Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/406930
57 BizEd November/ December 2014 due not to wars, leadership, or a change in environ- ment," he says. "While those things play a role, I'm arguing that the rise of a civilization is primarily due to the adoption of formative innovation." For instance, while today's least-developed societies, such as Cuba and North Korea, are overseen by totali- tarian governments, Tellis argues that it's not totalitari- anism that holds them back. It's their leaders' fear of innovation. Societies that flourish do so because they embrace radical innovations, from the printing press to mass manufacturing to mobile technologies. Like most organizations, business schools face the rise of new competitors and nontraditional models in their market. In response, says Tellis, business schools can succumb to the incumbent's curse, or they can reward relentless innovation while embracing, and even encouraging, failure. From MOOCs to competency-based programs, new models do threaten traditional business education. But these are threats that are pushing all education providers into the next phase of education. "I don't think busi- ness schools or faculty need to be afraid of innovation. They need to be afraid of the lack of innovation," Tellis emphasizes. "Just like business leaders, faculty need to focus on the future. They need to be willing to cannibal- ize their successes and take risks. It's tough medicine, but it's medicine we all have to take." EMPLOYEES ARE often a manager's first line of defense when it comes to identifying and addressing problems on the spot. But what if employees don't speak up when they see something wrong? Too often, that leaves the entire company's performance at a disadvantage, accord- ing to a recent study from Elizabeth Morrison and Kelly See of New York University's Stern School of Business and Caitlin Pan of SIM University in Singapore. The three researchers conducted a lab experiment, a survey of healthcare workers, and a survey of employ- ees working in a range of industries. They found that the more employees feel powerless to influence others, the more likely they are to stay silent. Of course, their silence can lead to small problems mag- nifying over time. The authors empha- size that supervisors can take steps to cre- ate an environment where employees feel their initiative will pay off. For instance, they can foster work envi- ronments that show that they are open to input and direct com- munication from their staff. That, in turn, will make it more likely that employees will approach them when problems first arise. When employees remain silent even in the face of serious problems, the consequences can be disastrous, the authors write. They point to examples that range from the financial collapse of Enron and the crash of the Space Shuttle Columbia to the child sex abuse scandal at Penn State and the ignition switch failure at GM. The authors hope their study will help supervisors "under- stand why this occurs and how this tendency to with- hold important information can be mitigated." "An Approach-Inhibition Model of Employee Silence: The Joint Effects of Personal Sense of Power and Target Openness" is forthcoming in Personal Psychology. When Silence Isn't Golden