) in the 1990s implied that there are three kinds of frontline managers in Australian places of work: leaders, bosses and bastards. Leaders at this level are few and far between, there are many bosses (good ones and bad ones); and way too many bastards. Good bosses can become great workplace leaders if they are encouraged and educated. Unfortunately bad bosses are often left to become bastards, and once a bastard - always a bastard!</p>
<p>We can do better. We just need to focus on actual workplace leadership, not just on executive and professional development.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23595/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daryll Hull received funding from the Business Council of Australia for the 2003 research undertaken on Simply The Best Workplaces in Australia.</span></em></p>Australia has more than two million registered businesses, and at least equally that number of actual places of work. These range from one and two person workplaces to groups of 100 people plus. These…Daryll Hull, Professor, Centre for Workforce Futures, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/233542014-02-19T19:25:47Z2014-02-19T19:25:47ZWhy Australian workplaces need much better leaders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41920/original/8bpdknbz-1392785302.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C258%2C959%2C580&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia's poor leadership record must be addressed if we want to improve productivity.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image sourced from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the last decade, Australia has experienced a productivity slump. Our long-term productivity growth ranks well below the OECD average, and significantly below that enjoyed by leading economies.</p>
<p>However, the reality of falling productivity and its consequences has been masked for most ordinary Australians by the mining boom, which has created created jobs and driven up wages. </p>
<p>A number of international studies have suggested that in many workplaces the quality of leadership and management skills can have significant direct effects on productivity, as well as indirect effects through their consequences for how workplaces adapt to changing business conditions and innovate.</p>
<p>A similar picture is now emerging in Australia. This gap is evident in official data on the ability of Australian business to introduce technological innovations, new products or services, or new management systems or organisational innovations. Among SMEs and in certain industries, the record is even more dismal.</p>
<p>Research on the take-up of high-performance management practices also indicates a paradox: while the types of practices that lead to better performance are well established, few workplaces adopt them.</p>
<h2>Are Australians bad managers?</h2>
<p>Why do Australian businesses have such a dismal record in improving the very things that drive workplace productivity? There are many reasons, but the quality of management and leadership in the workplace is a critical one. </p>
<p>It is clear, for example, that many Australian managers are seriously underqualified for the job they do. Australian Bureau of Statistics data on the qualifications of different occupation groups show that fewer managers have post-school qualifications than do the unskilled and semi-skilled workers they manage. </p>
<p>This is alarming at a time when the challenges of businesses are become more complex. This qualifications gap among our managers is particular acute among small and medium-sized businesses. Clearly, we need to invest more in training managers.</p>
<p>The Centre for Workplace Leadership at the University of Melbourne has begun to track employee perceptions of management and leadership in Australian workplaces.</p>
<p>Our initial survey findings, <a href="http://newsroom.melbourne.edu/cwl-survey-results">released today</a>, present a stark picture. A staggering 75% of employees surveyed report that Australian workplaces need better managers and leaders. Perhaps a concerning indicator of future problems is the fact that this view is held by a majority of young people.</p>
<p>We are entering a period marked by the emergence of new, disruptive challenges for business. These challenges are set to undermine the competitiveness of Australian business, and cannot be met by providing businesses with tax breaks or subsidies to continue to operate at a loss.</p>
<h2>Meeting new business challenges</h2>
<p>The leadership gap goes well beyond formal qualifications. Recent survey evidence shows that many managers and leaders lack a number of critical technical and people skills. That undermines their capacity to maximise productivity.</p>
<p>Among the more significant is an inability to develop a strategic perspective that allows the business to read disruptive changes in markets, identify new opportunities and to adapt.</p>
<p>The flow-on effects are numerous, but inevitably a key one concerns the absence of the skills necessary to manage people, drive continuous improvement and effectively manage change. These challenges are also associated with under-developed and under-resourced HR systems. </p>
<p>This problem typically reflects a lack of knowledge of workplace issues other than in a reactive way. Again, the evidence on these matters shows that these challenges are most acutely felt by managers in SMEs.</p>
<h2>Managing the future</h2>
<p>It is now 20 years since the <a href="http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv21108">Karpin Report</a> was released. This ground-breaking report, entitled Enterprising Nation, identified a number of critical challenges facing Australian managers as Australia entered the “Asian century”. It is time to take stock of these new challenges and the ability of Australia’s business leaders and managers to meet them.</p>
<p>The challenge here will be how government can induce business owners to take steps themselves. In particular, we need to think how we can address the challenge of improving management capability and leadership in SMEs. </p>
<p>These are the very businesses we are increasingly reliant on to generate employment, bring new ideas and products to the market and drive growth in the economy, but with the most limited resources to tackle the problem. Leadership and management skills will be crucial to meeting the challenge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23354/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Gahan receives research funding from the Australian Research Council. He is Director for the Centre for Workplace Leadership, which has been co-funded by the Commonwealth Government and The University of Melbourne.</span></em></p>Over the last decade, Australia has experienced a productivity slump. Our long-term productivity growth ranks well below the OECD average, and significantly below that enjoyed by leading economies. However…Peter Gahan, Professor of Management + Director, Centre for Workplace Leadership, Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.