Conflict is a natural part of every relationship between human beings. In fact, it would be quite odd to have a relationship with someone and never get into conflict situation. Conflicts are often unpleasant because they involve strong emotions which sometimes may reduce the ability of rational thinking and may lead to some sort of escalation. But, with different approach and quality communication, conflicts can offer the valuable opportunity to truly hear what opposite side has to say.

Organizations are a very fertile environment for developing and growing conflicts. Not only does it consists of people, but also integrates other factors that may serve as catalysts for conflicts: stress, pressure, unclear situations, quick decision making, responsibility etc. When there are poor communication and bad strategies for solving conflicts, an escalation may easily occur and from tiny flame of disagreement overgrow to fierce fire that treats to expand and create a great damage. Off course the articles use of illustrations are somewhat exaggerated, but behavior like this has happened.

Conflict can be defined as disagreement between two or more members of organization who shares resources and/or working tasks, but have different goals, attitudes and perception. Conflict may be present between two or more groups of people with different interests, especially when there is a belief that it cannot be resolved with no damage for one side. There are many feasible reactions to conflict situations which are not quite appropriate for working environment such as aggression, rage outbursts, soreness, threats, crying, anxiety, depression and many others. Those unpleasant emotions and behaviours usually create discomfort for everyone involved, which can further lead to avoiding conflict at any costs.

Sources and ways of resolving conflicts

Besides two or more opposed sides, every conflict has its source. Knowing the source may be the key for resolving it in a constructive way. Thus, their causes may be situated in one of these two most common sources:

• Interpersonal differences between employees – which can be the consequence of poor communication, a lack of tolerance or trust, personality traits, different perception of the same problem etc. Those conflicts are expected in almost every human relationship, at certain point.

• Organizational sources – which include many factors and the most common ones are: sharing limited resources by two or more individuals or groups, co-dependence in performing work activities, high differentiation between organizational units, different criteria for performance assessment and reward management and organizational uncertainties and flaws.

There are numerous ways for solving conflict: it may be solved between opposed sides by themselves or by intervention of a third party. Those interventions may be arbitration – when third party is someone positioned higher in organizational ladder and he or she decides about a solution and mediation – when a third party is someone who only assists in problem formulation and solution; mediator does not come up with a solution, he or she only encourages and guides opposed sides to find it.

Is conflict always a bad thing?

The fact is – conflicts are often uncomfortable. As stated before, they can bring up loads of intense emotions and create unsettling atmosphere. So, a logical approach to them would be – let’s avoid them! However, modern theories of conflict strongly disagree with that approach. Furthermore, those theories imply that conflicts can be seen in a positive way and they can make significant contribution to higher organizational productivity. Conflicts, in certain way, bring motion and dynamics in organization and they are seen as natural and unavoidable part of organizational culture. They affect creativity and allow shedding different light on perceiving events and situations. Their resolution requires time, patience and skilfulness. When properly resolved, conflicts can bring satisfaction to everyone involved. 

Such creative approach to conflicts is based on the assumptions that conflict almost always exists and represents a natural part of life. It offers an opportunity for growth and further development. When there is a problem which generates a conflict, there is no only one solution for it. The variety of those solutions is a chance for being creative and for developing skills for finding and implementing them. The entire process should take into account needs and feelings of involved sides, because they are often an epicentre of conflicts – they are their fuel. Only acknowledging them offer a space for constructive solution. The definition of a problem is a key for its resolving and solution might be acceptable for all sides involved in conflict.

The role of broader context

Aforementioned creative approach has certain requirements, which are firmly embedded in organizational culture. If that is not the case, that requirements are changeable and might serve as goals in developing productive and conflict-friendly environment. Those requirements are:

• Self-respect and respect for others.
• Willingness to hear what others have to say and understanding their points of view.
• Recognition and satisfaction of one’s own needs, without jeopardizing needs of others.
• Cooperation.
• Openness and readiness to explore alternative options.
• Readiness for self-questioning one’s own behaviour and attitudes and willingness to work on it.
• Perseverance throughout the entire process.
• Imagination, creativity and flexibility.

Most organizations already have its own ways for dealing with conflicts. If they are directed towards the “All conflicts are bad and we should avoid them” philosophy, it may be pretty challenging to switch to another approach. But, that “switch” is a process which requires both change and time. And the catch with changes is that they are often hard. They cannot survive without effort, dedication and patience.

Conducting a transition from one philosophy to another is, in the first place, a task for managers. They can serve as agents of change and role models for all the others employees. Lead by example, all the others may become aware that having a conflict does not mean a war or endless passive-aggressive games. Also, providing a setup for showing emotions, with acknowledging that they are acceptable and normal part of everyone’s life may lead to seeing a conflict as natural, normal and mundane phenomenon.

Such a transition requires huge investments, but not in money. It demands time, effort, patience and willingness to make a change and maintain its effects, once when it has been accomplished.

Tim Hoiseth

Tim has background as is business psychologist and work sociologist with expertise in building organisations and teams to solve problems for the future. Tim has expertise in technology and the symbiosis between human interaction and technology in operational processes.

Human characteristics are full of surprises. One of the interesting facets is the way we are motivated to do certain work. If you really want to know more about motivation, consider the following two contradictory questions at first: 

1) When you reward someone, do you get more activity out of that person than you expected? 

2) When you punish someone, do you get less from that person? 

In order to get to the core, The M.I.T conducted a study on a large group of students and presented a number of challenges in front of them that would challenge their physical and mental ability.  

The mental tests included number games, memory games, solving word puzzles, Sudoku etc. 

The physical ability tests included throwing a ball in the basket etc. 

To get a better performance, they gave the participants three levels of reward. Like, if they can get through the task anyhow, they will be given a small monetary reward. If they managed to get a minimum level, they will be given better prize money. If they perform excellently, they will be given a covetous monetary reward.  

Now, what was the result?  

1) As long as the task remained mechanical, they were motivated by the strategy the higher the pay is, the chance of performing well increases. They will also be intrigued by the bonus reward.  

2) But, as soon as they were given a mental ability test to check their cognitive skills, they performed resultantly poor inspite of a huge reward. 

Now, isn’t this surprising? 

Many economists and scholars from other disciplines will adjudge the second point in this way- as we surpass our cognitive ability, much to our surprise, rewards like these don’t sound fetching anymore. This is just opposite to the law stated by Behavioural Physics.  

Once when the reward was reformed, means the lowest performer will get money equivalent to two week’s salary, the medium performer will get the money equivalent to one month salary and the best performer will get the salary equivalent to two months. Not surprisingly, the highest reward got the worst performance. Higher incentives still led to worst performance. 

The fact is that it is not surprising. A number of psychologists, sociologists including myself, and other scholars from other professions believe that if the task is simple, like if you do A, you get B, people undoubtedly performed well. If they have to follow a set of rules, the typical carrot and stick approach, the better. But when it comes to a work which requires thinking, analysing, conceptualising etc, even the highest monetary rewards fall flat.  

Money is one of the biggest motivators. People won’t work if they are not satisfied with the pay package. The rule is that pay the people enough so that they think about the work only. Based on this fact, there are 3 factors which can lead to better performance and self-gratification. 

1) Autonomy– where the people fix the direction of work by themselves. If you want to keep your worker engaged to the management task, give them the autonomy to work. Don’t manipulate each and every step.  

2) Mastery– The urge to develop the skills to do better work. For example, there are a number of technically sophisticated people across the globe who have a good job are creating something and giving it for free, like the Wikipedia, Linux and many many more open source solutions etc. The question is how and why? The answer is if you master a skill, you can contribute hugely not for yourself but for the other people’s benefit as well. 

3) Purpose– Organizations work on a particular purpose so that they can get better output. But the fact is, when purpose gets alienated from profit, it will lead to poor performance. When you have a purpose driven by profit, you get the urge to do something better. 

So, when an organization can combine autonomy, mastery and purpose and treat workers as a human being, then there will be no need of extra motivation. 

This is off course one interesting research and a over- simplification of human motivation. But one interesting aspect of this is that in today’s and especially the future work market, we automate tasks, even complete professions get replaced by systems. Often what is automate are tasks that need less skill or cognitive ability, also high skilled tasks that computers can do faster and better. But for example creativity is hard to replace by artificial systems, at least for now. In the future we need top performers on cognitive ability. We need high skill performers working on various advanced technology, advanced implementation, cooperation and communication between various skill sets, and so much more that requires high cognitive ability and motivated workers with the drive to use their competence.

A solid work environment on all aspects in the human capital of future businesses will be required to stay alive as a company. Creating drive in people can be a challenging task. This makes pressure on HR, managers and recruiters to find and motivate the right people, with the right drive in the same direction as the organization.

Tim Hoiseth

Tim has background as is business psychologist and work sociologist with expertise in building organisations and teams to solve problems for the future. Tim has expertise in technology and the symbiosis between human interaction and technology in operational processes.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a team that comes up with all the great ideas. This requires a dedication to the field they work within, someone who fills their head with work also after work. This is a tricky part of talent recruiting and management, and a tricky thing to motivate towards and train in people. But for sure worth the effort when successful. Of all the brilliant people I have meet trough my career, one thing can be sure. The people with mind blowing ideas, also has their mental habits wrapped around the topic all day.

You probably know the myth of innovation as a sudden flash of insight that comes from nowhere. We read about that “aha” moment, or that light bulb turning on in the mind of some inventor or innovator, and this is true to an extent. Einstein really did get flashes of insight while shaving in the morning. However, he was of course working on the particular problems he had insight into, and he didn’t suddenly have ideas for new kitchen gadgets or movie plots.

Einsteins innovations, in other words, no matter how “sudden” the original ideas were, came from past and present mental work. It is like a singer who works at his craft for ten years and then becomes an “overnight success.” Innovative people only have “sudden” new ideas because they have habitually worked and thought in certain ways for some time. If you want to become an innovative thinker, then, why not start cultivating those mental habits? You dont have to be a great innovator to start, but to become one you have to start thinking of your ideas.

Mental Habits Lead To Innovation

Problems can be opportunities. “Problem” may have a negative connotations, such as being a hassle or stressful, but any problem can lead to an innovation that improves our lives. Not knowing the time lead to clocks small enough to put on our wrists. Nasty diseases lead to sanitary sewer systems. Start looking for opportunity in every problem. Even a mundane problem like not having enough storage space could lead to a new innovation. You may just build a plywood floor in the attic, but you could invent a new type of outdoor storage unit.

Same goes for any problem, give it some creative thinking. Many of you who would come in here and read, maybe have a problem within your company. The complexity of today’s world is only increasing and it will continue to increase at a even faster rate. New technologies shake todays business world and many are shaken off the stage and disrupted away by others. Well this is a problem for many, but if you mange to see the opportunities within these problems. Then it is actually not a problem at all, it is a big opportunity for most. Start ups thrive these days, it have never been greater opportunities, maybe todays business need to learn a thing or two from the startup methodology and mentality?

Innovation begins with understanding the key elements. Metal, wood or glass are not key elements of a door to an innovator. A way to get in, a way to keep others out – these are key elements. Begin with these, and soon you’re imagining new ways to make a door. You could design a door that is opened by your voice (nice when your hands are full), or one that shuts and locks itself when anyone else approaches. Think of the key elements in things.

Attitude helps innovation. The creative problem-solving technique of concept-combination involves combining two ideas to see what new idea or product results. The crucial point is that you assume there will be a useful new idea. Starting with that assumption, your mind will work overtime to produce something. A shoe and a CD have nothing to do with each other, but it took just a minute to imagine a CD player with headphones that only plays the music correctly if a jogger maintains his ideal pace. When you assume there is something there you’ll often find something.

Playfulness helps innovation. A playful mind is a creative mind, and while high cognitive intelligence or high IQ as many would say, or any other forms of intelligence for that matter. Doesn’t correlate with creativity, put it together with playfulness, and you have an Einstein. Remember, he imagined himself riding on a beam of light in order to arrive at his theory of relativity. Why not start playing with ideas and things, in your mind and in your surroundings. Innovation should be fun.

Carry your ideas with you, enjoy the playfulness of thinking. Remember to take notes 🙂

Tim Hoiseth

Tim has background as is business psychologist and work sociologist with expertise in building organisations and teams to solve problems for the future. Tim has expertise in technology and the symbiosis between human interaction and technology in operational processes.

An organization, in order to meet its goals and objectives, needs a thorough planning, analysis, assessment and monitoring of all the aspects which can make a business run successfully. Strategic Management involves all these aspects which are required by a business enterprise to function properly.  

When you utter the word business, there are some fragmented ideas which come to your mind. Like accounting, marketing, information system, operations or audit. Strategic Management takes all the key features together and studies them with a holistic approach. This in turn pops up three questions which are important for a complete understanding of the terminology: 

a) What are the factors which establish the total corporate performance of a large enterprise? 

b) What are the reasons for which some companies succeeds while others fail? 

c) What is the role of the manager in making a business successful? 

Before answering the above questions, let us see what the word strategy stands for in a business? 

A strategy is a demarcation which draws a line between what a company should do and what it should not do. It not only enables the enterprise to excel in what it is best doing at, but also restricts it from doing certain activities which other businesses generally do. A thorough discussion about this line of demarcation forms the main theme of the strategic management- “ What a company should do” and “ What is should not do”.  

In this context, three fundamental questions needs to be answered for a better grip on the subject.  

1) Where do we stand in competition? 

In order to be successful and beat the rival companies in competition, you need to have a bold marketing strategy. Search for an attractive marketing opportunity which will promote your business, but remember, every marketing effort will be futile if you don’t possess a better resource than your competitors.  

This leads us to our second question: 

2) How do we compete? 

While answering this question, we can add one important pointer which can make a particular company serve better than the others. This pointer is capability. The resources which we are talking about and which will help in marketing may be a tangible asset like land or property or intangible like skills and expertise. These resources along with capabilities can place a particular company in an advantageous position.  

The above-stated questions will help us to answer a key aspect of strategic management, that is, strategy formulation.  

This gives us our third and a functional question: 

3) How do we execute? 

In order to execute what a business enterprise needs to do, it has to undertake an implementation plan which makes an ally between the people and the organization and brings them together with the particular strategy. In order to align the people with the strategy of the enterprise, factors like motivation, incentives, leadership, control system etc play a key role.  

Remember: 

A bad strategy will make you a wrong thing unnecessarily without perfection 

A bad execution will make the right thing go horribly wrong 

Many companies mistakenly follow either of the two points and turn up without any profit. 

So, the wise idea is to have a: 

A good strategy and a good execution will only lead you to do the right thing correctly and flawlessly. 

A strategy can generally be defined as a three-legged tool which will be firm enough to make the strategy a success. The three legs are  

1. Marketing Opportunity: An effective and attractive market opportunity will help you to plan your strategy. 

2. Resources and Capabilities: These two helps an enterprise to serve better than it’s competitors. 

3. Execution Plan: A well- synchronized execution and implementation plan will align the people and the enterprise with the strategy. 

A strategy will never work if either of these three factors is missing. 

As discussed above, marketing opportunity and resources fall under the category of Strategy Formulation. It can be classified as External Analysis and Internal Analysis which again come with a host of other factors. 

1) External Analysis includes Competitor Dynamics, Industry Analysis and Industry Evolution 

2) Internal Analysis can be further classified as Business Level and Corporate Level 

1. Business Level includes Competitive Positioning, Generic Strategies, Building Competitive Advantage and Sustaining Competitive Advantage. 
2. Corporate Level includes Vertical Integration and Diversification 

Execution plan falls under Strategy Implementation which consists of two factors- Incentive and Control System and Organization Structure.  

Educational Objectives: 

Strategic Management has three basic educational objectives. 

1) Acquiring Diagnostic Skills: By this you learn to fill in the gap in the information by making an appropriate conclusion. There is no room for analysis here and you have to come to a suitable conclusion sans the basic facts which are required to do analytical reasoning. This is more about acquiring knowledge of how to act fast in an emergent situation. The more ably you can apply diagnostic reasoning, the more successful you can be.  

2) Improve communication skills: This helps you to communicate and convince your diagnostic skills and the conclusion in a believable way so that the person whom you are trying to persuade readily accept your conclusion. Communication is a two-way skill which comes with listening. If you are making a quick diagnostic conclusion, you need to be patient and listen to what others say. This will help you elicit information required for making the conclusion.  

3) Application: The third and the final objective is to learn, understand what you are learning, apply them practically to strategic situations and analyze them. This will come to your respite when there is a scarcity of resources and a better performance is accepted.  

Strategic Management studies help you to deal with the complex and ambiguous world which exists behind the four walls of the classroom. In a classroom, we know that a solution to every problem defined here shall be provided, but that is not the case with the real world which is faced by the managers in an enterprise almost every day.  

Tim Hoiseth

Tim has background as is business psychologist and work sociologist with expertise in building organisations and teams to solve problems for the future. Tim has expertise in technology and the symbiosis between human interaction and technology in operational processes.

How do you use your strategy to manipulate your audience towards the behaviour you need?How do you use your social media, content, influencers, marketing strategy, advertisements. Or any other methods you have in your sleve to make an approach using the understanding of crowd psychology to your favour?

Public relations as the practice of managing the flow of information between an organisation and its public. How the organisation reaches its public, is of great importance to the organisation. As an organisational psychologist and sociologist, interested in human behaviour. I find many aspects of this interesting. And to be aware of these effects as a consumer for defensive purposes, is just as important as being able to use them as tools.

I will try my best to make stuff that is dry and boring for the average person, useful and interesting. We will look at some theories connected to the processes of how the organization reaches its public, and the cognitive factors connected to exposure of various information. How the social factors play an important role in PR and advertising, simple challenges faced for both PR and advertisement practitioners. Solutions and how the cognitive processes work when we as individuals are exposed to PR and advertisements.

Crowd psychology

Edward L. Bernays was by many considered as the first public relation professional who also was recognized as a theorist. He was Sigmund Freud’s nephew, and many of his ideas were drawn from Freud’s theories on illogical motives that shape human behaviour, motivations that arrive from the subconscious, along with other theories, specially in crowd psychology.

Crowd psychology is concerned with the behaviour and thought processes of individual crowd members, and the crowd as a whole. Bernays successfully used these theories to manipulate crowds mainly for commercial reasons, but he was also involved in influencing crowds of political matter. One of his most famous case studies was to overcome the taboo of women smoking in public, by doing that increasing consumers. This maybe one of the biggest industrial taboos at that time. He did that by using news and not advertisement, showing successful women smoking in public. Women smoking at that time, was negatively viewed.

The news at that time, a very trustful media along the unsuspecting public. It has a positive view as a trustful a true source of information. Something the news in these decades haven’t been able to enjoy at the same extent. He also used the effect of “third party authorities” to get trough his message. The leader of a crowd has a big influence on it group. By influencing the leaders of a social group either by their conscious or unconscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group they sway. These are among techniques that involves psychology as a tool for public relations practitioners. Something that can take in use methods to understand, and influence the public. This article will explain the basics of how these factors influence the individual. 

Mental schemas and PR 

To be able to process the huge information flow we as individuals receive at all time at a conscious state. Our brain categorise this information by putting the information we process into mental schemas. This is a form of categorisation, where we create a collection of information received, and categorise its similarities. A mental shortcut for faster being able to gather up and process information on facing similarities, then create motivation towards it and finally behaviour. Our brain is in the business of saving power, and being able to react fast. And will always be interested in shortcuts to make decisions on behaviour.

As an example lets look at a familiar object, a chair. Where the first meeting with a chair, in childhood. It is not obvious what a chair is, or the use for the chair. But when learning more about the chair, and the more meetings with different chair. The schemas of chair in our brain, gathers a concept. It is then easier at later stages to identify a chair and differences in chairs the richer the schema is. Schemas can be positive or negative loaded in the association of it. This depending on the emotions connected to it. Social schemas work in the same way, we categorise people, behaviour, personalities and even ourselves in schemas where we later can take a shortcut and gather the information received earlier when needed. 

Social identity as a tool

Social identity theory states that as individuals we have a concept of the self, and our belongings to relevant social groups. This individual desire is a key aspect in PR and in the tool of advertising. Individuals often tend to pre-judge others by how they identify with them, using their schemas to do so. Where individuals or groups similar to how they identify the concept of themselves are often more positively viewed, and social groups they do not identify themselves with tend to be viewed more negatively.

People place themselves in various groups depending on many factors, all from age, gender, socio-economic status or other factors. Understanding this in- group effect where individuals tend to favour a group they identify themselves with, and discriminate against out- groups they do not identify themselves with And as well as the understanding of schemas, is a very useful tool for understanding how PR reaches people and the cognitive effect of advertising. The stronger identification with the sub- culture that the in- group represents. The higher chance the individual have of adapting the in- groups culture and behaviour. This is the effect you want to use, when you use a crowds social identity as a tool.

Using desires for Schema creation

Optimal distinctiveness theory states that individuals have a need, for the achievement of both identifying themselves with a group. But at the same time has the need for uniqueness. This creating a struggle for equilibrium between social integration and uniqueness within social groups. Optimal distinctiveness theory suggests that individuals are constantly re- adjusting themselves to achieve this need to be different, and at the same time the need to be similar. 

A PR practitioner can use this effect in shaping peoples schemas, creating negative or positive emotions towards the concept he represents. Creating schemas for people positively or negatively charged. Doing this by using the in- group and out- group effect to inform what is the norm of the in- group, and the favoured behaviour. Or identifying the out- group on what is not the norm. 

By doing this it is possible to create a culture for how the groups individuals self-concept is identified, within the in- group values. Creating for example consumer behaviour towards a certain product, or attitude change campaigns. Referring to the individuals need of equilibrium between social integration and uniqueness in the social group, the PR practitioner can use this opposing concepts that brings out the schemas of uniqueness in the social group. 

One way is using the tool of advertising, for example social media, content, influencer effects and much more to shape the individuals schema with the idea that the concept is associated with this equilibrium. For example a clothing brand that will show integration within the group, but also mirror uniqueness and high status within the group. By having good taste and being able to afford these kind of products. On the other side of the equilibrium we find the need for folding in more with the rest of the group. Where the PR practitioner can present schemas of popular behaviour where the individual is motivated to follow the behaviour patters since “everyone” else does so. For example donation for charity along with everyone else in the in- group. 

This is off course a very basic introduction to the use of these tools.

Tim Hoiseth

Tim has background as is business psychologist and work sociologist with expertise in building organisations and teams to solve problems for the future. Tim has expertise in technology and the symbiosis between human interaction and technology in operational processes.

The understanding of how our mind works, and how behaviour arise from this have been discussed since the begging of civilisation. In todays world we are mainly interested in how to use this understanding in business, right? Marketing, decision making, work force dynamic, team- building, communication, politics and all the stuff we do today. We all know somewhat how our mind is put together, at least we think so. We look at tools, analysis and understandings of various things. But often forget to look at the flaws and cracks, that makes us so vulnerable. We are affected unconsciously by it every day. 

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What will we look at?

• How can you use these biases, or flaws in our mind to manipulate others. 
• Or how to be aware of them, so you avoid getting involuntarily influenced.

That is up to you how you would like to use this information. But either way where your intentions are, I advice you to read and share. Ill try to not use so many advanced science words, and make it as easy for people from other professions to understand as possible.

How you rely too heavily on one piece of information in decision making

How do we tend to rely too heavily on an initial piece of information? During your decision making, many processes take action, and sometimes errors occur in this process. With various outcome. I am relating real life business with common cognitive bias effects, feel free to read trough all the related articles.

So how do you make decisions based too heavily on one piece of information? This effect occurs when we place to much importance to one single aspect of an event, this causing an error in being able to accurately predicting the value of a future outcome.

Once the value of this aspect/ information is set, all future negotiations, arguments, estimates, etc. are discussed in relation to the anchor. Often the first offer, or information that comes on the table. This bias occurs when interpreting future information using this information.

So how does this apply to business?

The anchoring effect has many uses. I would say in general communication, and especially negotiation it is a great tool. It is good to take in use to achieve what you want, in combination with other negotiation methods. And being aware of the effect in your own mind, can save you some “bucks” in your negotiations.

Negotiation:

People tend to be attached to the first piece of information they hear.

For example, the initial price offered for a project or purchasing of a company, set either before or at the start of the negotiations, sets an arbitrary focal point for all following discussions. Prices discussed in negotiations that are lower than the anchor may seem reasonable, perhaps even cheap to the buyer. Even if prices are still relatively higher than the actual market value, when we are biased we can tend to focus to much on the anchor. Taking in use this effect can for many be game changer.

If you negotiate salary, who ever makes the first offer has established the reasonable possibilities in each persons mind. So any offer there after will automatically be compared to the anchor.

We are often thought that we should never make an opening offer in negotiation. But the fun thing is that much research point to that the one who makes the first offer, often gets out of the negotiation with the best offer.

Best of luck in you negotiations.

Tim Hoiseth

Tim has background as is business psychologist and work sociologist with expertise in building organisations and teams to solve problems for the future. Tim has expertise in technology and the symbiosis between human interaction and technology in operational processes.

How do you reach to missing, or lack of information in you decision making process? Before you read further in this article, please take a few seconds to make up your mind of how you yourself think you would react and make decisions, if you were missing information to make the decision. See later on if you recognise yourself in what is written, and compare that with you original thought of how you thought you would react.The interesting fact is that we tend to select decisions where the possible outcome of what we favour is known, rather than decisions on options where the probability of the outcome is unknown.Does that make sense? Or should I explain why this is a cognitive bias, and how this applies to your decision making process in your business? Read further and I will.

If we look at how most people invest as an example. Lets se this from various perspectives of how average people save or «invest». Someone who can be considered risk averse tend to put their money into «safe» investments such as government bonds or placing the money on their bank account etc.. The money can’t disappear there right? Even they lose value, but that a different story. They place their investments in these «safe» returns, rater then other more risky, but profitable investments such as stocks and funds. Why is this? Even the stock market carries the potential to give significantly more return over time.The reason for this is that the preferred outcome is known. We know that the chances are great that you will get interest rates, and some returns on you investments by placing them in «safe» investments. We know that outcome as a certainty. Even we know that stocks and funds give a greater return over time, this is a uncertain outcome. And placing money on the bank or in government bonds, everyone knows that the profit get eaten by inflation. But we as humans think in the way that: «Better a devil you know then one you don’t»

We are therefore more likely to invest our time and money, in a safe outcome we already know the outcome of. Rather than an outcome we dont know. Even we know the result has a greater chance of better return to choose otherwise. So naturally you avoid doing things, or make choices you know less about. In other words, when you have lack of information.

The result is avoidance to try new things, and a limited ability to recognise long- term benefits of riskier decisions compared to smaller gains from «safer» choices, due to lack of information connected to it.The ambiguity effect is often fear driven. Something i am sure you recognise yourself in, we all experience this effect to some degree. We have a strange ability to fill in the knowledge gaps with fear. You might recognise yourself in that if you think back at various events in your life, or current experiences. We sometimes fill the gaps of knowledge, incomplete or unclear information with the worst possible scenarios we can imagine. And usually the truth is far less frightening. I am sure you recognise yourself in this to some degree.As mentioned before , we often use heuristics or schemas to sort information. This often lead us to seek out the missing pieces of information. Often, information that can not be found. You experience this effect when you can not find that part of information. And this is a totally natural process we are programmed to experience.

So how does this apply to business?

I am sure you already have some cases you have thought trough that have made this bias affect you somehow. Maybe GDPR, the biggest hyped up thing for most businesses in 2018 is a good example. Most people feel their heart hit double, just by seeing a advertisement about it. So as an example, many cyber security and other related companies have taken good use of this effect for what it is worth. Manipulation on lack of knowledge, by filling in the gaps of information. Getting sales on mainly using peoples bias of fear, making sure to “inform”. So that people are manipulated to go for the known outcome of behaviour. Innovation:We see many companies being forced to restructure, all from their business model, internal structure, employee structure and sometimes even their whole product. The world is changing, big changes creates many big «what if» effects. Being aware of various effect this have for you and your workforce is important.Leadership and workplace effects:Feedback is important for a variety of reasons. But on feedback on work done by people in a team or workplace. This effect has important factors. If you are buzzy, it may be tempting to not give any attention to give feedback, it is delivered after all, right? Job done! Giving feedback on tasks done is important in a workplace setting. Leaving employees «hanging» with the gap in knowledge if the work they did is good enough, can cause ambiguity bias effects in employees. It is a lot of gaps to fill with uncertainty for employees who dont get feedback. Causing problems further down the line.Marketing:This effect should for sure be considered by you guys doing marketing strategies. If a potential buyer know less about your company then they do of your competitors company. They are cognitively biased, more likely to go to your competitor. For the simple reason that they will feel more informed, and will be less effected by this bias. So when putting together your marketing strategy, remember to have focus on information, to ensure that you will not get victim of this bias effect in your clients or consumers.Startups:I am sure some of you startup people can relate to this bias, startups are risky. Many things can go wrong, and you actually have no, or little information of how the outcome will be. If so, you are in risk of this cognitive bias effect.Investments:As already stated above as an example, I am sure you will re- consider how you evaluate risk. If you recognised yourself, maybe you will also do decisions otherwise in the future. 

How to fight the ambiguity effect at your workplace?

An advise to bring further is to fill the knowledge gaps, in yourself and others. What do I mean by that? You are now aware of this cognitive effect, that in itself is enough knowledge to be able to be more resistant. So the best tool to fight this is communication, if you are uncertain of something. Ask! If you yourself have supervisors, ask for feedback or clarification when you come across this effect.If you are a leader, make the direction clear, give feedback and ask if your team have any questions. Or need any further help from you. Give information about changes, provide details, fill in the gaps of the people in your team. It may seem unnecessary, but having this relation to people can be one of the cores to generate trust as a leader.

Tim Hoiseth

Tim has background as is business psychologist and work sociologist with expertise in building organisations and teams to solve problems for the future. Tim has expertise in technology and the symbiosis between human interaction and technology in operational processes.

Human characteristics are full of surprises. One of the interesting facets, is the way we are motivated to do certain work. If you really want to know more about motivation, consider the following two contradictory questions at first: 

1) When you reward someone, do you get more activity out of that person than you expected? 

2) When you punish someone, do you get less from that person? 

In order to get to the core, The M.I.T conducted a study on a large group of students and presented a number of challenges in front of them that would challenge their physical and mental ability.  

The mental tests included number games, memory games, solving word puzzles, Sudoku etc. 

The physical ability tests included throwing a ball in the basket etc. 

To get a better performance, they gave the participants three levels of reward. The rewards was like follows: If they can get through the task anyhow, they will be given a small monetary reward. If they managed to get a minimum level, they will be given better prize money. If they perform excellently, they will be given a covetous monetary reward.  

Now, what was the result?  

1) As long as the task remained mechanical, they were motivated by the strategy towards the higher the pay were, the chance of performing well increases. They was also intrigued by the bonus reward.  

2) But, as soon as they were given a mental ability test to check their cognitive skills, they performed resultantly poor inspite of a huge reward. 

Now, isn’t this surprising? 

Many economists and scholars from other disciplines will adjudge the second point in this way- as we surpass our cognitive ability, much to our surprise, rewards like these don’t sound fetching anymore. This is just opposite to the law stated by Behavioural Physics.  

Once when the reward was reformed, means the lowest performer will get money equivalent to two week’s salary, the medium performer will get the money equivalent to one month salary, and the best performer will get the salary equivalent to two months. Not surprisingly, the highest reward got the worst performance. Higher incentives still led to worst performance. 

The fact is that it is not surprising. A number of psychologists, sociologists and other scholars believe that if the task is simple, like if you do A, you get B, people undoubtedly performed well. If they have to follow a set of rules, the typical carrot and stick approach, the better. But when it comes to a work which requires thinking, analysing, conceptualising etc, even the highest monetary rewards fall flat.  

Money is one of the biggest motivators. People won’t work if they are not satisfied with the pay package. The rule is that pay the people enough so that they think about the work only. Based on this fact, there are 3 factors which can lead to better performance and self-gratification. 

1) Autonomy- where the people fix the direction of work by themselves. If you want to keep your employee engaged to the management task, give them the autonomy to work. Don’t manipulate each and every step.  

2) Mastery- The urge to develop the skills to do better work. For example, there are a number of technically sophisticated people across the globe. People who have a good job, that are creating something and giving it for free, like the Wikipedia, Linux and many many more open source solutions etc. The question is how, and why? The answer is if you master a skill, you can contribute hugely not for yourself but for the other people’s benefit as well. 

3) Purpose- Organizations work on a particular purpose, so that they can get better output. But the fact is, when purpose gets alienated from profit, it will lead to poor performance. When you have a purpose driven by profit, you get the urge to do something better and different. 

So, when an organization can combine autonomy, mastery and purpose and treat workers as a human being, then there will be no need of extra motivation. 

Tim Hoiseth

Tim has background as is business psychologist and work sociologist with expertise in building organisations and teams to solve problems for the future. Tim has expertise in technology and the symbiosis between human interaction and technology in operational processes.

Effective executive team building is essential if your company is going to achieve its full potential. A team is much more than the sum of its parts and even a group of great minds is not destined for success unless they can really learn to work together toward common goals. Although your desired outcome may be to function like a well-oiled machine, the fact is that people are not machine parts. Personality clashes, egos, differences in opinion, simple misunderstandings, and so on make it necessary and worthwhile to spend some time developing the teamwork aspects of working together, and helping everyone understand their important role within the team structure.

While the rules that govern working together may seem like common sense, and very often are, it is nonetheless too easy for a group of people to fall into patterns of behavior that are not conducive to the common goal. Individuals may feel like they are working at odds against one another, or simply not know how to coordinate their efforts. Communication breaks down, and with it, the company’s productivity. Very often the best solution is to bring in someone from the outside, which can provide an objective point of view and help get everyone back on track. This is precisely why there are so many consulting firms today specializing in executive team building, organizational assessments, corporate culture, and the many related issues. 

If your team needs a little assistance getting refocused and made more cohesive as a unit, there are many consultative products and services available, and many of them emphasize an atmosphere of fun and creativity. There are lots of entertaining ways to practice the fundamentals of good teamwork, and strengthen your team’s abilities to communicate and work together effectively. Conflict management, critical thinking, problem solving, and other items can be covered to address or improve any problem areas your group is encountering, as well as generally revitalize and motivate your team. 

Executive team building is one way to make the most of your most valuable resources – your people. Reducing staff turnover and job related stress, and improving productivity and job satisfaction are just a small sample of the rewards you will reap by putting the necessary time into building your team. Explore some of the services available in your area, and look forward to having some fun together. Remember, team building is an investment in your future, as well as a method of dealing with problems from the past. A good consultant should have a range of activities and exercises that can be tailored to meet your unique needs, and have you and your team back on the road to new levels of success in no time

Tim Hoiseth

Tim has background as is business psychologist and work sociologist with expertise in building organisations and teams to solve problems for the future. Tim has expertise in technology and the symbiosis between human interaction and technology in operational processes.

How many times have you been on, or heard about a team that got frustrated?  Or felt like they weren’t making progress?  Or weren’t completely clear on what they were expected to do?  Or didn’t feel like they had support from those above them? 

If you are like me and most people I know, you are nodding yes to one or more of the questions above.

There is one single thing that can alleviate or eliminate these challenges and get the team off to a solid start. That single thing is a team charter.

What is a Team Charter?

A charter is a document that describes the purpose, boundaries and agreements of the team (the details are below).  It is co-created by whoever is sponsoring or forming the team and by those who will be on the team.  The power of this document comes from the conversation and agreements that are recorded on it.

Because the power comes from the agreements that are reached, the format of the document itself is less important than the conversation.  Whatever the format, the components in the next section should be considered.

What is Included?

Team charters should address the following areas and answer the related questions.

• Purpose and Alignment.  Why is this team being formed?  What purpose will it serve?  What challenge, problem, issue or opportunity will it address?  How is the work of this team in alignment with the larger goals and strategies of the organization?

• Goals and Expectations.  What are the specific goals for this team?  When will we know we have completed their work?  Who are Customers and Stakeholders of the team’s work?  What are their needs and expectations?  What are the obstacles or challenges that can be seen at the start?  Make sure to state the goals clearly with measurable outcomes and timelines.

• Roles.  Who is the team leader?  What is their role?  Who is responsible for facilitation, logistics, and information management?  Who will be responsible for communication to stakeholders and the team sponsor?  How will each person be involved in decision making?

• Approach.  How and when will the team meet?  What are the norms or ground rules that the team will agree to?  How we make decisions?  How will we hold each other accountable for these things and for task completion?  Who will communicate team progress and to whom? Your charter should also include a high level look at the major phases or milestones in the life of the team and outline those.

• Skills and expertise required.  Make a listing of the skills and expertise that will be required for team success.  Identify the individual on the team that can provide those skills and perspectives.  Identify any gaps in skills and determine a way to attach those skills to the team through other resources.  Adding these skills doesn’t mean you have to add people to the team.  It means that subject matter experts can best be identified and invited to participate in the beginning and a charter helps make that happen.  

• Resources needed.  What budget of time and money will be needed for this project?  What other resources will be required?

• Authority.  What level of authority on spending does the team have?  What authority do they have for other resources?  What approvals will be required and by who?

• Agreement.  Once all of these questions and items have been documented, your charter should be signed by the team sponsor and each team member.  This will cement the agreement and make it easier to hold people accountable.  It also ensures that every team member understands and is on board with the complete charter.

How do I Implement a Team Charter?

Because there is some structure required, typically a leader who is forming or sponsoring a team would initiate the process.  If this doesn’t happen in your organization don’t use that as an excuse!  Whatever your role you can gain support for having a conversation that leads you to the clarity and agreements that a charter will provide.

Get the team together along with the leader who formed and/or is sponsoring your team.  Have a conversation about the eight items above, documenting your agreements.  You may be able to finalize a charter in one meeting, or it might require people to gather more information before finishing – do what makes sense given the size, complexity and importance of the team’s output.  Remember all time invested here will be repaid many times.  Resist the urge and tendency to “get this done and get on with the work.”

Once the document is created, have all parties sign it as a way to signify commitment to each other.  Then keep the document fresh by referring to it in team meetings and making sure that you stay on-track with the boundaries and guidance it provides.  Recognize too that as time moves forward you may need to make adjustments, clarifications or changes to the charter.  This is perfectly fine as long as all team members and the leader and sponsor are in agreement and “sign on” to the changes.

Be Forewarned

Will creating a team charter take time?  

Absolutely.  

Will some people want to stop talking and get started?  

For sure.  

Recognize these facts but remember an even bigger one – time spent collaboratively building a charter will be repaid in reduced frustration, improved productivity and better results.

Tim Hoiseth

Tim has background as is business psychologist and work sociologist with expertise in building organisations and teams to solve problems for the future. Tim has expertise in technology and the symbiosis between human interaction and technology in operational processes.