In 1985, with the publication of Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior, University of Rochester psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci launched a new theory for understanding what drives humans. Their model maintained that people are motivated by innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness to others – not, as the reigning theories of the day espoused, by inherited instincts or learned responses.

Erikson's model of psychosocial development is a very significant, highly regarded and meaningful concept.

Life is a serious of lessons and challenges which help us to grow. Erikson's wonderful theory helps to tell us why.

Here's a broad introduction to the main features of Erikson's model.

Stock options have a positive effect on firm performance when they are granted to executives, but giving options to lower-ranking employees seems to have no effect on the bottom line according to a new study.

Left unchecked, subconscious biases will undermine strategic decision making. Here’s how to counter them and improve corporate performance.

Ideacide is a great way to kill creativity. There are many ways to perform it.

It's a question most of us have asked ourselves: What makes successful people so, well, successful? It's tempting to think that those at the top of their fields know something the rest of us mere mortals don't. But that "special something" you've been searching for isn't an uncanny ability to predict the market's future, a membership in MENSA, or a secret business formula. Quite simply, the trait that sets top achievers apart from the competition is their ability to connect.

If you're ready to start truly connecting, read on for some straightforward, easy-to-apply tips that will garner immediate results.

You make decisions every day based on false assumptions about other people, immediate pay-offs, your memory versus imagination, and familiarity versus fondness, just to name a few. Want to learn more about your mind's crazy decision engine? This illustrated guide can help. [Lifehacker Annotation]

Dispersed teams can actually outperform groups that are co-located. To succeed, however, virtual collaboration must be managed in specific ways.

Ben Horowitz believes companies should strive to hire people with the right kind of ambition. Here he aims to clarify why you should care about senior managers having the right kind of ambition and give some tips on how to screen for them in an interview.

“Sleep on it” is common advice given to anyone facing a big decision. Yet research by Loran Nordgren shows you may want to stick with your first impression instead.

The few organizations that adeptly tap human potential and build the value of people equity focus on three critical factors: alignment,capabilities, and engagement. In such “ACE” organizations, the rewards in terms of retention, customer satisfaction, and financial success are well worth the investment.

Political behavior almost always starts with the CEO. Now you may be thinking: “I hate politics, I’m not political, but my organization is very political. I clearly didn’t cause this.” Sadly, you needn’t be political to create extreme political behavior in your organization. In fact, it’s often the least political CEOs who run the most ferociously political organizations. Apolitical CEOs frequently accidentally encourage intense political behavior.

What do I mean by politics? I mean people advancing their careers or agendas by means other than merit and contribution. There may be other types of politics, but politics of this form seem to be the ones that really bother people.

As long as an organization is enjoying healthy growth, management can do no wrong. But when tectonics shift and growth begins to stall, internal rifts can become apparent. People choose sides, challenge each other, question long-held assumptions, and begin to doubt strategies and tactics that used to be sacrosanct. Such internal discord can paralyze efforts to mount an effective recovery.

We have examined the data from two comprehensive nationwide studies, analyzed the histories of many stalled companies, and talked to executives at every level of organizations, both successful and not so successful. As a result, we’ve reached the conclusion that a lack of consensus is the number-one internal problem facing stalled-growth companies.

Most executives can readily agree: Organizational success hinges on effective execution, and effective execution is a matter of ability and agility. Can an organization quickly convert strategy into action, and can it deal effectively with discontinuous change in its competitive environment? This study finds that structural changes are half as effective as those focused on decision-making and information yet more often used.

Three distinct types of agility—strategic, portfolio, and operational—help companies compete. Each of them has its own sources and dangers.

Narcissists tend to do a better job of selling sizzle over steak and thus have a better chance at having their ideas adopted, says research by the Stanford's Frank Flynn and his co-authors.

We have all made decisions we regret, and while we may hate the sinking feeling that often follows, research by Neal Roese shows the emotion we all share has its benefits.

Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and psychologist Gary Klein debate the power and perils of intuition for senior executives.

Recently, Bob Sutton posted a list of 12 Things Good Bosses Believe. Now he's following up by delving into each one of them. This post is about the third belief: "Having ambitious and well-defined goals is important, but it is useless to think about them much. My job is to focus on the small wins that enable my people to make a little progress every day."

Organization design can provide effective and practical resolution of many stubborn strategy and business-execution issues. If a redesign is to work, executives need to recognize that all three elements of design—structure, individual capabilities, and roles and collaboration—are essential. Indeed, there is a dynamic interplay among them. When structure, individual capabilities, and roles and collaboration are in alignment—and tightly linked with a company’s strategy and sources of competitive advantage—an organization is geared for performance.

Leaders are increasingly finding themselves in situations where they need help from subordinates, and in which subordinates are asking for help in areas where leaders are not experts. To manage either situation effectively, a leader will have to develop a degree of humility and specific process skills. Readers will learn how to achieve those difficult goals in this article by the dean of organizational behavior.

To change an organization from within, it helps to understand four basic circulatory systems, analogous to the channels of communication in a living body.

Lofty principles matter much less than we think in determining our moral behavior says Professor Benoît Monin. We're more likely to be guided by whether we feel we are a good or bad person or whether we feel others around us are good or bad.

In every company, there are really two organizations at work: the informal and the formal. High-performance companies mobilize their informal organizations while maintaining and adding formal structures, balancing the two.

By controlling situations that create conflicts of interest, we can combat frauds and scandals better.