Mastery
The Normalization of Violence in Commercial Kitchens Through Food Media
Ellen Meiser & Penn Pantumsinchai
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, forthcoming
Abstract:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there are 2.53 million cooks and chefs in the United States. Of those, one in four reports experiencing physical violence in the workplace -- roughly 632,500 victims. While shocking, this figure fails to account for the psychological and sexual violence that also plagues commercial kitchens. Workplace harassment and bullying is not limited to the United States and has been documented in Scottish, English, Scandinavian, French, Malaysian, Korean, and Australian kitchens. Why is violence so prevalent in kitchens, and how has it become a behavioral norm? Using data from 50 in-depth interviews with kitchen workers and analysis of food media, this article shows that while kitchen workplace violence can be attributed to typical causes, such as occupational stress, there is an overlooked source: the normalization of violence through food media. By exploring television shows, like “Hell’s Kitchen,” and chef memoirs, like Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, readers will see how bullying and harassment are romanticized in these mediums, glorified as a product of kitchen subculture, and consequently normalized in the kitchen.
Getting the Picture Too Late: Handoffs and the Effectiveness of Idea Implementation in Creative Work
Justin Berg & Alisa Yu
Academy of Management Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Past research on idea implementation has focused on employees trying to win social support for their own ideas, but employees are often handed ideas to implement that were developed by others. We propose and test hypotheses on such handoffs, focusing on how handing employees relatively mature ideas to implement may lead them to build less creative final products. We tested our hypotheses using two studies: an archival study of 5,676 movies in the U.S. film industry and a complementary experiment. Results suggest that late handoffs yielded less creative final products than no or early handoffs, meaning it was costly to creativity when employees implemented relatively mature ideas without driving at least some of their prior development. However, serialized late handoffs -- when implementers are handed relatively mature ideas after an earlier handoff between two other individuals -- were less costly to creativity than late handoffs from one other individual. Mediation results suggest that late handoffs reduced implementers’ creativity by restricting their sense of psychological ownership and the coherence of their final products. This research advances theory on idea implementation, handoffs, and psychological ownership in creative work.
Task complexity moderates group synergy
Abdullah Almaatouq et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 7 September 2021
Abstract:
Complexity -- defined in terms of the number of components and the nature of the interdependencies between them -- is clearly a relevant feature of all tasks that groups perform. Yet the role that task complexity plays in determining group performance remains poorly understood, in part because no clear language exists to express complexity in a way that allows for straightforward comparisons across tasks. Here we avoid this analytical difficulty by identifying a class of tasks for which complexity can be varied systematically while keeping all other elements of the task unchanged. We then test the effects of task complexity in a preregistered two-phase experiment in which 1,200 individuals were evaluated on a series of tasks of varying complexity (phase 1) and then randomly assigned to solve similar tasks either in interacting groups or as independent individuals (phase 2). We find that interacting groups are as fast as the fastest individual and more efficient than the most efficient individual for complex tasks but not for simpler ones. Leveraging our highly granular digital data, we define and precisely measure group process losses and synergistic gains and show that the balance between the two switches signs at intermediate values of task complexity. Finally, we find that interacting groups generate more solutions more rapidly and explore the solution space more broadly than independent problem solvers, finding higher-quality solutions than all but the highest-scoring individuals.
Treatment and Selection Effects of Formal Workplace Mentorship Programs
Jason Sandvik et al.
NBER Working Paper, August 2021
Abstract:
While formal mentorship programs are ubiquitous, less is known about who gains from receiving mentorship. In this paper, we report the outcome of a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) carried out in a US-based inbound sales call center where one branch of the experiment assigned a random subset of new hires to mentors (Broad-Mentoring), whereas a second branch (Selective-Mentoring) gave new hires the opportunity to opt into a mentoring relationship before assigning a random subset to mentors. In the Broad-Mentoring branch, mentored sales agents outperformed non-mentored agents by over 18% in the first six months on the job. Among agents who opt into the program in the Selective-Mentoring branch, those who received mentorship had negligible performance gains. The differences between the two branches indicates that formal mentorship program treatment effects are largest for workers who would otherwise opt out of these programs. Demographic and personality characteristics are relatively weak predictors of selection into the program, suggesting broad-based programs are likely more effective than alternative targeting rules.
The fatiguing effects of camera use in virtual meetings: A within-person field experiment
Kristen Shockley et al.
Journal of Applied Psychology, August 2021, Pages 1137–1155
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic propelled many employees into remote work arrangements, and face-to-face meetings were quickly replaced with virtual meetings. This rapid uptick in the use of virtual meetings led to much popular press discussion of virtual meeting fatigue (i.e., “Zoom fatigue”), described as a feeling of being drained and lacking energy following a day of virtual meetings. In this study, we aimed to better understand how one salient feature of virtual meetings -- the camera -- impacts fatigue, which may affect outcomes during meetings (e.g., participant voice and engagement). We did so through the use of a 4-week within-person experience sampling field experiment where camera use was manipulated. Drawing from theory related to self-presentation, we propose and test a model where study condition (camera on versus off) was linked to daily feelings of fatigue; daily fatigue, in turn, was presumed to relate negatively to voice and engagement during virtual meetings. We further predict that gender and organizational tenure will moderate this relationship such that using a camera during virtual meetings will be more fatiguing for women and newer members of the organization. Results of 1,408 daily observations from 103 employees supported our proposed model, with supplemental analyses suggesting that fatigue affects same-day and next-day meeting performance. Given the anticipated prevalence of remote work even after the pandemic subsides, our study offers key insights for ongoing organizational best practices surrounding virtual meetings.
Non-Disclosure Agreements and Externalities from Silence
Jason Sockin, Aaron Sojourner & Evan Starr
University of Pennsylvania Working Paper, August 2021
Abstract:
We examine how non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) influence the flow of information in labor markets, leveraging workers' reviews of their employers on the website Glassdoor. Beginning in 2019, three states passed laws that `narrowed NDAs' by prohibiting firms from using NDAs to restrict workers from sharing about unlawful conduct, and strengthened workers' anti-retaliation protections for speaking out. On average, we find that these laws reduce reviewer ratings of firms by approximately 5%, with stronger effects in industries where NDAs are more prevalent. The rise in negative information pertains to many dimensions of jobs, including a 22% increase in reviews related to problems with harassment. The laws also reduce the likelihood with which employees who write negative reviews conceal aspects of their identity -- consistent with reduced concern about retaliation risks. Finally, these laws that narrow NDAs increase dispersion in firm ratings within a market, suggesting that broad NDAs facilitate equilibria where firms with worse employment practices can `pool' reputations among firms with better practices. Together, our results highlight how firms can use broad NDAs to preserve their reputation by silencing workers, but that doing so imposes negative externalities on job seekers who value such information and on competing `high-road' employers who are less able to distinguish themselves.
Taking Your Team Behind the Curtain: The Effects of Leader Feedback-Sharing and Feedback-Seeking on Team Psychological Safety
Constantinos Coutifaris & Adam Grant
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although scholars have highlighted the benefits of psychological safety, relatively few studies have examined how leaders establish it. Whereas existing research points to the importance of seeking feedback, we draw on theories of self-disclosure, trust, and implicit voice to propose that leaders can also promote psychological safety by sharing feedback -- openly discussing criticisms and suggestions they have already received about their own performance. In Study 1, naturally-occurring feedback-seeking and feedback-sharing by CEOs independently predicted board member ratings of top management team psychological safety. In Study 2, a longitudinal field experiment, randomly assigning leaders to share feedback had a positive effect on team psychological safety one year later, whereas assigning leaders to seek feedback did not. In Study 3, to explore the processes through which feedback-sharing had an enduring effect but feedback-seeking did not, we conducted qualitative interviews with participating leaders and employees two years later. We found that leaders initiated vulnerability through seeking feedback, but it dissolved due to defensiveness and inaction. In contrast, sharing feedback normalized and crystallized vulnerability as leaders made a public commitment to keep sharing and employees reciprocated, which opened the door for more actionable feedback, greater accountability, and ongoing practices that allowed psychological safety to endure. Our research suggests that to achieve enduring improvements in psychological safety, it may be particularly effective for leaders to share criticism they have received -- and that doing so does not jeopardize their reputations as effective and competent.
On the value(s) of time: Workers’ value of their time depends on mode of valuation
Gal Smitizsky, Wendy Liu & Uri Gneezy
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 24 August 2021
Abstract:
In this paper, we investigate how individuals make time–money tradeoffs in labor contexts in which they are either asked to work to earn money or to pay money to avoid work. Theory predicts that exchange rates between time and money are invariant to the elicitation method. Results from our experiments, however, show otherwise, highlighting inconsistencies in how individuals consider their time. In the first two experiments, participants work to earn money, and we compare two incentivized elicitation methods. In the first, “Fixed-Time mode,” we fix the amount of time participants need to work and elicit the minimum dollar amount they require to do the job. In the second, “Fixed-Money mode,” we fix the amount of money we pay participants and ask for the maximum amount of time they are willing to work for that pay. We similarly vary elicitation procedures in Experiment 3 for paying money to avoid work. Translating the results into pay per hour, we find that in Fixed-Time mode, valuation of time is stable across durations, based on an analytical approach. By contrast, in Fixed-Money mode, participants increase their pay-per-hour demand when the amount of money increases, indicating a less calculated and more emotional view of time. Our results demonstrate that individuals’ value of their time of labor can be fluid and dependent on the compensation structure. Our findings have implications for theories of time valuation in the labor market.
Leadership Styles and Labor Market Conditions
Robert Dur, Ola Kvaløy & Anja Schöttner
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Why do some leaders use praise as a means to motivate workers, whereas other leaders use social punishment? This paper develops a simple economic model to examine how leadership styles depend on the prevailing labor market conditions for workers. We show that the existence of a binding wage floor for workers (e.g., due to trade union wage bargaining, minimum wage legislation, or limited-liability protection) can make it attractive for firms to hire a leader who makes use of social punishment. Although the use of social punishments generally is socially inefficient, it lessens the need for high bonus pay, which allows the firm to extract rents from the worker. In contrast, firms hire leaders who provide praise to workers only if it is socially efficient to do so. Credible use of leadership styles requires either repeated interaction or a leader with the right social preferences. In a single-period setting, only moderately altruistic leaders use praise as a motivation tool, whereas only moderately spiteful leaders use social punishment. Lastly, we show that when the leaders’ and workers’ reservation utilities give rise to a bigger income gap between leaders and workers, attracting spiteful leaders becomes relatively less costly and unfriendly leadership becomes more prevalent.