Among the findings of the study, the following were reported by participants:

1. 39 percent: Their supervisor failed to keep promises.
2. 37 percent: Their supervisor failed to give credit when due.
3. 31 percent: Their supervisor gave them the “silent treatment” in the past year.
4. 27 percent: Their supervisor made negative comments about them to other employees or managers.
5. 24 percent: Their supervisor invaded their privacy.
6. 23 percent: Their supervisor blames others to cover up mistakes or minimize embarrassment.

So here is today’s Daily HR Tip. Four tips for employees who want to deal more effectively with a toxic boss:

1. Don’t take it personally. It’s difficult to understand how someone can be mean spirited, unprofessional, or even abusive. But if you try to understand your boss’s perspective it may help you cope with the behavior more effectively. And realize it’s not about you—people who are abusive are almost always that way with others, too.
2. Draw a line. When a behavior is clearly inappropriate or abusive, stand up for yourself. At some point, no job is worth being harassed or abused. And you may find standing up does not cost you your job—it has a good chance of ending, or at least reducing, the poor treatment.
3. Don’t sabotage. If you take revenge, you become part of the problem.
4. Be patient and take notes. We’re not suggesting a palace coup to unseat your boss—that strategy can go very wrong—but you may find it useful to have notes at your disposal should the boss shine the spotlight on you.

The growth of TM has been spectacular. In 2001, for instance, just 8 percent of U.S. employees were using it. Now that number is more than 50 percent. This explosive growth is because IM and TM represent fast and inexpensive means for managers to stay in touch with employees and for employees to stay in touch with each other. In an increasing number of cases, this isn’t just a luxury, it’s a business imperative.

Despite their advantages, IM and TM aren’t going to replace e-mail. E-mail is still probably a better device for conveying long messages that must be saved. IM is preferable for one or two line messages that would just clutter up an e-mail inbox.

On the downside, some IM and TM users find the technology intrusive and distracting. Their continual presence can make it hard for employees to concentrate and stay focused. A survey of managers revealed that in 86 percent of meetings, at least some participants checked TM, and another survey revealed 20 percent of managers report having been castigated for using wireless devices during meetings. Finally, because instant messages can be intercepted easily, many organizations are concerned about the security of IM and TM.

So here is today’s Daily HR Tip: Your organization may already have an e-mail policy which covers the do’s and don’ts regarding the use of company e-mails. Consider adding an IM and TM policy too! This should specify acceptable and not acceptable use of these media bearing in mind the need to maintain data security and a permanent record of certain communications.

The proverbial grapevine has three main characteristics:

1. It is not controlled by management
2. Most employees perceive it as more believable and reliable than formal communiqués issued by top management
3. It is largely used to serve the interests of the people within it

Is the information that flows along the grapevine accurate? About 75 percent of it is. But what conditions foster an active grapevine? What gets the rumor mill rolling? It’s frequently assumed rumors start because they make good gossip. This is rarely the case. Research shows that rumors emerge as a response to situations that are important to employees, when there is ambiguity, and under conditions that arouse anxiety.

The fact that work situations frequently contain these three elements explains why rumors flourish in organizations. The secrecy and competition that typically prevail in large organizations, for example around the appointment of new bosses, the relocation of offices, downsizing decisions, or the realignment of work assignments, encourage and sustain rumors on the grapevine. A rumor will persist either until the wants and expectations creating the uncertainty are fulfilled or the anxiety has been reduced.

So here is today’s Dily HR Tip: If you want to minimize the impact of inaccurate information put out on the rumor mill or grapevine focus on creating clear and open communications on the issues that are causing the highest levels of anxiety within the workforce and that may appear to be ambiguous and complicated. If you don’t communicate the correct message then the vacuum will be filled by inaccurate and misleading information that will only increase anxiety levels in a and create a spiral of uncertainty.

The following list of statements shows how intonations can change the meaning of a message when the speaker puts emphasis on different words. The following statements, spoken in different ways, can mean very different things:

1. Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Means: Not tomorrow night.
2. Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Means: I was going to take someone else.
3. Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Means: Instead of the guy you were going with.
4. Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Means: I’m need a reason why I shouldn’t take you.
5. Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Means: Do you have a problem with me?
6. Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Means: Instead of going on your own.
7. Why don’t I take you to dinner tonight? Means: Instead of lunch tomorrow.

Misunderstandings is a particular problem when writing e-mails. It is easy to miscommunicate your intentions in a short e mail as there is no tone of voice to provide context. Emoticons were introduced to try and solve this problem but they seem to have fallen in to disuse in most cases.

So here is Today’s Daily HR Tip: Don’t send important messages by short e-mail. At the very least write a well thought through message and put it in an attachment that has been tested for comprehension. Ask another person to read it to check for comprehension. Of course, the best method of communication has been with us for thousands of years, is free, and should be used more frequently: in person, face-to-face communication.

Teamwork takes more time and often more resources than individual work. Teams have increased communication demands, conflicts to manage, and meetings to run. So the benefits of using teams have to exceed the costs, and that’s not always the case.

How do you know whether the work of your group would be better done in teams? You can apply three tests to see whether a team fits your situation.

1. Ask yourself can the work be done better by more than one person? A good indicator is the complexity of the work and the need for different perspectives. Simple tasks that don’t require diverse input are probably better left to individuals.
2. Ask yourself does the work create a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more than the aggregate of individual goals? Many service departments of new-vehicle dealers have introduced teams that link customer-service people, mechanics, parts specialists, and sales representatives. Such teams can better manage collective responsibility for ensuring customer needs are properly met.
3. Determine whether the members of the group are interdependent. Using teams makes sense when there is interdependence between tasks—the success of the whole depends on the success of each one, and the success of each one depends on the success of the others. Soccer, for instance, is an obvious team sport. Success requires a great deal of coordination between interdependent players. Conversely, except possibly for relays, swim teams are not really teams. They’re groups of individuals performing individually, whose total performance is merely the aggregate summation of their individual performances.

So here is today’s Daily HR Tip: Before you rush to implement teams, carefully assess whether the work requires or will benefit from a collective effort.

1. The candidates can undergo training to make them into team players. If this isn’t possible or doesn’t work, the other two options are
2. To transfer them to another unit that does not have teams (if possible)
3. Not to hire them

In established organizations that decide to redesign jobs around teams, some employees will resist being team players and may be untrainable. Unfortunately, they typically become casualties of the team approach. Creating teams often means resisting the urge to hire the best technical talent no matter what and hiring for technical and team skills instead.

So here is today’s Daily HR Tip: When hiring team members, be sure candidates can fulfill their team roles as well as technical requirements.

Research on teams over thirty years has identified nine potential team roles. Successful work teams select people to play all these roles based on their skills and preferences—and on many teams, individuals will play multiple roles.

The nine team roles are:

1. Adviser – encourages the search for more information
2. Creator – initiates creative ideas
3. Promoter – champions ideas after they have been initiated
4. Assessor – offers insightful analysis of options
5. Organizer – provides structure
6. Producer – provides direction and follow through
7. Controller – examines details and enforces rules
8. Maintainer – fights external battles
9. Linker – coordinates and integrates the work of the other roles

So here is today’s daily HR Tip: To increase the likelihood the team members will work well together, managers need to understand the individual strengths each person can bring to a team, select members with their strengths in mind, and allocate work assignments that fit with members’ preferred personality, skills, and styles.

When asked which competencies and skills would be most critical they identified the following list:

1. Adaptability 47%
2. Critical Thinking 41%
3. Leadership 37%
4. Work Ethic 37%
5. Teamwork 35%
6. Creativity 31%
7. Writing 26%
8. Ethics 24%
9. Self-direction 24%
10. Speaking 24%
11. Civic Duty 11%
12. Entrepreneurship 10%
13. Foreign Language 8%
14. Math 7%

When asked about how they would train and develop their workforce, 50% of the HR professionals reported that their organizations were relying more heavily on online tutorials and guided programs.

So here is today’s Daily HR Tip: When screening applicants for positions in your organization, are you looking for adaptability, critical thinking skills, leadership potential, and a sound work ethic?. If not, you may be selecting candidates who don’t have the “right stuff” to be successful in the workplace of the future.

For more information on the SHRM survey go to: SHrM

One study compared teams on a wilderness survival exercise that were culturally diverse (composed of people from different countries) and homogeneous (composed of people from the same country). The teams performed equally well, but the diverse groups were less satisfied with their groups, were less cohesive, and had more conflict.

Despite this, there is evidence that, over time, culturally and demographically diverse groups may perform better. One reason is the effect of “surface-level diversity”.

Surface-level diversity are observable characteristics such as national origin, race, and gender which alert people to possible differences in at a deeper level such as attitudes, values, and opinions. The presence of diversity you can see seems to alert a team that there’s likely to be differences of opinion at a deeper level. The awareness of differences among team members can lead to opportunities to solve problems in unique and creative ways.

One study of jury behavior found diverse juries more likely to deliberate longer, share more information, and make fewer factual errors when discussing evidence. Two studies of MBA student groups found surface-level diversity led to greater openness even when there was no deep-level diversity. In such cases, the surface-level diversity of a group may subconsciously cue team members to be more open minded in their views.

So here is today’s Daily HR Tip: Be aware that the impact of diversity on teams can be mixed. It may be difficult to be in a diverse team in the short term, but if team members can weather their differences, then in the long run diversity may help the team’s performance.

The following are some of the symptoms of groupthink:

1. Individuals who hold a position different from that of the dominant majority are under pressure to suppress, withhold, or modify their true feelings and beliefs
2. Team members apply direct pressures on those who express doubts about any of the group’s shared views, or who question the validity of arguments supporting the alternative favored by the majority
3. Team members who have doubts or differing points of view seek to avoid deviating from what appears to be group consensus by keeping silent about misgivings and even minimizing to themselves the importance of their doubts
4. There is an illusion of unanimity. If someone doesn’t speak, it’s assumed he or she is in full accord. In other words, abstention becomes a “yes” vote

So here is today’s Daily HR Tip: If you are a team member, and particularly if you are a team leader, look out for the symptoms of groupthink. Take the lead in making it safe to have a diversity of opinions and establish a safe environment in which it is ok to hold open discussions about issues at team meetings. Taking this approach the team will be much more likely to make the right choices and avoid falling into the groupthink trap.