WorkTies

Most organizational research treats surprise as something that happens  to  us—e.g., market disruptions, crises, or unexpected setbacks that require reactive management. But our research reveals a powerful alternative: leaders and professionals who proactively  engineer  surprises as strategic tools. In other words, this review shows how leaders, peers, and employees can engineer surprises to drive performance and productive change in organizations . Surprise as a Strategic T

Leading in a Tangle of Relationships Bumped up two weeks, Engineering insists on another sprint, and HR reports that yesterday’s hybrid-work tweak is already eroding trust. Green-light one request and you alienate another group; stall, and everyone wonders whether you have a backbone at all. Modern leadership, it turns out, is less about choosing a direction and more about threading a path through overlapping loyalties, clashing incentives, and complex relationships. Pause fo

Have you ever received help that wasn’t actually…helpful? Have you ever tried to help a coworker, but felt like you didn’t quite hit the...

Conventional wisdom says that high-status mentors—star connections—help you get ahead at work. From CEOs to sports coaches to (yes)...

As generative artificial intelligence increasingly soaks into the workplace, people grapple with the ethical implications of disclosing...

Most managers measure success in outputs: bottom lines, quarterly gains, performance metrics, and incentives. But the forces that shape...

Coworking spaces became popular with the modern workforce, who can work wherever they go with their laptops. The coworking movement was...

When making judgments – such as forecasting how long a project will take or how much to save for retirement – people often turn to others...

“There is always pain in the room.” This comment from Peter Frost, a compassion scholar, has never rung more true than it does teaching...