Public lecture on complex workplace interactions

MEDIA RELEASE

12 April 2013
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Public lecture places complex workplace interactions in the spotlight

Would you behave more ethically in the workplace if your boss was watching you closely?

It’s one of the questions being posed by Professor Nick Lee, Professor of Marketing and Organisational Research at the UK’s Aston Business School and a 2013 Victoria Business School International Visiting Scholar. Professor Lee will be speaking at Rutherford House, Bunny Street, Wellington on Monday 15 April at 6pm.

Focusing on the environment where we spend most of our waking hours—the workplace—Professor Lee’s research looks at the social psychology of work and how actions which may seem like the ‘right’ thing to do can actually lead to unintended negative effects.

“We observed sales teams in the UK and Europe, and particularly the nature of the sales function as a link between the firm and its customers, to see how staff behaved when they felt they were closely supervised—for example if the manager spent lots of time with them observing sales calls. In such circumstances, employees tended to behave better,” says Professor Lee.

However, throw a conflict into the mix—ie. responsibility for the company versus responsibility to the customer—and the results skewed towards the unethical.

“When closely monitored, employees were conflicted between making money for the company and providing good customer service. They tended to behave unethically, putting their organisation’s needs ahead of the customer.”

Uncovering such counter-intuitive outcomes requires an approach that goes beyond the notion of “common sense—of what we think should or shouldn’t work in the workplace,” says Professor Lee.

“Different drivers of behaviour require different managerial remedies. For example, our research found that a more caring manager resulted in higher job satisfaction from employees, whereas a more aggressive manager produced lower commitment from employees and greater emotional strain. But at the same time, we found employees actually valued a certain amount of aggression from their managers, because it helped clarify the appropriate standards of behaviour and role responsibilities.”

Born in Cardiff, Professor Lee graduated with BCA in 1996 and a BCA (Hons) in 1997 from Victoria University. He completed his PhD at Aston University in Birmingham in 1999, where he is currently based.

International Scholar Lecture: The Good News Is, You’re Fired…
When: Monday 15 April 2013, 6pm
Venue: Victoria Business School, Rutherford House, Lecture Theatre 2, Bunny Street, Wellington

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