Workplace Behavior Expert Aubrey Daniels Outlines Overhaul for Fatally Flawed Management Practices Like Layoffs and Bonuses
With executives under fire for driving their companies into the ground – and with them the global economy – a new book says it's time for a managerial paradigm shift that focuses on the root of all booms and busts: individual behavior. In OOPS! 13 Management Practices that Waste Time and Money (and what to do instead), Aubrey Daniels, the world’s leading authority on human behavior in the workplace, reveals why common practices, like annual bonuses and layoffs, ultimately reward bad behavior, punish good behavior, and lead to devastating results, especially in challenging economic times.
Turning conventional wisdom on its head, OOPS! harnesses behavioral science – the same discipline behind behavioral economics, the burgeoning field embraced by the Obama administration and a growing legion of economists – to assess and correct widespread management mistakes, including:
- Downsizing – While layoffs may offer a short-term fix, in the end they fix little. What they do is decrease morale and reduce productivity. It’s better to ask all employees to participate in the process of making the organization efficient and effective.
- Annual bonuses – A year-end lump sum that’s not tied to a specific achievement does nothing to promote loyalty and top-notch performance. Companies need to break the bonus habit.
- Overvaluing smart, talented people – The banking and mortgage crisis revealed that smart, talented people can learn bad behavior quickly. Daniels demonstrates that you already have many smart, talented people and why money and time are better spent developing the people you have rather than trying to entice and buy ‘talent’.
- Automatic pay raises – Don't reward employees for simply showing up; pay raises should be performance-based, not automatic.
"If there’s a silver lining to the economic crisis, it’s that it offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rethink and reform the way we run our organizations, using an approach grounded in science and research rather than dubious habits,” said Daniels, a best-selling author with thirty years of consulting experience. "By using the insights of behavioral science to understand and improve the performance of individuals, we can transform our organizations, and put our economy back on the right track.”
A timely breakthrough, OOPS! 13 Management Practices that Waste Time and Money is a must-read for anyone seeking to create lasting change – from sports coaches to political leaders to corporate CEOs. Aubrey Daniels has set in motion a much-needed sea-change in the way we manage behavior and performance. For Daniels’ analysis and commentary on workplace and management news and trends, please visit his blog at www.aubreydanielsblog.com .
About the Author
Dr. Aubrey C. Daniels has devoted more than 30 years to working with organizations of all types and sizes to apply the science of human behavior in their workplace. Daniels is the author of four best-selling books widely recognized as international management classics: Bringing out the Best in People, Performance Management, Other People’s Habits, and Measure of a Leader (with James E. Daniels). A passionate thought leader and an internationally recognized expert on management, leadership, and workplace issues, Daniels has been featured in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fortune, CNN, and CNBC. Daniels is a member of the Board of Trustees of both Furman University and the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He is an Associate of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, an adjunct faculty member of the College of Health Professions at the University of Florida, and a visiting professor at Florida State University. His numerous awards include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Organizational Behavior Management Network and the Outstanding Service Award from the International Association for Behavior Analysis, which also named him a 2005 Fellow. Daniels received his doctorate from the University of Florida, where he also earned his masters degree and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology from Furman University. Daniels has been honored by both Furman University and the College of Health Professions at the University of Florida as Alumnus of the Year.
About ADI
Founded in 1978, and headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Aubrey Daniels International (ADI) works with such diverse clients as Aflac, Duke Energy, Lafarge, Malt-O-Meal, M&T Bank, Medco, NASA, Roche Labs, Sears, and Tecnatom to systematically accelerate discretionary effort—where people consistently choose to do more than the minimum required. Whether at an individual, departmental or organizational level, ADI provides the tools and methodologies to help move people towards positive, results-driven accomplishments.
