Powering better people decisions across the Gulf.
From the evidence to the decision — research summarised and sourced, for leaders, managers and HR teams.
Latest Decision Briefs
Some people get on by lobbying: staying close to the boss, praising, managing how they look. Others just do the work. Does lobbying pay, what does office politics cost a team, and what should a manager do about it?
Our recommendation, from limited survey evidence: do not let lobbying pay. Decide ratings, promotions and assignments on stated criteria and explain them. In the one study we hold on pay and promotion, the people who used impression tactics least reported the highest pay and the most promotions, and in a second study supervisors recommended them most for rewards. Those who used the friendly tactics most only felt more successful. Seeing more office politics goes with more stress and a stronger intention to leave. None of these studies shows cause and effect.
Read→A manager checks every step, wants to approve every decision and rewrites other people's work. What does research say about giving people more room instead, and what should a leader do?
Our recommendation: give people room inside a clear direction, and stay available. In a meta-analysis, staff who feel their leader supports their autonomy report more satisfaction and engagement and less intention to leave. The link with performance is small when it is not self-rated, most of the evidence is self-reported and cross-sectional, and the one source on micromanagement itself maps the research rather than measuring effects.
Read→Personality tests are sold for hiring and for team workshops. Do they predict how people will perform at work, and should we use MBTI or DISC?
Personality measures carry some real information about job performance, less than the headline figures suggest, and applicants can shift the rankings by faking. A structured interview added prediction beyond a questionnaire, and a short job-related history form did about as well as most traits. We found no openly licensed study showing that MBTI or DISC predict job performance, so they should not decide who gets hired unless a provider can show that evidence.
Read→What we don’t do
We don’t sell software, run certifications, or publish anything we can’t source. When the evidence is thin the brief says so, and when a study sits behind a paywall we cite it rather than reprint it.
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