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(All material on
Your Office Coach is copyrighted to Marie G. McIntyre. All rights
reserved.)
Insights on Office Politics
Office
Insights: Do people
lie more in emails?
When you get email from a work-at-home business promising to
make you rich or a deposed emperor who has a fortune to share,
you feel pretty certain that you’re being misled.
But what about emails from your colleagues and your boss?
Can you trust those?
Several university researchers discovered that, in an
experimental setting, team members communicating through email
were significantly more likely to lie.
It might be expected that people would be more honest in
face-to-face conversations.
But here’s the really surprising part: simply switching
from email to a handwritten note increased honesty!
Apparently, the interpersonal distance created by email reduces
the obligation to be truthful.
Although people were more likely to lie to strangers, the
lack of honesty also extended to personal acquaintances.
So if you want to increase your odds of getting the
straight scoop, give your coworker a phone call or drop into
your boss’s office!
(Source: Fortune
magazine, November 2008)
Office Insights: Is
There Anything Good About Gossip?
When asked, most people
will say “Oh, I never gossip!” But the truth is that almost
everyone does. The most common definition of gossip is “any
conversation between two or more people about another who is not
present”. By that standard, you would have to be in a coma to
avoid gossiping!
We tend to think of
gossip as harmful, but in fact, gossip may be our key to navigating the
social world. Gossip helps us determine who is trustworthy, who
should be avoided, and who may be able to help us accomplish our goals.
Gossip can also help newcomers determine which behaviors are acceptable
in a group and which are not. We are especially drawn to gossip
about those above us in the hierarchy, because they have the power to
either benefit or harm us.
So why does “gossip” have
such a negative connotation? Possibly because discussions about
people are not always based on fact. If your boss is indeed having
an affair with a coworker, that’s useful information. But
speculation about a nonexistent affair creates needless damage to the
reputations of two people. So when you gossip, be sure that you
are sharing helpful, accurate information, not spreading harmful rumors.
(Source: Monitor on Psychology, April 2006)
Helpful links related to this topic on Your Office
Coach:
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Who Gets Hired:
Suck-Ups or Braggarts?
Job
interviews provide an opportunity to showcase your talents and highlight
your accomplishments. Applicants can also use their interview time
to say positive things about the interviewer, the position, or the
company. If you could only pick one, which would be the better
strategy for getting the job?
According to the results of a study by Chad Higgins, a management
professor at the University of Washington, suck-ups stand a better
chance of landing the position. When he studied interactions
between job applicants and recruiters, Dr. Higgins found that flatterers
received higher ratings than braggarts. Why? Because the
interviewers believed those applicants shared their beliefs and
attitudes, causing them to conclude that the person would be a good fit
with their company. (Source: Psychology Today)
So,
during your next job interview, consider finding something positive to
say about the organization or the person asking the questions. But
be sincere – fake compliments are usually perceived as manipulative.
Helpful links related to this topic on Your Office
Coach:
§
“Do’s &
Don’ts for Job Interviews” at
http://yourofficecoach.com/Topics/do's_don'ts_interviewing.htm
§
“Five Key
Job-seeking Skills” at
http://yourofficecoach.com/Topics/five_key_job-seeking_skills.htm
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Who Gets More Credit, Men or Women?
As work gets more complex
and cross-functional, people increasingly find themselves working in
project teams. At work, as in school, group projects raise the
question of who gets credit for the results. To add fuel to the
gender wars, a study conducted at New York University finds that when
men and women work together on a task, the woman’s contribution tends to
be seen as less valuable than the man’s. (Journal of Applied
Psychology, Vol. 90, #5)
In this study,
participants were shown sample situations in which two
colleagues collaborated
on a project. Half the participants were told that Employee A was
male and Employee B was female, while the other half received opposite
information. The scenarios were otherwise identical. When
asked to evaluate the relative contribution of the two employees, the
female worker was rated as both less competent and less influential by
both male and female participants.
Subsequent studies found
that the gender bias disappeared when (1) each person’s assignment was
specifically described in advance or (2) specific information was
provided about each person’s previous success on similar projects.
So the message for women seems obvious: if you want equal credit, be
sure that management clearly understands your role in a project.
And don’t be shy about describing your past accomplishments!
Helpful links related to this topic on Your Office
Coach:
§
“Political
Pitfalls for Men & Women” at
http://yourofficecoach.com/Topics/political_pitfalls.htm
§
“Seven
Relationships to Cultivate at Work” at
http://yourofficecoach.com/Topics/7_relationships_to_cultivate_at_work.htm
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