24. August 2010 by John Schinnerer.

University of Colorado Denver Business School study shows failure better teacher than success

Knowledge gained from failure lasts longer

DENVER (August 23, 2010) – While success is surely sweeter than failure, it seems failure is a far better teacher, and organizations that fail spectacularly often flourish more in the long run, according to a new study by Vinit Desai, assistant professor of management at the University of Colorado Denver Business School.

Desai’s research, published in the Academy of Management Journal, focused on companies and organizations that launch satellites, rockets and shuttles into space – an arena where failures are high profile and hard to conceal.

Working with Peter Madsen, assistant professor at BYU School of Management, Desai found that organizations not only learned more from failure than success, they retained that knowledge longer.

“We found that the knowledge gained from success was often fleeting while knowledge from failure stuck around for years,” he said. “But there is a tendency in organizations to ignore failure or try not to focus on it. Managers may fire people or turn over the entire workforce while they should be treating the failure as a learning opportunity.”

The researchers said they discovered little “significant organizational learning from success” but added “we do not discount the possibility that it may occur in other settings.”

Desai compared the flights of the space shuttle Atlantis and the Challenger. During the 2002 Atlantis flight, a piece of insulation broke off and damaged the left solid rocket booster but did not impede the mission or the program. There was little follow-up or investigation.

The Challenger was launched next and another piece of insulation broke off. This time the shuttle and its seven-person crew were destroyed.

The disaster prompted the suspension of shuttle flights and led to a major investigation resulting in 29 recommended changes to prevent future calamities.

The difference in response in the two cases, Desai said, came down to this: The Atlantis was considered a success and the Challenger a failure.

“Whenever you have a failure it causes a company to search for solutions and when you search for solutions it puts you as an executive in a different mindset, a more open mindset,” said Desai.

He said the airline industry is one sector of the economy that has learned from failures, at least when it comes to safety.

“Despite crowded skies, airlines are incredibly reliable. The number of failures is miniscule,” he said. “And past research has shown that older airlines, those with more experience in failure, have a lower number of accidents.”

Desai doesn’t recommend seeking out failure in order to learn. Instead, he advised organizations to analyze small failures and near misses to glean useful information rather than wait for major failures.

“The most significant implication of this study…is that organizational leaders should neither ignore failures nor stigmatize those involved with them,” he concluded in the June edition of the Academy of Management Journal, “rather leaders should treat failures as invaluable learning opportunities, encouraging the open sharing of information about them.”

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Located on the University of Colorado Denver’s downtown campus, the Business School is the largest accredited graduate school of business in Colorado with more than 18,000 alumni. It serves more than 1,200 graduate students and 1,400 undergraduate students each year. Students and faculty are involved in solving real-world business problems as they collaborate on more than 100 projects with area businesses every semester through classroom work, guest lectures and research projects.

From EurekAlert!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Founder Guide to Self

Award-winning author, blogger and speaker

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24. August 2010 by John Schinnerer.

I have been studying the effects of the hormone oxytocin over the past few years. In that time, oxytocin has been shown to

- play a critical role in trust between individuals

- may play a role in turning down the volume on social phobias and anxiety disorders

- be connected to greater generosity

- lead to a shift in brain chemistry that generates increased cooperation

- relate to bonding with infants as well as lovers

- improve relationships with friends and coworkers.

Oxytocin exists at higher levels in females than males. And it’s been known that oxytocin increases upon the birth of a child in new mothers. However, until recently, levels of oxytocin had not been researched in new fathers.

A compelling new study shares the first longitudinal data on oxytocin levels in rookie parents. The study looked at how oxytocin fluctuates in the in first 6 months of 160 newbie parents (i.e. 80 couples) following the birth of their first child.

Three fascinating findings were reported.

The first finding:

At both 6 weeks and 6 months following the birth of their child, fathers’ oxytocin levels were similar to the levels seen in mothers. While oxytocin release is heightened by birth and lactation in mothers, it seems that something  about new parenthood stimulates a corresponding oxytocin release in rookie dads. This is dramatically different from how we once conceptualized oxytocin and it’s involvement in newbie parents. For years, it was thought that females were the caregivers; moms were the ones primarily responsible for bonding and nurturing, and dads tried to stay out of the way.

One of the authors of the study, Dr. Ruth Feldman, called out that this finding “emphasizes the importance of providing opportunities for father-infant interactions immediately after childbirth in order to trigger the neuro-hormonal system that underlies bond formation in humans.”

The second major finding is that there is a relationship between oxytocin levels in the newbie dad and the newbie mom. Generally, oxytocin levels remain consistent within individuals. This finding suggests that something about new parenthood, perhaps enviornmental or hormonal factors, synchronizes oxytocin levels in rookie parents.

The third staggering finding showed that oxytocin levels were related to HOW mom and dad parent; that is what their parenting style is.  Oxytocin was highest in rookie moms who were more affectionate, expressive with positive emotions, gazed more at the baby, and expressed more gentle, loving touches.  In rookie dads, oxytocin was heightened with more touching of the newborn, more frequent cheering the child on to explore the environment, and pointing out new objects to the infant. 

“It is very interesting that elevations in the same hormone were associated with different types of parenting behaviors in mothers and fathers even though the levels of oxytocin within couples were somewhat correlated. These differences may reflect the impact of culture-specific role expectations, but they also may be indicative of distinct circuit effects of oxytocin in the male and female brain,” said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.

It’s critical to keep in mind the importance of both the mom and the dad in the raising of infants and young children. Let’s get both involved from the get go. The roles are distinctly different, yet both are essential. Both have a place in the development of healthy humans.

 Cheers,

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Founder Guide to Self, Inc.

Anger management tools for fathers and husbands

Free award-winning self-help book at

http://www.GuideToSelf.com

1.Ilanit Gordon, Orna Zagoory-Sharon, James F. Leckman, and Ruth Feldman. Oxytocin and the Development of Parenting in Humans. Biological Psychiatry, 2010; 68 (4): 377 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.02.005

 MLA Elsevier (2010, August 22). Oxytocin: It’s a Mom and Pop Thing. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 23, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/08/100820101207.htm

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