Category: Management Theory
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Basking In Reflected Glory
My final World Cup-related post illustrates a psychological phenomenon. People like to proclaim their allegiance to groups. They are basking in reflected glory. Who Are Your Team? Interestingly, the groups we choose to associate with change depending upon how the groups perform. This is because people associate with achievements that are not their own but that…
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Six Decision-Making Lessons From The World Cup
Departing from my usual structure of analyzing a single topic I thought I’d illustrate decision making lessons with examples from the World Cup. (This post on the 6 decision-making lessons from the world cup was written in 2014). Three Decision-Making Lessons From The World Cup Firstly, regression to the mean is commonly not recognized. Spain had a very…
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Penalty Kicks and Mixed Strategy
As we move into the knockout stages of the World Cup [written in 2014] the specter of penalty kicks raises its ugly head. Penalty kicks are awarded as punishments during the game. They are also used to break ties at the end of the game. Penalty kicks are especially interesting for researchers. They represent an excellent chance…
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Hot Hands, Runs of Form and Perceptions of Randomness
World Cup [2014] post 2. It is hard to watch sport without screaming at the commentators: “what are you talking about”. I don’t say this to criticize commentators. Almost anyone forced to speak for 90 minutes straight will say a bunch of things that, to put it charitably, don’t make a lot of sense. Much…
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Who Will Win The World Cup?
With the World Cup about to start [written in 2014] it is an excellent time to consider what statistics can tell us about sport and how people think about probabilities. So who will win the world Cup? Soccernomics Stefan Szymanski has a series of books explaining the economics of sport. His book with Simon Kuper…
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Survey Methodology And The Future Of West Ham United
West Ham United, the English football (soccer) club I support, hasn’t seen much recent success. (Written in 2014, as I revise this in 2021 things are better). The fans, in a fine example of optimism bias, expect the team to win while playing with a certain élan. In 2011, after a disastrous few years, Sam Allardyce was…
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People, Buses, And Another Complaint About Jim Collins
Jim Collins’ books are well written but often readers, and probably Collins himself, may think Collins’ books contain “scientifically proven” advice. At best, Collin’s work should only suggest approaches. What is the complaint about Jim Collins? A Complaint About Jim Collins Many scholars criticize Collins’ methodology. I sympathize with many of the critics. Here, however,…
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Managerial Advice From The Trolls In Frozen
I recently read the following: “People often regret not getting rid of problem staff soon enough”. This struck me as emblematic of everything wrong with business advice. It was glib, unsupported by evidence, and designed to resonate with our biases. Better to take managerial advice from the trolls in Frozen. Regret Sure some managers will…
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Bold And Full Of Hope
Business academics sometimes aren’t very bold. Too often we concentrate on achieving something doable rather than trying something that is a stretch. I always think that if no one thinks you’ll fail there isn’t much point in what you are doing. So I appreciate it when plans are bold and full of hope. Even if…
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Defining Concepts
When examining any phenomenon you must properly define what you are examining. A good example of the problems that arise when not defining concepts is “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg. Great Stories Firstly, let me say that I enjoyed the book. The author packed it with fascinating stories. The book is well written.…
