We present an in-class improvisation (improv) exercise as a method to help students translate concepts of psychological safety into behaviors they can implement. Psychological safety has been shown to be critical to effective team functioning and vital to creativity and innovation on teams, yet not enough Management education is aimed at helping students bring the concept to life. The exercise presented here is targeted at empowering students to experience and enact psychological safety using the rules of improv as structural support. Student team presentations demonstrated that students embraced the aspects of improv that helped their team be more creative and more agile. More specific results, culled from individual student reflections on the exercise, indicate internalization of the tenets of improv to build safety on their teams. They were able to assert clear links between improv behaviors, aspects of psychological safety, and team performance; further, they clearly articulated future practices on their teams that would maintain that safety going forward. This article closes with a call for more ways to bring improv into management classrooms to empower students to be better innovators and better collaborators.

Management students conduct much of their coursework in teams, as they should. We teach them where teams can fail and how teams can become high performing. But too often, the team experience for students is solely about logistics and coordination. Students often miss the rich benefits of using their self-awareness and social intelligence to develop their abilities to give and receive deep peer feedback. This article introduces a playful format for teams to gain experience giving meaningful, lasting, individualized feedback for every team member. The exercise is appropriate for teams from undergraduates to executives and can be part of any course where students work in teams.

In this paper, we introduce the concept of Glossy Work, work that has a glamorous patina but that is mundane and unfulfilling in actuality. We studied people employed as magazine fact checkers, who exemplify Glossy Work, specifically examining how they balance these discrepant aspects of the job in presenting their work to others. We found that fact checkers use conditional presentation to modulate their portrayal of the work according to audience members’ knowledge of their job’s secret taint and the nature of presenter’s relationship to that audience. Presentations ranged from full disclosure of the positives and negatives to deliberate attempts to reframe the presentation around interpersonal characteristics rather than the job to unfettered job enhancement. We discuss implications for theory on job- and self-presentation and on identity congruence.

Informal status is an important aspect of organizational life. The many advantages of having higher status relative to one’s coworkers are well documented. This study extends research on status to hypothesize and show a downside of high status: stress. The study observed naturally occurring status hierarchies within a telecommunications organization in the Western U.S. and found that higher levels of status were positively related to higher levels of stress, after controlling for friendship levels, education, formal job level, tenure, job satisfaction, and perceptions of the organization’s culture. This effect was moderated by status distance, a dispersion measure drawn from the literature on relational demography, that shows how close in status a given individual is to the other individuals on his or her team. Specifically, high-status participants experienced more stress when on teams comprised of high-status others, as compared to low-status others. Implications for both practice and theory are discussed.

Listening is a critical communication skill and therefore an essential element of management education. Active listening surpasses passive listening or simple hearing to establish a deeper connection between speaker and listener, as the listener gives the speaker full attention via inquiry, reflection, respect, and empathy. This article offers a method and tools for teaching active listening that can be implemented in online, hybrid, or face-to-face platforms. We begin by reviewing the great demand for listening skills, in light of how little time is spent on listening instruction compared with that on speaking instruction. We then present a set of learning materials and a procedure for using them that includes both pre- and posttests, multimedia learning materials, and exercises that enhance skill development. We follow the learning plan with analyses of both quantitative and qualitative data, showing support for the suggested method. These results fit with our personal experience of consistent success with the method across student levels (graduate and undergraduate) and platforms (online and face-to-face). Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the presentation and some implications for teaching listening in management education.

Background: Despite efforts to include communication instruction in both college and continuing education curricula for students in all areas of study, workplace surveys continually report that employees' communication skills are lacking. The differing contexts of school and the workplace may be one reason for this disconnect, so teaching strategies that can effectively bridge this gap are needed. Research questions: How do students respond to using scenes from a television series to teach professional communication concepts within workplace contexts? What are advantages and drawbacks to this strategy? Situating the case: Strategies used to teach professional communication in a way that facilitates its application in the workplace include classroom exercises, service-learning projects involving real clients, and simulations. In addition, videos are a commonly used method of classroom teaching. They can activate verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, and musical/rhythmic intelligences, allowing students to use their stronger intelligences and develop their weaker ones. Research also suggests that students appreciate visual stimulation and technology use when learning communication skills. How the case was studied: Students completed a brief end-of-course survey to gather both qualitative and quantitative data concerning their learning experiences with the activities described. About the case: To make undergraduate writing courses more relevant to the workplace, specific scenes from The Office were integrated to teach units on negative messages and intercultural issues. Following these clips, students completed both in-class exercises and course assignments pertaining to the topics covered. Results: After completing the class sessions and associated exercises described here, most students could discern the relevant concepts from the clips; they found both the clips and the associated exercises helpful in learning the concepts; and they recommended ongoing use in future classes. Students appreciated the comedic nature of the material, the use of different media, and the pop culture reference. Drawbacks included scenes focusing on what not to do, that often showed communication gone awry rather than the correct way to communicate. Some students also prefer more traditional teaching methods. Conclusions: The results indicate that the use of television clips along with associated exercises can be useful aids in teaching professional communication concepts.

Critical thinking is an essential component of managerial literacy, yet business school graduates struggle to apply critical-thinking skills at work to the level that employers desire. This article argues for a dispositional approach to teaching critical thinking, rooted in cultivating a critical-thinking culture. We suggest a two-pronged approach of (a) clearly defining critical thinking and selecting an accessible model for applying it and (b) integrating critical thinking consistently throughout the business curriculum. We illustrate implementation of this strategy in our revised MBA curriculum and conclude by challenging others to consider adopting a cultural and dispositional approach.

When can status peersgroup members at the same status level whose relationship can often be characterized by competition and rivalryexperience more harmony than discord? In the current article, we focus on different behavioral styles and status level as joint predictors of interaction among status peers. Specifically, we posit and find that group members' responses to varying behavioral styles exhibited by their status peers shape important group outcomes (i.e., the desire to continue working together and influence accepted from the peer), with the greatest sensitivity to peer behaviors enacted at the highest status levels. Implications for theories of status and influence in groups are discussed.

In organizations, the advantages of having higher informal status relative to one's coworkers are well documented. This study extends research on status in organizations to analyze the status of one's coworkers as a factor that shapes all individual's own work experiences. In this field study of three organizations, naturally emergent informal status hierarchies in organizations were analyzed to examine independent effects of one's own informal status position, as well as the average status level of his coworkers, on the individual's work outcomes. Results show one's own status position positively relates to her performance and organizational commitment, and, after controlling for one's own status, the average status of his coworkers independently contributes to his or her performance, motivation, and organizational commitment.

This paper examines individuals’ reactions to the prospect of gaining or losing status in groups. The results of three experiments provide evidence that individuals attach greater value to status when recalling the risk of status loss than when recalling the potential for status gain (Experiment 1), are willing to pay more to avoid a status loss than to achieve a status gain (Experiment 1), and put forth greater effort when striving to prevent status loss than when striving to gain status (Experiment 2). Finally, individuals who risk losing status allocate more resources toward personal status concerns (and away from group interests and potential monetary gain) than do individuals who have a chance of gaining status (Experiment 3). We discuss the implications of this research both in terms of individuals’ psychological experience of their status, as well as status attainment and maintenance concerns in groups.

How can individuals attain influence in organizations? Prior research has identified structural determinants of influence, such as formal authority and position in a social network. However, indirect evidence suggests that influence might also stem from personal characteristics. The authors tested whether influence can stem from the fit between the person and his or her organization (P-O fit). Consistent with expectations, extraverts attained more influence in a team-oriented organization, whereas conscientious individuals attained more influence in an organization in which individuals worked alone on technical tasks. Further, these effects held up after controlling for formal authority, job performance, and demographic characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The multiple ways in which individuals can gain influence are discussed.

Being in the numeric minority (e.g., being a solo woman in a group of men) influences how well a person performs within a work group. But being the solo member is only one way in which people can be atypical in a group; a person can also represent a social or demographic category that has not typically been associated with the task that the group is working on. Using a design with four categories of group composition (minority, balanced, majority, homogeneous) and two categories of tasks (sex-typical, sex-atypical) we found that the sex composition of the group interacted with the sex typicality of the task to influence both positive deferrals by group members and individual performance in groups. But, rather than consistently reducing performance as prior research has suggested, being numerically atypical enhanced individual performance when the task was typical for that person's sex. Further, positive deferrals mediated between the interaction of numeric composition and task typicality in influencing individual performance suggesting that both majority group members and the solo member affect one another's performance in groups. We conclude by discussing why understanding the interplay between these two sources of stereotyping, numeric composition and task typicality, is important for understanding the social nature of individual performance in groups.

How can individuals attain influence in organizations? Prior research has identified structural determinants of influence, such as formal authority and position in a social network. However, indirect evidence suggests that influence might also stem from personal characteristics. The authors tested whether influence can stem from the fit between the person and his or her organization (P–O fit). Consistent with expectations, extraverts attained more influence in a team-oriented organization, whereas conscientious individuals attained more influence in an organization in which individuals worked alone on technical tasks. Further, these effects held up after controlling for formal authority, job performance, and demographic characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The multiple ways in which individuals can gain influence are discussed. In organizations, the ability to influence others is critical to each member's overall effectiveness. Initiating change, obtaining assistance , and implementing new ideas all require the capacity to influence, direct, or modify others' Many theorists have argued that structural factors, more than personal qualities, determine individuals' influence in organiza-" we have to look not at the person. .. but at the position the person occupies in the organization " (p. 66) to understand differences in influence. Accordingly, researchers have focused on how individual influence is shaped by formal positions in the organization (e. In the current article, we argue that influence can also come from personal characteristics, specifically, from the fit between the person's characteristics and those of the organization. We tested whether the effects of personality (as rated by the self) on influence (as rated by multiple coworkers) would differ across two organizations: a consulting firm and an engineering department of a telecommunications firm. Further, we tested whether the effects would hold up after we had controlled for formal authority, job performance, and demographic characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Influence is the ability to change the actions of others in some Consistent with prior theories, we argue that influence in organizations stems primarily from two sources: power and the skillful use of influence tactics (e. The more that individuals control resources, form important alliances, and possess admired qualities, the more their coworkers defer to their ideas and directives. Above and beyond power, influence can stem from the use of Some influence tactics tend to be more effective than others do, and the effectiveness of a specific tactic can depend on the Therefore, even if two individuals have the …

Status is the prominence, respect, and influence individuals enjoy in the eyes of others. Theories of positive illusions suggest that individuals form overly positive perceptions of their status in face-to-face groups. In contrast, the authors argue that individuals' perceptions of their status are highly accurate-that is, they closely match the group's perception of their status-because forming overly positive status self-perceptions can damage individuals' acceptance in a group. Therefore, the authors further argue that individuals are likely to refrain from status self-enhancement to maintain their belongingness in a group. Support for their hypotheses was found in 2 studies of status in face-to-face groups, using a social relations model approach (D. A. Kenny & L. La Voie, 1984). Individuals showed high accuracy in perceiving their status and even erred on the side of being overly humble. Moreover, enhancement in status self-perceptions was associated with lower levels of social acceptance.