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REDUNDANCY--DOES IT ACTUALLY INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY???

The May 2001 issue of The Harvard Business Review has an excellent article called, "Effective Managers Say The Same Thing Twice (or More)

http://hbr.org/2011/05/defend-your-research-effective-managers-say-the-same-thing-twice-or-more/ar/1

Research by Tsedal Neeley and Paul Leonardi of Harvard Business School and Northwestern University respectively showed that by shadowing '13 managers in six companies for more than 250 hours....that one of every seven communications by these managers was completely redundant with a previous communication using a different technology.  They also saw that the managers who were deliberately redundant moved their projects forward faster and more smoothly.' 

What was also profoundly interesting was that those managers without power planned their redundant communications whereas those with power rarely planned their redundant communications.  Also those without power ensured that there was very little time between the first communication and the second communication.  The reason for this is seems is seemed was that managers with power got as much done, but it took them longer and they spent more time on damage control or in crisis mode because they assumed their requests were being fulfilled before realizing they need to follow-up.  The reason being was that they were in a position of power and believed because of that people would automatically do as they requested.   One very interesting quote was that "managers with power assume their authority motivates others."    

This very difference was also noted in the context of the message, the researchers also noted.  They noted that managers without authority did not use directive messages as much as those in power did.  Those without power use the tone of persuasion more often.

The net result of this research was that this redundancy saw that managers who were deliberately redundant moved their projects forward faster and more smoothly.

So it would seem that being redundant can actually increase productivity.  Fascinating!!!!!

Bob

Comments

  1. Very useful. Volunteer coordinators understand managing without power. Wives, too! :)
    I confess I prefer the expression "deliberately redundant communication" to "nag, nag, nag"!

    ReplyDelete

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