Pygmalion in Management: Productivity as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Abstract

Managers' expectations of subordinates can have a powerful effect on productivity in the workplace. Raising managers' expectations of subordinates boosts productivity; this is the Pygmalion effect. In this thorough and practical work, acclaimed organizational psychologist Dov Eden analyzes productivity as the result of self-fulfilling prophecies [SFPs] at work and lays the foundation for unleashing dormant energy in the workplace by harnessing the Pygmalion effect and other SFP processes. In this seminal work, the author provides managers, consultants, and others with a complete understanding of why the Pygmalion paradigm may be the most effective and cost-saving approach to increasing motivation in work organizations; and why it is, in fact, the only approach that adopts an activist stance toward expectancy. Rich in fascinating, real-life examples of the SFP process at work, the book offers a wealth of useful suggestions for management application and details a broad range of practical tactics for improving productivity through expectancy management.