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Daily Archives: May 9, 2019

The Neuroscience of Trust

Harvard Business Review – Paul J. Zack: “Companies are twisting themselves into knots to empower and challenge their employees. They’re anxious about the sad state of engagement, and rightly so, given the value they’re losing. Consider Gallup’s meta-analysis of decades’ worth of data: It shows that high engagement—defined largely as having a strong connection with one’s work and colleagues, feeling like a real contributor, and enjoying ample chances to learn—consistently leads to positive outcomes for both individuals and organizations. The rewards include higher productivity, better-quality products, and increased profitability.

So it’s clear that creating an employee-centric culture can be good for business. But how do you do that effectively? Culture is typically designed in an ad hoc way around random perks like gourmet meals or “karaoke Fridays,” often in thrall to some psychological fad. And despite the evidence that you can’t buy higher job satisfaction, organizations still use golden handcuffs to keep good employees in place. While such efforts might boost workplace happiness in the short term, they fail to have any lasting effect on talent retention or performance.

In my research I’ve found that building a culture of trust is what makes a meaningful difference. Employees in high-trust organizations are more productive, have more energy at work, collaborate better with their colleagues, and stay with their employers longer than people working at low-trust companies. They also suffer less chronic stress and are happier with their lives, and these factors fuel stronger performance…”

When Online Survey Respondents Only ‘Select Some That Apply’

Forced-choice questions yield more accurate data than select-all-that-apply lists: “Anyone who has taken a survey has likely been given the option to “check all that apply” when answering a question. The instruction is widely used in data collection because of its ease and efficiency. But when designing an online survey questionnaire, there is more than… Continue Reading

Citation Stickiness

Bennardo, Kevin and Chew, Alexa, Citation Stickiness (April 19, 2019). 20 Journal of Appellate Practice & Process, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3375050 [h/t Joe Hodnicki and Scott Fruehwald] “This Article is an empirical study of what we call citation stickiness. A citation is sticky if it appears in one of the parties’ briefs and then… Continue Reading

Some assembly required: building an interdisciplinary superteam to tackle AI ethics

Harvard Business School Digital Initiative – “What do a communications studies professor, a politics PhD, a technology policy advisor, and a machine learning engineer have in common? They share deep expertise in the ethics and governance of artificial intelligence — and they’re members of the 2019 Assembly program. Hosted by the Berkman Klein Center for… Continue Reading

Consumer groups accuse Amazon of illegally collecting data on children

Washington Post – Amazon Echo Dot Kids accused of illegally collecting data on children – “A coalition of 19 consumer and privacy groups plans to file a complaint Thursday alleging that Amazon’s Echo Dot Kids Edition is illegally collecting voice recordings and other identifying information on users under 13 and that the system’s parental controls are… Continue Reading

This Bird Went Extinct and Then Evolved Into Existence Again

Motherboard – “We know of no other example in rails, or of birds in general, that demonstrates this phenomenon so evidently.” “…According to a study published Wednesday in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, the rail is an example of a rarely observed phenomenon called iterative evolution, in which the same ancestral lineage produces… Continue Reading

CRS – Impeachment and Removal

CRS report – Impeachment and Removal, Jared P. Cole, Legislative Attorney; Todd Garvey, Legislative Attorney. October 29, 2015. “The impeachment process provides a mechanism for removal of the President, Vice President, and other “civil Officers of the United States” found to have engaged in “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” The Constitution places… Continue Reading

Library Systems Report 2019 Cycles of innovation

American Libraries –  Marshall Breeding: “The library technology industry, broadly speaking, shows more affinity toward utility than innovation. Library automation systems are not necessarily exciting technologies, but they are workhorse applications that must support the complex tasks of acquiring, describing, and providing access to materials and services. They represent substantial investments, and their effectiveness is… Continue Reading