Interpersonal Communication
→

- 10 Jan 2023
- Research & Ideas
How to Live Happier in 2023: Diversify Your Social Circle
People need all kinds of relationships to thrive: partners, acquaintances, colleagues, and family. Research by Michael Norton and Alison Wood Brooks offers new reasons to pick up the phone and reconnect with that old friend from home.

- 03 Nov 2022
- Op-Ed
Feeling Separation Anxiety at Your Startup? 5 Tips to Soothe These Growing Pains
As startups mature and introduce more managers, early employees may lose the easy closeness they once had with founders. However, with transparency and healthy boundaries, entrepreneurs can help employees weather this transition and build trust, says Julia Austin.

- 23 Jun 2022
- Research & Ideas
All Those Zoom Meetings May Boost Connection and Curb Loneliness
Zoom fatigue became a thing during the height of the pandemic, but research by Amit Goldenberg shows how virtual interactions can provide a salve for isolation. What does this mean for remote and hybrid workplaces?

- 13 Jun 2022
- Research & Ideas
Extroverts, Your Colleagues Wish You Would Just Shut Up and Listen
Extroverts may be the life of the party, but at work, they're often viewed as phony and self-centered, says research by Julian Zlatev and colleagues. Here's how extroverts can show others that they're listening, without muting themselves.

- 16 Feb 2021
- Working Paper Summaries
Information Avoidance and Image Concerns
People avoid information that might compel them to behave more generously. While many people avoid information due to concerns about their self-image, there is a substantial role for other reasons, such as inattention and confusion.

- 29 Sep 2020
- Cold Call Podcast
Employee Performance vs. Company Values: A Manager’s Dilemma
The Cold Call podcast celebrate its five-year anniversary with a classic case study. Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria discusses the dilemma of how to treat a brilliant individual performer who can't work with colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

- 28 Sep 2020
- Research & Ideas
How Leaders Can Navigate Politicized Conversations and Inspire Collaboration
Francesca Gino discusses the psychology of conversation in politicized workplaces and how managers can improve their conversation styles to create high-quality collaboration. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

- 20 Feb 2020
- Op-Ed
Love in the Office Is Wonderful. Except for CEOs.
Finding love among your office colleagues can be a wonderful thing, and not inevitably career ending. Unless, of course, you are the CEO. Advice to the corporate lovelorn from Regina Herzlinger. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

- 10 Feb 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Fostering Perceptions of Authenticity via Sensitive Self-Disclosure
By making sensitive self-disclosures, leaders can enhance how authentic their followers perceive them to be, leading to positive interpersonal outcomes and potentially organizational ones as well. Aside from the obvious costs of disclosing weaknesses, leaders may also reap surprising benefits from doing so.

- 14 Jan 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Engineering Serendipity: The Role of Cognitive Similarity in Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Production
By creating opportunities for cross-disciplinary scientists to meet and talk as part of a natural field experiment, this study analyzes and finds evidence for a systematic relationship between knowledge sharing and knowledge production in the sciences. Findings may extend to similar types of cross-disciplinary knowledge-sharing opportunities in other settings.
- 02 Dec 2019
- What Do You Think?
How Does a Company like Boeing Respond to Intense Competitive Pressure?
SUMMING UP: Playing out in real time, Boeing's misguided responses to competitive pressure illustrate organizational "gaps" suffered by many organizations. James Heskett's readers discuss solutions. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

- 17 Sep 2019
- Cold Call Podcast
How a New Leader Broke Through a Culture of Accuse, Blame, and Criticize
Children’s Hospital & Clinics COO Julie Morath sets out to change the culture by instituting a policy of blameless reporting, which encourages employees to report anything that goes wrong or seems substandard, without fear of reprisal. Professor Amy Edmondson discusses getting an organization into the “High Performance Zone.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.

- 02 May 2019
- Sharpening Your Skills
How To Ask Better Questions
To make the best decisions, managers must ask the right questions. This collection of past studies by Harvard Business School researchers will help you gather the critical information needed to prepare for action. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

- 26 Mar 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact
Firms increasingly deploy self-service technologies (SSTs) to manage customer interfaces that are inherently stressful. For example, patients may be asked to use kiosks to check themselves into hospitals. This study finds that customer anxiety during SST transactions can reduce customers’ trust in the service provider. Operational design choices may help.

- 11 Feb 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Gender Stereotypes in Deliberation and Team Decisions
Professional success requires the ability to contribute ideas, and receive credit for them. This paper explores gender differences in how men and women communicate and reward each other in team decision-making problems. We find that women are recognized less often for their contributions in male-typed domains.

- 12 Nov 2018
- Research & Ideas
'Always On' Isn't Always Best for Team Decision-Making
Is it possible for teams to communicate too frequently? Research by Ethan Bernstein and colleagues suggests that groups that meet less often may be better at problem-solving. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

- 11 Apr 2018
- Research & Ideas
Sexual Harassment: What Employers Should Do Now
Organizations are realizing they are not doing enough to stop the inappropriate behavior that can lead to an awkward office environment, lawsuits, and reputation damage. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

- 18 Mar 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Thanks for Nothing: Expressing Gratitude Invites Exploitation by Competitors
Think more carefully and strategically about expressing gratitude while negotiations are still underway. Even if negotiators feel grateful for concessions from a counterpart, it may not help them, and it might even hurt them, to express it then and there. Wait until the deal is done before saying thanks.

- 16 Mar 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Amount and Diversity of Digital Emotional Expression Predicts Happiness
Emoticons might seem trivial because they require just the tap of a finger, but this study shows how emoticons make a difference in overall emotion expression. People use emoticons to highlight the emotions they intend to convey, and emoticons also serve as predictors—and causes—of happiness and well-being.
Did You Hear What I Said? How to Listen Better
People who seem like they're paying attention often aren't—even when they're smiling and nodding toward the speaker. Research by Alison Wood Brooks, Hanne Collins, and colleagues reveals just how prone the mind is to wandering, and sheds light on ways to stay tuned in to the conversation.