Category Archives: Management

The limits of transactional thinking

Posted on May 10, 2024 by koenfucius

Featured image: mh.xbhd.org/Flickr CC BY 2.0 Customers who treat their relationships with their suppliers of the goods and services as limited to the individual transaction may overlook something that is of much more value than they realize Markets are instrumental … Continue reading →

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The asymmetry of importance

Posted on February 9, 2024 by koenfucius

(featured image: <Bus stop.jpg> made with Dall-E). We tend to assume that in interactions with others, their view of the importance of the interaction matches ours. That assumption may be wrong, and can be problematic “No man is an island, … Continue reading →

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The ethics of voluntary economic transactions

Posted on September 1, 2023 by koenfucius

<featured image: Ron Lach/Pexels> Can voluntary transactions raise ethical questions? Yes, they can! It has just gone midnight and you are walking home from the station, down a dark and deserted street. Suddenly, a figure jumps in front of you … Continue reading →

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In sickness and in distrust

Posted on April 14, 2023 by koenfucius

(featured image: cottonbro studio/Pexels) Sickness absence at work is a (behavioural) economics affair. So is the sick note. When you move to a different country for work, differences in default terms of employment can lead to surprise and confusion. Having … Continue reading →

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The bitterness of doing nothing

Posted on March 19, 2021 by koenfucius

When we should really challenge our own, and other people’s omission bias Biases (cognitive and behavioural tendencies) and heuristics (mental shortcuts) are often associated with bad decisions, but it is worth bearing in mind their evolutionary origins before we label … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Cognitive biases and fallacies, Economics, Emotions, Management, Philosophy, Psychology, Society | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Why people do what they do (and don’t do what they don’t do)

Posted on August 13, 2020 by koenfucius

How to understand better what motivates people’s behaviour – in organizations and elsewhere – and how this can help us manage behavioural change, in others and in ourselves People don’t always do the right thing. It sounds like (and arguably … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural economics, Cognitive biases and fallacies, Management, Organization Development, Psychology | Tagged | 2 Comments

When the material meets the immaterial

Posted on October 26, 2018 by koenfucius

(featured image credit: Mr Blue MauMau CC BY) With incentives, things are not always what they seem “Most of economics can be summarized in four words: ‘People respond to incentives.’ The rest is commentary,” Steven Landsburg writes on the very … Continue reading →

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Signals from the unexpected

Posted on May 25, 2018 by koenfucius

(credit: didgeman CC BY) The messages that are sent when expectations and reality are at odds can be revealing and powerful A few weeks ago, three things happened to me on three consecutive days. All three involved choices other people … Continue reading →

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Nationalization or privatization?

Posted on January 26, 2018 by koenfucius

(featured image credit: Krahsman) Do private and public organizations (and their employees) make inherently different trade-offs? Todd Dewey is on his way from Winnipeg, Canada to North Spirit Lake, 500 km to the north east. He is one of the … Continue reading →

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Useful ‘Nobel’ Economics? You bet!

Posted on October 16, 2016 by koenfucius

(featured image credit: edar/pixabay) How a winner of the Economics ‘Nobel’ prize may help run organizations better They say the way to hell is paved with good intentions. Arguably, anyone intent on paving the way to hell might find more … Continue reading →

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