In large organisations, cliques at all levels are excluding people regardless of their talent, which is highly regarded in such business environments, says Professor Isabel Metz.

"The problem of cliques arises when those groups become powerful, too cohesive and exclude others," she says.

"When this occurs, members in these groups tend to over value their own characteristics and almost unconsciously sometimes devalue the characteristics of members in the outside group."

Professor Metz spoke with Yasmin Rupesinghe on the latest episode of the Melbourne Business School Podcast about her research into what she calls the "dark side" of human capital, which creates multi-faceted challenges for everyone involved, including a lack of diversity and opening the door to negative emotions entering professional relationships.

Isabel Metz is a Professor of Organisational Behaviour whose research in human resource management has been published in the Journal of Business Ethics, Human Resource Management, International Journal of Human Resource Management and elsewhere. Visit her faculty profile for more information.

Yasmin is a Program Manager on our Executive MBA and Senior Executive MBA programs, and a radio presenter for PBS FM.

To find out more about studying at Melbourne Business School, visit our Degree Programs and Short Courses pages, or learn about how we design Custom Solutions with organisations.

MBS Podcast 

How to stop cliques getting too powerful in the workplace

For a culturally-diverse team to perform exceptionally, leadership needs to be shared among its members, says Associate Professor Carol Gill.

"We're all different in terms of the way we see the world, and culture is one of the lenses in which we see the world differently," she says. 

Professors Carol Gill from Melbourne Business School, Nicole Gillespie from University of Queensland and Bart De Jong from the Australian Catholic University spoke with Yasmin Rupesinghe on the latest episode of the Melbourne Business School Podcast about a new way to foster trust to improve performance in culturally diverse teams. 

"There are two different types of leadership. One is where there's a nominated leader, who can tell people what to do, and the second type of leadership is collective leadership," she says. 

"This is where the individuals step up to leadership or make a leadership intervention in a team and of course it may be multiple interventions that will be made in any single interaction in a team.

"One team member might show the team what direction to go in. Another team member might make an intervention about how the team should proceed. A third team member might talk about social aspects of the team, encouraging others or supporting others.

"We know that there are many different interventions, and the thing is that these interventions will build trust because the conflicts that may occur when things are more chaotic will be addressed by these leadership interventions. 

"So, leadership can play a very big role in increasing trust, either by dyadic interactions where they talk one-on-one with others or where they speak to the team as a whole."

Listen to the full episode above or visit our podcasts page for more.

Carol Gill is an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Melbourne Business School, who has specialised in the fields of executive development, human resource management and organisational development for more than 25 years. 

Nicole Gillespie is the KPMG Chair in Organisational Trust and Professor of Management at the University of Queensland Business School, and an International Research Fellow at the Centre for Corporate Reputation, Oxford University. 

Bart De Jong is an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the Australian Catholic University, whose research focuses on trust in teams and has been published in scholarly journals such as Academy of Management Journal (AMJ), Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP), and Organization Science. 

Yasmin is a Program Manager on our Executive MBA and Senior Executive MBA programs, and a radio presenter for PBS FM.

To find out more about studying at Melbourne Business School, visit mbs.edu

How leaders can build trust within a culturally-diverse team

Hostility toward employees from a manager is called "abusive supervision", and it can include actively lying to subordinates, ridiculing them, not giving them the credit they deserve and being overly controlling.

In her latest research, Deshani Ganegoda, an Associate Professor of Management at Melbourne Business School, looked at the psychological effects abuse has on victimised employees and the role of the senior manager in these situations. She spoke with Yasmin Rupisinghe about her findings in the latest episode of the Melbourne Business School Podcast.

"Subordinates can sometimes justify and normalise bad behaviour of their managers," she said.

"For example, when your whole team gets treated badly, you might think that's just how things are done around here. You don't consider it as an anomaly. In fact, subordinates might even justify abusive supervision as tough love or think that's just 'how my manager motivates people'.

"In contrast, senior managers are above the abusive supervisor. They have the vantage point to see the behaviour of many middle level managers. So, they see the difference between abusive supervisors and non-abusive supervisors."

Associate Professor Ganegoda said that senior managers were not just best-placed to spot abusive supervision, but also to intervene.

"If someone were to stop abusive supervision from happening, it's going to be the supervisor's manager."

Why abusive managers are best spotted by their boss

People usually assume that silence during a negotiation is an intimidation tactic, but new research shows it can actually lead to more collaborative outcomes.

Melbourne Business School Associate Professor of Management Jennifer Overbeck and MIT Sloan Gordon Kaufman Professor of Management Jared Curhan spoke with Yasmin Rupesinghe about their findings on the latest episode of the Melbourne Business School Podcast.

"When you ask people, 'what's your intuition about what happens when someone goes silent in a negotiation', they report that they think the other person is trying to get into my head, they're trying to wear me down, to play mind games with me," says Associate Professor Overbeck.

"So, almost certainly what would happen if somebody went silent in a negotiation is that the other person would get freaked out and give away a lot of the value in that negotiation.

"Instead, we've done at this point quite a few studies, and repeatedly what we have found is that silence seems to provide the negotiator an opportunity to pause and to sort of tamp down the heat of competition in the negotiation, and just take a little bit of mental space that allows the opportunity for collaboration to move to the fore."

Why you shouldn't be afraid of silence during a negotiation

Working remotely during COVID-19 has led to record levels of stress and burnout, but embracing the principles of mindfulness could help. In the latest episode of the Melbourne Business School Podcast, Professorial Fellow Amanda Sinclair explains why stress levels increase when people are working from home, and offers practical advice for professionals and managers on how to embrace the principles of mindfulness.

MBS Podcast

Using mindfulness to fight burnout while working from home

Associate Professor Jen Overbeck and Executive Education Consultant Jan Marshall discuss how power and influence evolves over the course of your career, and strategies that can be employed at each career stage.

Power and influence - when and how you should use it throughout your career

A conversation with Assistant Professor Carol Gill and Executive Education Consultant Jan Marshall.

How to develop mindfulness and authentic leadership

In this masterclass, Dr Vivek Chaudhri, Associate Professor of Strategy and Academic Director of Melbourne Business School's Executive MBA Programs discusses strategy as a portfolio of carefully considered bets and explores how senior managers can play their best hand in an increasingly volatile global landscape.

Strategy: a portfolio of bets

Melbourne Business School Executive Education Associate and Program Director John Trevillyan discusses how companies and senior managers build and implement strategy, drawing on his 21 years of leadership development experience.

The Do's and Don'ts of Strategy

Successfully negotiating for yourself can be difficult, especially for women in the workplace. Many of us facing adversity in negotiation will submit or keel over and lose out on what we truly want. 

Mara Olekalns is the Professor of Management (Negotiations) on our MBA program. Her research focuses on relational resilience and adversity in negotiation for gender, trust violations and ethics. In this podcast, she talks with Jan Marshall about how to negotiate successfully.

How to negotiate for yourself – and close the gender wage gap

Diversity can be a powerful driver of innovation, but managers need to consider more than basic etiquette to get the most out of a team with different backgrounds.

Professor Suder's background is German and French. She has worked in more than 20 countries around the world, both highly-developed and emerging, in senior leadership and academic roles for organisations including the UN, OECD and the European Union.

How to communicate effectively in a multicultural workplace

With the power of data reaching prolific heights, organisations often invest in data analytics without understanding its real value – and data analysts often lack the skills to explain it.

Professor Ujwal Kayande discusses the enormous demand for quantitative marketing, why an organisation’s leadership needs to understand analytics and just how important business skill are to the career of a data analyst.

Why data analysts need business skills to be taken seriously

Lifestyle, finances and time tend to affect the decision to study an MBA, and it leads many of you to ask "Is an MBA worth it?" 

In a Melbourne Business School first, author Aaron Yeak sets out to answer this question by interviewing five alumni on life-changing journeys. First up, Linda Li from PS&C Group.

Is an MBA worth it? Ep 1: Linda Li

Lifestyle, finances and time tend to affect the decision to study an MBA, and it leads many of you to ask "Is an MBA worth it?"

In a Melbourne Business School first, author Aaron Yeak sets out to answer this question by interviewing five alumni on life-changing journeys. Next up, Dean Robinson from KPMG.

Is an MBA worth it? Ep. 3 Dean Robinson

Lifestyle, finances and time tend to affect the decision to study an MBA, and it leads many of you to ask "Is an MBA worth it?"

In a Melbourne Business School first, author Aaron Yeak sets out to answer this question by interviewing five alumni on life-changing journeys. Next up, Linzie Lee from Pharmacy Alliance.

Is an MBA worth it? Ep 4: Linzie Lee

Lifestyle, finances and time tend to affect the decision to study an MBA, and it leads many of you to ask "Is an MBA worth it?"

In a Melbourne Business School first, author Aaron Yeak sets out to answer this question by interviewing five alumni on life-changing journeys. Next up, Aglaia Nikas from Yarra Trams, Melbourne.

Is an MBA worth it? Ep 5: Aglaia Nikas

"Not everything that has worked for you and your team will apply to someone else and another team," says Emma Zhao, an expert on high-performance teamwork. 

It's a good starting point in understanding what makes team's fail and how to make them perform well. In this latest podcast, discover the ins and outs of teamwork and what organisations can do to prevent teams failing.

Emma Zhao completed her PhD in Organisational Behaviour at Melbourne Business School before becoming a Postdoctoral Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University.

How to prevent your team from failing

Dr Isabel Metz is a professor of organisational behaviour who says the focus on individual behaviour to succeed in the workforce is an ineffective way of conducting yourself in business today – and it adds to gender inequality. Discover why and how we can address this in this latest podcast.

Gender equality: How everybody can win

Adjunct Professor Mark Ritson explains what makes or breaks a great marketing campaign at Christmas, and why emotional connections are the key to short-term goals.
Discover more marketing insights at mbs.edu

The greatest Christmas marketing campaigns of all time

In the latest Melbourne Business School podcast, political scientist and futurist Professor Sohail Inayatullah explains how to forecast the future to avert risk to your organisation, through examples from his own client work. 
Visit mbs.edu for more.

Forecasting the future to minimise business risks

What goes into designing the learning for organisations looking to change? And how do you know it works? Find out in our latest podcast. More at mbs.edu

How deep learning is helping organisations thrive

In the latest Melbourne Business School podcast, Professor of Management Mara Olekalns discusses how to properly negotiate by knowing what to reveal or withhold.  Learn more at mbs.edu/news

The art of business negotiation

A discussion with Kurt Lackovic, CEO of Cancer Trials Australia, on his career journey and potential professional opportunities in the Health Sector.

Career Insights: Health Sector Career Pathways

Is the increasing tension between nationalism and globalisation pushing the world toward war? That's the question Professor Martin Daunton addressed while delivering the annual Charles Goode Oration at Melbourne Business School. Learn more at mbs.edu/news

Nationalism versus multilateralism: how does globalisation end?

Power and status are integral to business and society, but not always obvious, causing major misunderstandings, says Associate Professor Jennifer Overbeck.
 
Professor Overbeck speaks on the latest episode of the Melbourne Business School Podcast, joining host Yasmin Rupesinghe to discuss the effect power and status have on people at work, Australia's response to COVID-19 and social movements such as Black Lives Matter.

The effect of power and status at work and in Black Lives Matter

The next seismic crisis is only a matter of time, but smart business leaders can prepare for it, says Professor Glenn Hoetker.

Professor Hoetker is the MBS Foundation Chair of Sustainability and Business and Director of the Centre for Sustainability and Business. In the latest Melbourne Business School Podcast, he speaks with Yasmin Rupesinghe on how businesses are coping with the current COVID-19 crisis and what they can do to better prepare for the next economic disaster down the road.

Why business leaders should be planning for the next COVID-19

When CEOs have a lot to lose from a fall in their company's share price, they may be tempted to make adverse decisions, says Professor of Business Strategy Geoff Martin.

Professor Martin's research focuses on strategic decision-making by CEOs and the effect their decisions can have on organisations and the community. In the latest Melbourne Business School Podcast, he speaks with Yasmin Rupesinghe about his work in the area of product recalls.

Professor Martin teaches Business Strategy, Corporate Strategy and the Social Entrepreneurs units on our MBA programs. Visit his faculty profile for more information.
 
Yasmin is a Program Manager on our Executive MBA and Senior Executive MBA programs, and a radio presenter for PBS FM.
 
Find out more at mbs.edu

The danger of 'option wealth' biasing CEO decision-making

With the dramatic changes to organisational life in recent years, the idea that leaders need to have all the answers is no longer the case, says Amanda Sinclair.

Find out why in this latest episode of the Melbourne Business School podcast.

Why a culture of care is replacing traditional leadership

Ethical purchases are not entirely altruistic, they provide value to the consumer in the form of a self-esteem boost, says Jill Klein, Professor of Marketing at Melbourne Business School. 

"One piece of advice that I would have for consumers is don't feel bad that it makes you feel good to buy an ethical product and that making yourself feel good is one of your motivations," Professor Klein says. 

"If what makes you feel good is helping someone else, that suggests you're an altruistic person and you should be proud of that and if it gives you a boost of self-esteem."

Jill's latest research looks at how products that are marketed with a social benefit can increase the chance of customers buying them because of the self-esteem boost they get from ethical purchases. 

She spoke with Yasmin Rupesinghe in the latest episode of the Melbourne Business School Podcast.

Why choosing ethical products gives us a self-esteem boost

"There are some natural responses to the difficulties of 2020 that perhaps have us thinking about the future as being substantively different to the past, and while that may be true to a degree, there are some things that remain the same," says Vivek Chaudhri. 

"Looking through the pandemic looking glass, we've perhaps magnified certain aspects of what leadership calls on but also distorted to some degree some of the natural tendencies that we've talked about for a long time around leadership. 

"It's important to just situate 2021 in the context of leadership more generally, and I think one of the things that we need to be aware of is, even before this pandemic hit, that organisations and leaders have been challenged by having to deal with a volatile, uncertain and complex and ambiguous world." 

Vivek is an Associate Professor of Strategy and the Academic Director of Executive MBA Programs at Melbourne Business School. He spoke with Yasmin Rupesinghe in the latest episode of the Melbourne Business School Podcast on what leadership will mean moving forward in a post-COVID world.

What business leaders should be doing in 2021

Leaders who display humility can improve their team's confidence and make them feel safe in the workplace, says Melbourne Business School Associate Professor Burak Oc.
 
"Irrespective of whether or not you're a humble person, if you do at least three things in an organisation, people will perceive you as a humble leader," he says.
 
"What are those three things? It's acknowledging that you're only human and you can make mistakes too, recognising other people's strengths and achievements, and basically putting in effort to learn and grow as an individual."
 
Professor Oc was speaking on the latest episode of the Melbourne Business School Podcast, joining host Yasmin Rupesinghe to discuss his research into the benefits of displaying humility as a leader in the workplace.

How displaying humility as a leader can boost team productivity

Welcome to the Melbourne Business School podcast with Yasmin Rupesinghe, where we answer the biggest questions in business today and explore the latest research into leadership, power, strategy, diversity, marketing and more.

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