Ability diversity or cognitive diversity: what yields the most accurate decision-making group?

According to a study published on the Information Science Journal, it was proven through unique empirical research that while ability diversity decreased group decision errors by approximately 4%, cognitive diversity was much more effective as team decision errors were reduced by approximately 13% thus putting into question the popular belief that reliance on using more capable members to create high performance homogeneous groups may lead to better team decisions. The final conclusion of the study was that a much better strategy is to create groups of members that ‘think differently’ and cooperate to produce a group decision

So, group composition really improves decision making? Certainly. Yet, the traditional approaches should be augmented. At a software tech firm, for example, forming coding teams that produce error free, innovative work would require more than just the lumping together of the brightest programmers and then setting them on a problem. It takes more diversity than that.

A good first step for our software firm would be to compose the group from, say, two bright computer programmers, two physicists, and two mathematicians. This would give you a group formed from members with diverse abilities. Yet, according to the new research, this would only reduce the team’s decision errors by about 4% because their cognitive abilities are still so similar.

What is needed is not only diversity of skills and high intelligence, but also diversity of thinking style. The most difficult trick of all turns out to be in identifying thinking styles. A good second step comes from the research of Professor Thomas Malone of MIT. Putting a few women on the team would improve the overall social sensitivity of the team thereby increasing its collective intelligence.

Questions to ponder:

• Is your organization postured to make savvy team decisions or is their effectiveness limited by lack of diversity (ability and cognitive)? 
• How does the composition of group membership differ between most accurate and least accurate decision-making groups? 
• Can you even identify your most and least accurate groups?

Here is an interesting and related video:

If you are struggling to find ways to identify thinking styles, one way is to examine management decisions.


The research article cited above: West, David, and Scott, Dellana. "Diversity of Ability and Cognitive Style for Group Decision Processes." Information Sciences 179 (2009): 542-58.33

3 Tips for Executive Development

Leaders are suffering from their own business hangover. During our recent political in-fighting and economic uncertainty, businesses have had their nose to the grindstone striving to do more with less. Everyone was so focused on surviving and cutting, they're just now looking up and realizing they have no clear next steps, limited vision and no energy.

AmyK, who has worked with Martha Beck (Oprah's Life Coach, bestselling author and columnist for O), National Geographic, IBM, John Paul Mitchell Systems, to name a few, offers you, our readers, these three quick and easy tips for executive development that any business leader can practice to immediately improve his/her leadership performance:

• Focus on energy, not time. Time is a constant; energy is a manageable, renewable resource. What's sucking out your energy and what refuels it? Your answers will influence your strategy for energy management within the constraints of time.
• Leadership happens one conversation at a time. Slow down and ask better questions. Focus on thought-provoking questions over reports. In meeting prep, devote at least five minutes to think of three to five questions that will lead to a more productive, more thought-provoking meeting. These five minutes will save you hours down the road.
• Create internal alignment. Step back and ask yourself: What am I resisting? What am I judging? What am I attached to? Answer these three questions and you'll gain clarity, insight and a foundation for momentum.

About our Guest Author:

With over 700 presentations to 20,000+ executives in seven countries, AmyK Hutchens serves as an Intelligent Activist and business strategist to leaders around the globe. AmyK is a former senior EVP of operations for a leading sales and marketing firm, director of education for Europe and Australia for a 900 million dollar consumer products company, and chosen member of National Geographic's Educator Advisory Committee. She is the winner of five Telly Marketing Awards and the Summit International's Award for Creativity (2008) and a featured guest on NBC, Fox and ABC for her brain-based commentary on current events.

When the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: The intrinsic benefits of Group Think

New Study by Carnegie Mellon, MIT and Union College documents how collective intelligence of groups surpasses the cognitive abilities of the individual group members and that the tendency to cooperate effectively is linked to the number of women in a group.

The authors of the study confirmed the hypothesis that groups, like individuals, have a consistent ability to perform across different types of cognitive tasks and that the effectiveness of a group can, in fact, be predicted in many situations. Because the effectiveness of a group is derived by how well its members work together, it was also proven that in groups where one person dominated, the group was less collectively intelligent than groups where the conversational turns were more evenly distributed. Moreover, it was noted that groups containing more women demonstrated greater social sensitivity (social sensitivity is how well group members perceive each other's emotions) and greater collective intelligence compared to teams containing fewer women.

By extrapolation, the study postulates that it’s possible to improve the intelligence of a group by changing its members, by teaching them better ways of interacting or by giving them better electronic collaboration tools. The bottom line is that it is not the individual intelligence that will make the group succeed, but how the collective intelligence is harnessed together with the right mix of social sensitivities.



Questions to ponder:

• Based on the findings of this latest research, how do you encourage group thinking in your business?
  
• Or do you encourage it at all?
  
• Do all of your teams look alike or are their demographics such that you too can predict the effectiveness of the group?
  
• How do you help your groups to sharpen their thinking and therefore to improve their effectiveness?
• Finally, do you have tools in place to measure the effectiveness of your teams?
  

We will be discussing these questions and more on our Facebook page.

Workers Compensation "Payroll" Inclusions and Exclusions

Today we present an article on Worker Compensation Inclusions and Exclusions from our Guest Author: John Keller, CRM ARM CIC AAI

Throughout my work consulting with businesses in all aspects of Workers Compensation, I’m always asked a basic question about WC payroll, so I thought I’d elaborate for all. Most of us know that Workers Compensation premium is a function of rates and payroll by classification code. Because this is relatively straight forward, it’s easy to gloss over “what is considered ‘payroll’ for workers compensation purposes?”

Incorrect payroll has a direct impact on Workers Compensation premium, and it’s critical that the correct payroll be used. Under-report payroll and you’ll have a large, nasty audit bill hit you 3 months after the policy expires (100% due in full, by the way); over-report payroll, and you drag down your cash flow throughout the year, and then have to claw for your money back at the audit.

Below is a comprehensive list of the inclusions and exclusions for “payroll” as defined by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI):

Inclusions in payroll for Workers Compensation insurance:

1. Wages or salaries, including retroactive wages. (Check with your insurance company auditor to have them provide state caps on individual weekly wage) Not capping individual wages is a common cause for over-reporting.
2. Commissions and draws against commissions
3. Bonuses including stock bonus plans
4. Extra pay for overtime work, with exception
5. Pay for holidays, vacations, or periods of sickness
6. Payments by an employer of amounts required by law to be paid by employees to statutory insurance or pension plans (like Federal Social Security)
7. Payments to employees on any bsis other than time worked, such as piecework, profit sharing, or incentive plans
8. Payments or allowance for hand tools or power tools used by hand and used in their work or operations for the employer
9. The rental value of an apartment or house provided for an employee
10. The value of lodging, other than apartment or house, received by employees as part of their pay
11. The value of meals received by employees as part of their pay
12. The value of store certificates, merchandise, credits or any other substitute for money received by employees as part of their pay
13. Payments for salary reduction, employee savings plan, retirement, or cafeteria plans that are made through employee-authorized salary reduction from the employee’s gross pay
14. Davis-Bacon wages or wages from a similar prevailing wage law
15. Annuity plans
16. Expense reimbursements to employees to the extent that employers’ records do not substantiate that the expense was incurred as a valid business expense
17. Note: when it can be verified that the employee was away from home overnight on the business of the employer, but the employer did not maintain verifiable receipts, a reasonable expense allowance, limited to $30 day, is permitted
18. Payment for filming of commercials, excluding subsequent residuals
    

Exclusions in payroll for Workers Compensation insurance:

1. Tips and other gratuities received by employees
2. Payments by an employer: (1) to group insurance or pension plans and (2) into third-party pension trusts for the Davis-Bacon Actor or similar wage law (pension trust must be qualified under IRC Sections 401(a) and 501(a)
3. The value of special rewards for individual invention or discovery
4. Dismissal or severance payments, except for time worked or accrued vacation
5. Payments for active military duty
6. Employee discounts on goods purchased from employer
7. Expense reimbursements to employees to the extend an employer’s records substantiate the expense was a valid business expense
8. Note: reimbursed expenses and flat expense allowances, except for hand or power tools, may be excluded from the audit if all three of the following conditions are met: (1) the reimbursed expenses were incurred upon the business of the employer, and (2) the amount of each employee’s expense payments is shown separately in the record of the employer, and (3) the amount of each expense reimbursement approximates the actual expenses incurred by the employee
9. Supper money for late work
10. Work uniform allowances
11. Sick pay to an employee by a third party such as an insured’s group insurance carrier that is paying disability income benefits
12. Employer-provided perks such as: (1) use of an automobile, (2) an airplane flight, (3) an incentive vacation (e.g. contest winner), (4) a discount on property or services, (5) club memberships, (6) tickets to entertainment events
13. Employer contributions to salary reduction, employee savings plans, retirements, or cafeteria plans (IRC 125) – contributions made by the employer that are determined by the amount contributed by the employee

I hope this helps you have a good understanding of what to include and what not to include in reporting payroll to the WC insurance company. Since payroll is used (directly and indirectly) as a factor in determining everything from premium, the Experience Modification Rate (EMR), deductible levels and aggregates, Min/Max on retrospective plans, and tracking ratios like frequency rate, it’s critical that payroll is understood and submitted correctly.

This article can also be found on John Keller's Hub by clicking here.



About our Guest Author:

John Keller is a Certified Risk Manager and consultant with Praxiom Risk Management in Tampa, FL. Praxiom is a full-service outsourced Risk Management consulting firm specializing in Workers’ Compensation safety, loss prevention, claims management, insurance placement, and is comprised of veterans of the risk management and financial services industry. Praxiom works with clients nationwide. Comments and questions are welcome at jkeller@praxiom-rm.com. Click here for John's full bio.

Leadership Roles: a process of co-construction

A new research article published in Academy of Management Review suggests that leadership identities are assumed by individuals in an organization through a process of co-construction. The mechanism appears to work as follows. In their social interactions, individuals either claim, grant or, it would seem, assign leader and follower identities to themselves and, relationally, to their colleagues. According to the paper's authors, "through this claiming-granting process, individuals internalize an identity as leader or follower, and those identities become relationally recognized through reciprocal role adoption and collectively endorsed within the organizational context."

It is not enough if every time during a team meeting, one member of the team takes it upon herself to delegate the majority of the tasks discussed to her peers. What is needed is co-construction. That is, in order for the team member who does the delegating to assume the identity of "leader", her peers must submit to the delegation; they must "grant" that the identity / role is appropriate through reciprocal adoption of the role of follower. By assuming the role of follower, they, in turn, confer a leadership identity upon the other. Thus, their roles are co-constructed. It takes two to make a leader.

How does this conceptualization of leadership challenge received wisdom on the topic of leadership development? Further, how does this affect our methods of identifying high potentials in the organization?

DeRue, D. Scott; Ashford, Susan J.. Academy of Management Review, Oct2010, Vol. 35 Issue 4, p627-647

You can also join the discussion of this topic on our facebook page.

Discussion Boards

We have added discussion boards to our Facebook page. These boards will facilitate an open and constructive dialog on the topics presented on this blog.

Connect with us Here and let's get the conversation started!

Current discussion board topic:

The post by Jim Moniz (Recruiters: making strong connections) argues that recruiters must have a handful of important characteristics but that, most importantly, they must catalyze a "happy marriage" between employer and employee. This most important characteristic also seems like the most tricky and hardest to nail down.

What's your method for ensuring a good fit? How about when you hire over the internet? How can you ensure a good fit when you have never met the the candidate in person?

Recruiting 2.0: A Guide to Success in the Web Jungle

The Internet provides for a diverse and individual recruitment program in which the new functionalities of what is called Web 2.0 can be used successfully. However, for many organizations, Web 2.0 is new territory and not every recruiter is proficient with its features. Yet, one thing is certain: The new Web 2.0 methods for communicating with applicants over the are better, faster, cheaper and modern.

Learn about Recruiting 2.0 in 2 stages: Stage 1 leads you through the basics of recruiting 2.0 using concrete examples in an interactive, conference style, webinar. Stage 2 will help you personally with the selection and installation of the Web 2.0 technologies that successful recruiters use worldwide for free.

Stage 1 - Web Conference (Webinar)
• What is Recruiting 2.0 in practice?
• What are the most successful online features of Recruiting 2.0?
• Alternative forms of candidate selection.
• New information technologies in the background: Funnel model for Talent Management
• What will be expected in the future from recruiters?
• Duration: about 90 minutes

Stage 2 - Web-Coaching Webinar
• Individual training in dealing with Webcams
• Installation and testing of selected Web 2.0 technologies on your computer
• Accompanied by a Recruiting 2.0 project
• In-depth Q&A
• Duration: variable


In developing these Webinars, HR-Meter has spoken with HR executives from around the globe about their experiences, done comparative research on the benefits of all of the tools and procedures we discuss and have even made use of them in our own recruiting processes.

PLEASE NOTE: Unlike many of the free Webinars on this topic, HR-Meter will never uses informative Webinars like these to sell products, software or advertising.

To register, please visit the official website by clicking here. The registration form is located at the bottom of that page.

HR-Worldview is now on Facebook

Dear Subscriber,

I just wanted to let you know that we are in the process of improving the content of our Blog! We intend to make more regular posts, feature more highly experienced guest authors and facilitate a more robust discussion of the topics at hand.

In order to help with discussion, we have decided to create a Facebook page. We will make all of our future HR-Worldview blog posts available on our Facebook page as well as pose pertinent questions about the topic!


But we need your help to make this a thriving community.

So, connect with us on Facebook and let's get the conversation started!

Best,
HR-Worldview Team

Establishing incentive plan measures, part II

Last month we took a look at Profit-Based Allocation as a basic approach for company executives to consider when developing incentive plan indicators; this month we’ll explore Targeted Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how they can lead to improvement in profits.

KPIs generically constitute incentive plans that are within the reach or control of employees, the theory being that the easier it is for employees to reach their goals, improvements in company profits will be the outcome. The KPI approach can involve company, department or individual metrics, but in order to achieve the best results the right metric must be selected.

Company metrics could be a combination of revenue growth and net income and might include return in equity, return in assets, gross sales, net income, revenue per employee and profit per employee. Departmental indicators could include gross sales and margins, overhead percentage, production quotas, client referrals, and employee retention percentage. Individual metrics are tied to personal performance goals.

While Targeted KPIs can achieve good results, down sides do exist:

-Miscalculations; KPI improvements sometimes do not sufficiently offset failures in other areas, leading to incentive payments even though profits are off the mark.

-“Gaming”; some employees may learn how to play the system and achieve KPIs without hitting profit goals, resulting in intentional or unintentional failure to achieve profit objectives.

-“Sandbagging; there may be a few employees who barely reach their targeted KPIs during the allotted time period, and then attempt to carry-over performance into the next period, leading to failure to achieve full profit potential.

-Misalignment; KPIs can sometimes force employees into action outside their skill sets and abilities. The KPI may be achieved, but job satisfaction could be diminished.

A single solution to designing an incentive plan with universal effectiveness simply does not exist – measures and metrics must be suitable and specific to the company and industry and based on an organization’s culture, business model and goals. By making a decision about which incentive plan indicators works best for your company, staying the course and tweaking when needed, the results in terms of both profitability and employee commitment will be evident.



About our Benefits Installment Author:

James E. (Jim) Moniz, CEO of Northeast VisionLink, a Massachusetts firm that specializes in structuring executive compensation. James E. Moniz is a national speaker on the topic of wealth management and on executive compensation. Jim Moniz will be presenting at this years SHRM conference in Phoenx, be sure to check out our presentation: “Creating and Sustaining a Competitive Advantage, The Role and Impact of Effective Compensation and Rewards Strategies”

Have you ever been published? Would you like to be?

If you or your company have participated in an Employee Engagement Survey like this one in the last couple of years, we would love to hear from you as your feedback is important to us and to those who are interested in our services.

New market research suggests both companies and employees are increasingly aware of a definite shift in fiscal, professional, and personal priorities. Undoubtedly, you have seen and felt their impact on your business and professions as well. This shift has and continues to affect the following:

- Need for flexible or non-traditional work schedules
- Need for more "modern" work conditions
- Need for meaningful and measurable accomplishments
- Need for personal recognition and validation
- Need for professional growth
- Need to identify with the organization, etc

We, therefore, invite you to write a little comment or article to our editorial staff so we as well as others viewing this blog can grow from your experience. Our Staff will review your submission and we will gladly publish them on this blog along with your photo and a brief biographical reference if you want.

Lastly, feel free to contact us if you are interested in receiving our complimentary current research compilation on the topic of the above mentioned shift in employee engagement.

Also, please feel free to take a look at one our Employee Engagement Surveys available here. Receiving these survey's results may be of interest to you. We can send them to you, if you would like. It's a free report.

Employee Engagement Survey

Today we are putting up a beta HR-Meter Employee Engagement Survey to collect some basic benchmark data on these modules.

If you've got a couple of minutes and are interested in filling out an interesting survey concerning employee statisfaction then click here.

You'll even get an opportunity at the end of the survey to request that the results be sent to you when they become available.

Click here to fill out the new Employee Engagement Survey

If you have any comments or suggestions on how we could improve this survey, please let us know!

New HR-Meter Website Launch!

Dear Readers,

We are pleased to announce the launch of the new HR-Meter website! We've upgraded every page to include more information about relevant HR related topics. In addition, the website is now easier to use. All of the HR related topics that HR-Meter is involved in are listed on the left hand side of the website. Just follow the topics you're interested in and you'll most likely find what you're looking for. We've also added a download center where you can find up-to-date resources on a wide variety of topics.

Here's a list of the topics you'll find on www.hr-meter.com:

• 360 Degree Feedback
• Leadership Development
• Business Process Analysis
• Assessments for Managers
• Succession Planning
• Performance Appraisal
• High Potentials
• Organizational Culture
• Team Metrics
• Employee Engagement
• Customer Satisfaction
• Knowledge and Training
• Job Marketing
• Career Websites
• Candidate Assessment
• Webcam Interviewing
• Test and Tool Development

We hope you like what you find!

All the best,

HR-Meter

Performance Compass (Beta)

We don't usually do this, but today HR-Worldview would like to direct your attention to a useful new tool designed by HR-Meter that is still in Beta.

HR-Meter is looking for folks to Beta test this tool. This basically means "use the tool for a month and give HR-Meter feedback on it".

The tool is called the Performance Compass. Check out this little video HR-Meter sent over.

You can also view the video here.

HR-Meter has asked that we don't give out any more information than this.

So, if you are interested in participating in the Beta of this tool, click the link below to sign up and HR-Meter will give you more information.

Sign up for more information & to Beta Test Performance Compass

Twitter

Dear Readers,

By request, HR-Worldview is now on Twitter. The little Twitter thingy is over there on the right side of the blog just under our e-newsletters link.

Here are a couple of links to keep you hyper-connected to HR-Worldview:

• You can follow us on twitter by clicking here.
• You can subscribe to our e-newsletter by clicking here.
• You can subscribe to our blog in any reader at the top of the page.

Best,

Eamon

Benefits Installments

As you may remember, back in January we announced (rather prematurely) that we were considering running monthly Benefits Installments to broaden the scope of our forum into an area of Human Resource Management as yet untouched by HR-Worldview.

Well, today we can make good on that announcement! 

Begining in May, HR-Worldview will run a regular Benefits Installment.

 

Jim Moniz (President of Northeast VisionLink and Northeast Wealth Management) will pen these installments.

For a sample of what you can expect from these Benefits Installments, check our Jim's latest article, here.

It is our hope that you will find these installments interesting and helpful. 

Introducing: Resource Buttons

We have recently begun linking various articles from the HR-Worldview blog with new Resource Menus from HR-Meter.

Suppose you're reading a particularly tantalizing article on the topic of "360 Degree Feedback". You're thinking to yourself "hmmm, this sure is interesting, but I want I know more, right now!" You can! 

All you have to do is look for the Resource Button!

There is a whole world of information on all of the topics you read about here on HR-Worldview. That's why, we will now be including Resource Buttons to take you to a relevant HR-Meter Resource Menu.