Business and Finance

People who communicate more, show expertise are more likely to be seen as essential team members

Published

12 months ago

October 31, 2023

Newswise — A new study sheds light on the vital role of communication and expertise within organizations, revealing their impact on group performance. Researchers examined how individuals become part of communication networks and the effect of selection processes on group performance. The study found that people who communicated more during training were more likely to be chosen as a central member of the network. In addition, teams that chose their central member performed as well as and often better than teams whose central member was randomly assigned.

The study, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and Clark University, is published in Frontiers in Psychology.

“The people in network positions and the processes by which they arrive at those positions play a significant role in determining team performance,” says Linda Argote, Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business, who coauthored the study. “For centralized network positions which require occupants to transfer information to other members of the network, it is critical to have good communication skills.”

Communication networks serve as the conduits for knowledge exchange, and central members in a network are often responsible for gathering and sharing that information. Researchers drew on studies on communication networks as well as the Carnegie research perspective, which studies the ways organizations gain efficiency through learning, developing routines and structures, and exchanging knowledge.

To test whether group members who choose the occupants of network positions select themselves and others that best suit skill requirements of the position, the authors compared the performance of groups whose members received their choice of who occupied which network position to the performance of groups whose members did not. They conducted a lab study that involved nearly 125 university students. They had two experimental conditions: in one condition, members received their choice of who occupied the central position; in the other condition, members did not receive their choice.

Allowing group members to choose who occupies which network positions enabled teams to optimize their position assignments based on individuals’ skills and expertise (e.g., organization, delegation), which boosted groups’ performance. Team members were more likely to choose individuals who communicated frequently and those who appeared to have task-related expertise to occupy the central network position. Teams receiving their choice of central member performed better than teams not receiving their choice or teams in which members were randomly assigned to the position.

Among the study’s limitations, the authors note that they investigated the effects of choice as they pertained to network positions in a single network structure, not whether groups performed differently when they could choose their network structures.

“The Carnegie perspective speaks to formal and informal communication structures in organizations but not about the processes through which workers come to occupy network positions,” explains Jerry Guo, Assistant Professor of Strategy at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, who led the study. “We extended this perspective by showing that the process through which individuals come to occupy network positions affects the performance of networks. In this way, we contribute to an understanding of how the development of a network, not just its structure, influences performance.”

The study was funded by the Center for Organizational Learning, Innovation and Knowledge at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon, the National Science Foundation, and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.

Source: Carnegie Mellon University

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Related Topics:Behavioral Psychology Communication Skills Learning Processes

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Lifestyle

5 Things to Know About Medicare Open Enrollment

Published

4 days ago

October 19, 2024

Daily News Staff

Medicare Open Enrollment

(Family Features) Medicare Open Enrollment, which runs from Oct. 15-Dec. 7 each year, is the one time you can review, compare and make changes to your Medicare health and prescription drug plans for the next year. Because plans – and your health – can change, it’s important to compare plans every year. Visit Medicare.gov to see what’s new for 2025, including a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket costs for covered prescription drugs, get extra help with prescription drug costs and more.

SOURCE:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.

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Lifestyle

Goodwill created a new high school for dropouts − it led to better jobs and higher wages

Published

3 weeks ago

October 1, 2024

The Conversation

Patrick Turner, University of Notre Dame

Goodwill

When Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana realized most of the clients in its job-training program lacked a high school diploma, it set out to address the issue.

In 2010, with the help of per-pupil funding from the state, the nonprofit opened The Excel Center, a tuition-free high school tailored for adults. The charter school offered flexible schedules, free on-site child care, transportation assistance and a life coach. Thirteen years later, research by my team at the University of Notre Dame’s Lab for Economic Opportunities shows that The Excel Center is a success.

Indiana graduates of the program, which has now expanded to 10 other states and the District of Columbia, were able to find better jobs and earn substantially more over their lifetimes than their peers who did not graduate from the program.

At the Lab for Economic Opportunities – or LEO – I worked with colleagues Rebecca Brough and David Phillips to measure the economic return of graduating from The Excel Center. We found that graduates of The Excel Center experience a nearly 40% increase in earnings five years after applying – or roughly US$80,000 more in their pockets over their lifetimes – than similarly situated adults who applied but did not enroll. The LEO team did not receive any funding from The Excel Center or Goodwill in its research, although Goodwill provided assistance with data.

More steady employment

According to our research, graduates of The Excel Center didn’t just earn more, but the jobs they found were more stable. Excel graduates experienced a 22% increase in continuous employment within the same industry over five years than their peers in the comparison group. Graduates of the program were 19% less likely to work in the hospitality industry – among the lowest-paid sectors in the country – and more likely to work jobs such as pharmacy technician, dental assistant or in HVAC maintenance.

A man tends to an air handling and conditioning unit. — Graduates of Excel found jobs in high-paying sectors, such as HVAC maintenance. Mikael Vaisanen/The Image Bank via Getty Images

In addition to a diploma, students earned industry-recognized credentials, such as those in phlebotomy and child development, and certification as nursing assistants and pharmacy technicians. These credentials opened up careers in industries such as health care and education.

Some students used the certificates as a launching point for additional study at the local community college. At the time we conducted our research, Excel graduates in Indiana were more likely to have earned college credits: Roughly 30% of Excel graduates earned college credit, compared with 11.5% of the group that didn’t enroll.

To reach these conclusions, we looked at the data of more than 9,000 Excel Center applicants from 2013–15. We focused on their earnings over the five years before and after they applied to the program. Our analysis compared the experience of Excel students – both graduates and nongraduates – with other adult residents of Indiana from similar backgrounds who had expressed interest in going to The Excel Center but never enrolled.

Why it matters

The Excel program is not just good for the students who graduate; it offers the states who help fund the program a return on their investment. Because graduates earn more, they pay more in taxes, allowing states to recoup much of the per-student cost over the graduates’ working careers. Each additional dollar of government funding generates $20 in benefits for the typical Excel Center student, measured as the present value of their lifetime increase in after-tax earnings.

In contrast, federally funded programs such as Job Corps and Adult Education and Literacy primarily help adults without credentials study and pass a high school equivalency exam, such as the GED test. But research suggests a GED diploma has little effect on earnings, especially for women.

More than 23 million adults in the U.S. lack a high school credential such as a diploma or a GED certificate. They are not only shut out of most jobs but also earn substantially less than their peers who have graduated from high school.

Plans to expand

Goodwill is leveraging the LEO study to expand the impact of its programs. In addition to the 18 Excel Center campuses the group currently operates throughout central and southern Indiana, it has partnered with Goodwill regions across the country to bring adult high schools to Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, South Carolina and Washington, D.C.

LEO’s data was cited directly when Arizona, which had been one of 18 states without a high school option for adults, decided to join the Excel roster. In February 2020, state lawmakers – prompted by testimony from Goodwill and by the LEO research – amended the state’s law to establish a continuing high school program in the state.

Patrick Turner, Associate Research Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Lifestyle

CareerBuilder and Monster close combination, creating stronger job board for talent and employers

CareerBuilder and Monster have finalized their merger, creating a stronger job board to capitalize on market trends. Jeff Furman leads the team, and further branding details will follow.

Published

4 weeks ago

September 27, 2024

Daily News Staff

CHICAGO, Sept. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — We are excited to announce that with the completion of all customary regulatory approvals, the agreement to combine CareerBuilder and Monster is now finalized. As previously announced, the combination of CareerBuilder and Monster brings together two strong, trusted, complementary brands to create a job board with greater scale and reach. Together, both companies can more effectively capitalize on prevailing trends in the market to deliver enhanced growth.

CareerBuilder

Jeff Furman, CEO of the combined company, said: “I could not be more excited to bring these two celebrated brands together. We are able to leverage the best-in-class solutions, capabilities, and expertise from both companies to better serve both our candidates and employers and help them navigate the evolving talent marketplace.”

In addition, we are excited to announce the new leadership team of the organization:

Dinesh Arora, Chief Technology Officer

Scott Blumsack, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer

Brian Burbrink, Chief People Officer

Leslie Cope, Chief Product Officer

Ahern Dull, Chief Operating Officer

Mark Pacioni, General Counsel

Mike Suhajda, Chief Financial Officer

More details about the company, including branding, will be announced in due course. For now, the company will be referred to as CareerBuilder + Monster, and both websites will continue to operate.

PJT Partners Inc. served as financial advisor and Sidley Austin LLC served as legal counsel to CareerBuilder on the transaction. Jefferies LLC served as financial advisor and Jones Day served as legal counsel to Monster on the transaction.

about CareerBuilder
For over 25 years, CareerBuilder has been a leading global talent marketplace providing innovative solutions to help employers find, hire, and onboard great people, and help job seekers build new skills and progressive careers as the modern world of work changes. CareerBuilder is majority-owned by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. For more information, visit careerbuilder.com, and to learn more about our solutions for employers, visit hiring.careerbuilder.com.

about Monster
Monster is a global leader in connecting the right people to the right jobs. Every day, Monster aims to make every workplace happier and more productive by transforming the way employers find talent and candidates find careers. For 30 years, Monster has worked to transform the recruiting industry. Today, the company leverages innovative digital, social, and mobile solutions and proprietary data and insights to enable employers and candidates to see each other more clearly. For more information, visit monster.com.

SOURCE CareerBuilder + Monster