In a global survey of analysts, professional service firm Deloitte has found that market perceptions of leaders can move share prices. Deloitte’s new report, “The Leadership Premium” surveyed analysts from around the world including the United Kingdom, the United States, China, India, Japan, and Brazil.  It found that leadership qualities from core abilities to personality had an impact on how analysts viewed a firm’s ability to meet market expectations. According to the report, the analysts who said the quality of leadership affected their valuations awarded, on average, a premium of 15.7% for particularly effective leadership. In contrast, an average 19.8% discount is applied where there is ineffective leadership. Read the report from Deloitte here.

Teenagers’ mental health does best when they are earning similar incomes to their peers, according to a recent study. Research by the University of Southern California which collected data from 12,449 teen-parent pairs living in China found that those who thought they earned less than their peers experienced more stress or depression, but that the effect plateaued at parity and did not result in higher happiness with a higher income. The effects of income also correlated with health issues such as smoking. For HR practitioners, this research may suggest that consistency in pay scales is beneficial for junior or after-school staff. Source

Imagining an encounter with a warm, competent person of a stereotyped out-group can help to reduce hostility, according to research published in academic journal “Group Processes & Intergroup Relations” this month. The study found that the exercise improved perceptions of the out-group. This may be a useful exercise for preparing workers to deal with members of the diverse workforce and client bases. Read the abstract of the original journal article here.

With so much information around these days, it’s no longer enough to just pump out information and expect people to absorb it, according to Professor Kallol Das of the Mudra Institute of Communications. Instead of traditional learning formats such as talks and lectures, Professor Das suggests more active learning experiences such as photo essays, which encourage people to become active participants in their own education. Source

The more a business encourages people to look after themselves first, the greater the risk that managers and executives will massage the books, according to Dutch and Australian researchers. An anonymous survey of 550 Dutch managers found that businesses that encourage ‘me first’ thinking (such as through individual performance incentives) encouraged managers to hide problems by shifting budget lines and deferring payments. Read more here

Tailoring your messages to your audience is common sense, and examples are always helpful to show why this is so. Research published in Psychological Science used five different advertisements and surveyed 324 people on which advertisement they found most persuasive. The research found that the preferred advertisement cohered to respondents’ own personality and motives.

Source: http://ow.ly/cWUWP

It has been nearly twenty years since Phillip Cousins and Diane Downs set out to quantify and define what we mean by ‘organisation’ and their model, the Spheres of Influence model (or SOFI for short) is the result of that. The model of eleven spheres lay down what are necessary for a sustainable organisation.

Read the article here - http://ow.ly/cWUOE

A new paper in Organizational Psychology Review discusses the Ambidextrous Interpersonal Motives model of organisational culture and how it can be understood through a framework of motives such as cooperation, competition and autonomy. It discusses how culture is affected through its forms, consequences and subcultures.

Source: http://ow.ly/cWViy

The Regus Work-Life Balance Index, a 16000-person survey of work, has found that people are becoming better at balancing their work and life needs. In 2012, over 60 per cent of respondents felt that their work-life balance has improved. Interestingly, it is emerging economies such as Brazil, China, India and Mexico that are highest on the list of top-improvers, suggesting that contrary to ideas that work-life balance is counter to improving economic prosperity.

Source: http://ow.ly/cWV8d

When employers want someone ambitious, they might want to look at more fundamental traits such as personality, according to an article at BPS Occupational Digest. Ambition itself is not a single trait but rather an overarching orientation that can be demonstrated through other behaviours and outcomes. For human resources, this suggests assessing ambition through outcomes rather than merely advertising for an “ambitious” worker.

Link: http://ow.ly/cWUwQ

Internships and other work experience placements are popular with many disciplines, including psychology. An article on PsychCentral explores internships and lays out eight simple tips to help interns to get the most out of their experience.

 Link: http://ow.ly/cWUnc