Confidence, Class, Bears and Basketball

A collection from the editors of Ideas to Action

LEADERSHIP STYLE: A CASE IN POINT ON KOBE BRYANT AND TIM DUNCAN

Kobe

A study in basketball, team culture, effectiveness and star power: Leading their teams to victory, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan had vastly different styles, both on the court and off. Here’s what we can learn from these all-star athletes and what sports have to do with organizational behavior.

WHY HIGH-CLASS PEOPLE CAN SOMETIMES GET AWAY WITH INCOMPETENCE

Cycles of inequality: People of higher social class tend to be overconfident, which others interpret as a sign of superior ability — though in reality, their performance shows no such evidence. What does this mean for business? How to stop it? A Darden professor's research examines the problem.

HOW TO GROW INCOMES, PRESERVE LAND AND SAVE THE ANDEAN BEAR

bear

Environmental conservation and economic development can both be sustainable — and are not mutually exclusive. The Andean bear is a symbol of the potential for multiple wins in Colombia, where Conservamos la Vida serves as an example of a public-private partnership improving the world.

QUICK FIXES: SPEEDIER SERVICE IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS

You don’t shop around for help when you have a broken arm. You also don’t want to wait two hours to get it fixed. Research on the economics of service systems shows how emergency departments can become more efficient, reducing wait times for patients and costs for hospitals.

THE 4 A's OF STRATEGIC EXECUTION: ALIGNMENT AND ABILITY

Alignment

Drawn from the newly released book Strategic Execution: Driving Breakthrough Performance in Business, the 4A model provides insights on strategy and successful execution. In this installment: Don’t get sidetracked, and don’t forget about human capital — with examples from McDonald’s and Microsoft.

About the Expert

Alan R. Beckenstein

Robert D. Landel Distinguished Professor of Business Administration; Area Coordinator, Global Economies and Markets

Beckenstein is an authority on the impact of public policy and global events on companies and industries. He has worked in the areas of competition policy — antitrust, regulation and deregulation — as it affects company decision-making, as well as similar issues in environmental policy, and global economic and financial shocks. Beckenstein has been engaged in teaching and research on both the U.S. economy and other regions globally. He has worked extensively in Asia-Pacific economies and has served as a consultant to government agencies and international corporations.

Beckenstein has been engaged in research and teaching in New Zealand for two decades. He has led a two-week executive development course there and has written numerous case studies on business and government organizations in New Zealand.

A 30-year veteran of Darden’s senior executive program (TEP), Beckenstein has taught executives globally for four decades.

A.B., Lafayette College; M.A., Ph.D., University of Michigan

Professor Beckenstein teaches in the Executive Education program The Executive Program: Strategic Leadership at the Top.

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About the Expert

Peter Belmi

Scott C. Beardsley Associate Professor of Business Administration

Belmi seeks to understand why rich people are rich, why poor people are poor, and why social disparities between the rich and the poor persist over time. To answer these questions, he examines the social psychological forces that contribute to the reproduction of hierarchies and social inequality. In one line of research, he examines the subtle and insidious ways in which mainstream institutions block disadvantaged group members from getting to the top. In another line of research, he investigates how organizations and critical gateways create motivational barriers that discourage disadvantaged group members from pursuing their goals.

Belmi’s research has been published in top-tier journals, including Journal of Applied Psychology, Academy of Management Discoveries, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, as well as featured in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune, The Huffington Post and Financial Times.

B.A., Ateneo de Manila University; M.S., San Francisco State University; Ph.D., Stanford Graduate School of Business

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About the Expert

Sean Martin

Donald and Lauren Morel Associate Professor of Business Administration

An expert in leadership, social class and ethics, Martin’s research addresses how organizational and societal contexts impart values and beliefs onto leaders and followers, and how those values influence their behaviors and experiences. His work has been featured in top academic journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Business Ethics and Organizational Psychology Review, as well as mainstream media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., Harvard Business Review and Comedy Central.

Prior to joining the Darden faculty, Martin taught at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.

B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara; MBA, California Polytechnic State University; Ph.D., Cornell University Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management

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About the Expert

Scott A. Snell

Frank M. Sands Sr. Professor of Business Administration

Snell is an expert in strategic human resource management — helping organizations compete better through people. He specializes in talent management, human capital strategy and organizational capability.

His research focuses on the mechanisms by which organizations generate, transfer and integrate new knowledge for competitive advantage. He is co-author of four books: Managing People and Knowledge in Professional Service Firms; Management: Leading and Collaborating in a Competitive World; M: Management; and Managing Human Resources.

Snell has worked with companies including AstraZeneca, Deutsche Telekom, Shell and United Technologies to help employees maximize their talents in order to drive firm performance. He recently co-authored “Intellectual Capital Configurations and Organizational Capability: An Empirical Examination of Human Resource Subunits in the Multinational Enterprise,” published in the Journal of International Business Studies.

B.A., Miami University; MBA, Ph.D., Michigan State University

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