January 2009

Problems in the Workplace? Stay Silent or Speak Up?

When there is a problem in the workplace, employees have two options: remain silent or speak up. Unfortunately, many employees choose to remain silent, to the great detriment of the organizations for which they work. Their silence keeps management from receiving critical information that would allow their organizations to improve or address problems before they have adverse effects. Reducing employee silence, then, is a key concern for managers. Subrahmaniam Tangirala, assistant professor of management and organization at the Smith School, examined how the effects of individual-level variables such as professional pride, loyalty to the organization and individual perceptions of organizational fairness and supervisor status affected employee silence.

ARTICLE PODCAST

Consumers often feel like they are in control of the purchasing process. But in fact there are many ways in which consumer behavior is influenced without the consumer's knowledge and outside their control. Mimicry-that human tendency to mirror the behavior of others around us-has some significant effects on consumer choice and preference. How this happens is the subject of a new study by Rosellina Ferraro, assistant professor of marketing at Smith.

New Revenue Management Model Uses Minimal Demand Information

Airlines want to sell their seats to the right customers at the right time for the right price. The more fare classes or products they have, the more difficult it is to optimize the revenue for each product. That is, airlines have turned to complex mathematical models for revenue management. Hotels, cruise lines and car rental companies all useo forecast demand for their product into the future. Unfortunately, forecasting is notoriously difficult and demand estimates are inaccurate. Side-stepping the problem of demand forecasting can provide a robust solution to these difficulties, according to research at Smith by Michael Ball, Orkand Corporation Professor of Management Science, and Itir Karaesmen, assistant professor of management science, with doctoral students Yingjie Lan and Huina Gao, who have developed models that use minimal demand information for revenue management.

ARTICLE PODCAST

Smith Video Views

Faculty Perspective: Regulation, Deregulation and the Market Meltdown

At the Smith School's Town Hall meeting last month, Haluk 躰al, professor of finance, presented a thoughtful analysis of the current financial crisis-and came to some conclusions that might surprise you. It is clear that an unprecedented re-imagining of the nation's entire financial system is thrashing its way to a painful birth, and nobody quite knows what comes next. But to anticipate what comes next, you have to understand how we got here. Or, as 躰al puts it: "Why are we in this mess, and what needs to be done next??

AUDIO/VIDEO PODCAST

Prevention Is the Best Cure -- China Tainted Milk Fallout

How do executives ensure food and product safety with manufacturing and operations that are globally distributed? Outsourcing oversight of third-party distributors is among the solutions Smith School Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Strategy and Organization Anil Gupta proposes to solving the issues recently brought to light with China's tainted milk scandal.

AUDIO/VIDEO PODCAST

Other resources from the Robert H. Smith School of Business