A recent research study from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, revealed that a "surprising number of us withhold information from our co-workers, and few of us are as helpful as we pretend to be." Catherine Connelly and her co-researchers surveyed 1,200 workers on how they have been treated, and how they have treated their colleagues' requests for help or information. They presented the results of their study at a recent Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology conference.

Connelly and company found that many respondents often pretended that they didn't know anything about the topic their co-workers had requested help with, or gave the appearance of being helpful when they were actually stonewalling. Among the motives for this behavior, as identified by the study, were: the belief  that the inquiring co-workers had never done anything to help the respondents; that belief that the respondents had been burned in the past by co-workers who had taken credit for their work; or that the respondents did not have time to help co-workers.

Interestingly, Connelly's research also concluded that employees who were interested in advancing within their companies were less likely to engage in this sort of behavior, as it was perceived to be an impediment to their advancement prospects.

Something to think about the next time a co-worker asks you for help.

Other Bytes

Here are some of the things going on in and around the engineering community:

• Some cities and regions are more entrepreneurial than others. In "Boom Towns," (Inc. Magazine, 28(5), pp. 97-105, 2006, www.inc.com), Joel Kotkin reports on the fastest-growing states (Nevada tops the list) in the nation, and the hottest small (Yuma, Arizona), midsize (Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida), and large (Las Vegas, Nevada) cities. One of the most important trends emerging from this year's survey was the rise of small communities that have not previously been registered as business centers. A short description, including ranking and job growth, are provided for all reported cities. A link [www.inc.com/keyword/citylist] is provided for readers listing all 393 metro areas and their rankings.

• BusinessWeek recently released its annual ranking of "The World's Most Innovative Companies" (BusinessWeek, #3981, pp. 63-74, 24 April 2006, www.businessweek.com). In conjunction with The Boston Consulting Group, the 25 most innovative companies were determined and ranked. Topping the list again this year was Apple, followed by Google, 3M and Toyota. Information goes well beyond the ranking with a good discussion of innovation in organizations.

• The interface between work and family lives is an important issue with the increasing number of dual-earner partners, single parents, and a shift in employee values. In "When Work and Family are Allies: A Theory of Work-Family Enrichment" (Academy of Management Review, 31(1), pp. 72-92, 2006, www.aom.pace.edu/amr), Jeffrey Greenhaus and Gary Powell propose a model of work-family enrichment. Work-family enrichment is the extent to which experiences in one role improve the quality of life in the other role. Greenhaus and Powell provide an excellent summary of prior research on the topic and offer a series of research propositions that reflect two paths to work-family enrichment, an instrumental path and an affective path. Implications of their model for future research are examined.

• Two notable articles from the McKinsey & Company (www.mckinsey.com). "An Executive Take on the Top Business Trends: A McKinsey Global Survey" (The McKinsey Quarterly) describes how executives report an accelerating pace of change in an increasingly competitive business world that is driven by knowledge and information and the forces of globalization — a good discussion and statistical overview. In "Helping Retirees Pay for Health Care" (The McKinsey Quarterly), Lynn Bleil, Gregory Lewis and Shubham Singhai provide an excellent discussion of this issue. Since 1926, McKinsey & Company has helped business leaders address their greatest challenges. Many interesting articles can be found on their Web site.

• In "So You Want to Get Into "the Business" (CIO, 19(12), pp. 40-41, 2006, www.cio.com), Martha Heller provides you with some practical advice, should you wish to transition out of the CIO role into other roles, such as operations or marketing in the organization. Four strategies are described concisely.

• How do you spot a bad leader in your organization? In "Toxic" (CIO, 19(13), pp. 34-41, 2006, www.cio.com), Patricia Wallington provides you with some signs of a current or emerging bad leader in an organization. Wallington describes how to protect yourself and your team from such a leader, and how you might be able to modify their behavior turning them onto a different path.

• Managing and protecting a company's reputation is a shared responsibility among employees, management and, as discussed in "Reputation Risk: It is the Board's Ultimate Responsibility," Journal of Business Strategy, 27(2) pp. 59-68, 2006, www.journalofbusinessstrategy.com/articles), the corporation's board of directors. Grahame Dowling explores the issue of how a corporation's reputation management should start with corporate governance. Dowling lists situations where boards may put their company's reputation at risk, and offers suggestions for what boards can do better to manage reputation risk to protect their corporate and personal reputations.

 

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