August 11, 2020

By Luke Capizzo, James Madison University

Everyone gets nervous before having difficult conversations—particularly when you know the other participant will not like the information you’re about to share, the opinion you need to present or the advice you’ve been asked to provide. And yet, most of us have also learned two hard-won truths from such experiences:

1) It’s better to be upfront in sharing such information.

2) We learn best how to handle such situations not… More

August 3, 2020

By Lisa Tam, Queensland University of Technology; Soojin Kim, University of Technology Sydney; and Helen Hutchings, Phillips Group

In February 2020, Paul, a dog owner in Lane Cove, a suburb in Australia, found that the Lane Cove Council was planning to remove the fixed gates from Kingsford Smith Oval and install chicane gates. This change implied that dog owners could not use the park as an enclosed park anymore and that they needed to look for alternative enclosed… More

July 24, 2020

By Yeunjae Lee, Queenie Li, and Sunny Tsai, University of Miami

Despite the ongoing advocacy to increase diversity and foster inclusive work environments and corporate cultures around the world, discrimination in the workplace remains pervasive, specifically, gender-related mistreatment.

In the United States, four out of 10 working women have encountered discrimination at work due to their gender, ranging from making less money than male colleagues for doing the same work to being passed over for promotions. Extensive… More

July 21, 2020

By Ioana A. Coman, Texas Tech University, and Rosalynn Vasquez, Boston University

On Sept. 19, 2019, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced the company’s first corporate pledge to fight climate change. However, for many employees, including those representing the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, this was not enough. Nearly 3,000 Amazon employees walked out of Amazon’s headquarters the next day in support of the Global Climate Strike, and as a sign of protest for the company’s lack of “proactive”… More

July 13, 2020

By Diana Sisson, Auburn University; Debra Worthington, Auburn University; Graham Bodie, The University of Mississippi

When individuals fail to listen, misunderstanding occurs, frustration ensues, and relationships can end, but when organizations fail to listen, the consequences are often more sweeping. Organizational listening failures have contributed to catastrophes such as the Challenger explosion as well as more minor events that ultimately result in a hit to an organization’s bottom line.

Organizations, like people, make choices about whether or… More

July 7, 2020

By Sarah Maben and Chris Gearhart, Tarleton State University

While enjoying a juicy hamburger you think, I should grab a pic and post on Instagram. For giggles, you tag the company.

Flying to your favorite conference, your bags have disappeared AGAIN. You post an angry tweet at the airline’s corporate Twitter account.

Something is just not right with the patio scene you’ve constructed based on a sample from your favorite home improvement store. You post your… More