The Rosenthal-Jacobson study can be applied to more than a school environment. The pygmalion effect has been demonstrated in the workplace too, specifically management. Alfred Oberlander, a branch manager of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, organized his staff into three teams ranked by ability [1]. In his research, the “super team” was expected to do well and therefore increased productivity, while the lowest unit surprisingly declined. On the other hand, the “average” team was able to keep up with the super group. Oberlander accredited this to the manager in charge of the unit, who believed that her staff was just as capable, and this attitude transferred onto the workers. At the same time, that result does not occur nearly as often as we would think. Tasks must have reasonable expectations and managers must have the confidence to carry them out.
Pygmalion in management is similar to pygmalion in the classroom in the way that both affect the inexperienced the most. This is because younger people are more impressionable, especially when their self-image is a blank slate. Livingston notes that as the inexperienced become the experienced, “they begin to see themselves...increasingly controlled by the ‘reality’ of their past performance” [1]. The Rosenthal-Jacobson experiment noticed that students tended to show the most improvement in IQ during first and second grade, a few years after the children start formal schooling [2]. As a result, first managers and first teachers are equally important in shaping future workers.
[1] Livingston, J. Sterling (2003, January). Pygmalion in Management. Retrieved April 20, 2015, from https://hbr.org/2003/01/pygmalion-in-management
[2] Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968, September). Pygmalion In The Classroom. The Urban Review, 16-20. Retrieved April 16, 2015, from https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/psyifp/aeechterhoff
/sommersemester2012/schluesselstudiendersozialpsychologiea/rosenthal_jacobson_pygmalionclassroom
_urbrev1968.pdf
Pygmalion in management is similar to pygmalion in the classroom in the way that both affect the inexperienced the most. This is because younger people are more impressionable, especially when their self-image is a blank slate. Livingston notes that as the inexperienced become the experienced, “they begin to see themselves...increasingly controlled by the ‘reality’ of their past performance” [1]. The Rosenthal-Jacobson experiment noticed that students tended to show the most improvement in IQ during first and second grade, a few years after the children start formal schooling [2]. As a result, first managers and first teachers are equally important in shaping future workers.
[1] Livingston, J. Sterling (2003, January). Pygmalion in Management. Retrieved April 20, 2015, from https://hbr.org/2003/01/pygmalion-in-management
[2] Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968, September). Pygmalion In The Classroom. The Urban Review, 16-20. Retrieved April 16, 2015, from https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/psyifp/aeechterhoff
/sommersemester2012/schluesselstudiendersozialpsychologiea/rosenthal_jacobson_pygmalionclassroom
_urbrev1968.pdf