Research on Everyday Work | Knowledge & Practice

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Research on “reflection”

4 studies

Experimental research (two studies)2009

Reflection as a strategy to enhance task performance after feedback

Thinking through and writing concrete examples of behavior after feedback produced greater performance improvement than feedback alone. Reflection without feedback did not improve performance.

Connection to this page

Go beyond receiving advice: review what happened when it was tried, and bring those results into the next consultation.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography

Participants and methods: Two studies with 640 and 488 participants compared combinations of feedback and reflection in a web-based work simulation.
Scope and limitations: The findings concern a work simulation. The effects also differed with participants' engagement in reflection and their orientation toward learning.

Frederik Anseel; Filip Lievens; Eveline Schollaert (2009). Reflection as a strategy to enhance task performance after feedback

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 110(1), 23–35

DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.05.003

Meta-analysis2013

Do Team and Individual Debriefs Enhance Performance? A Meta-Analysis

Reviewing experience after action improved subsequent performance on average. Alignment with the task's purpose, structure and support for the review were related to effectiveness.

Connection to this page

Briefly bring together the purpose of the work, actual actions, the other person's response and what to change next.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography

Participants and methods: Combined the effects of debriefing across 46 samples and 2,136 participants, covering real work and simulations, medical and nonmedical settings, and individuals and teams.
Scope and limitations: The findings average studies with different settings and evaluation methods. They do not establish a uniform improvement rate from workplace reflection alone.

Scott I. Tannenbaum; Christopher P. Cerasoli (2013). Do Team and Individual Debriefs Enhance Performance? A Meta-Analysis

Human Factors, 55(1), 231–245

DOI: 10.1177/0018720812448394

Original research (workplace quasi-experiments)2017

Can holding a stick improve listening at work? The effect of Listening Circles on employees’ emotions and cognitions

Experiencing good listening was linked to reduced social anxiety, reflection on one's own thinking and greater acknowledgment of the complexity of opinions.

Connection to this page

Consider relationships that let people examine their views while speaking and express doubts or contradictions, without rushing to evaluate their ideas.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography

Participants and methods: Three quasi-experiments with 31, 66 and 83 employees compared Listening Circles, where one person speaks at a time, with other workshops or no training.
Scope and limitations: These were not randomized experiments, and the effects include the group intervention as a whole. The study did not directly test a brief listening phrase or effects on business performance.

Guy Itzchakov; Avraham N. Kluger (2017). Can holding a stick improve listening at work? The effect of Listening Circles on employees’ emotions and cognitions

European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 26(5), 663–676

DOI: 10.1080/1359432X.2017.1351429

Original experimental research2014

Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: How you do it matters.

Language adopting a slightly distanced perspective on oneself showed improvements related to psychological distance, coping with stress and behavioral ratings by third parties.

Connection to this page

Relates to reconsidering how you want to proceed before giving an immediate response.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography

Participants and methods: Seven studies involving 585 people compared first-person reflection with reflection using one's name or similar language, including social-stress tasks such as presentations.
Scope and limitations: The evidence mainly concerns short experimental tasks. It does not establish that continuing a particular wording improves long-term work outcomes.

Kross, E., Bruehlman-Senecal, E., Park, J., Burson, A., Dougherty, A., Shablack, H., Bremner, R., Moser, J., & Ayduk, O. (2014). Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: How you do it matters.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(2), 304–324

DOI: 10.1037/a0035173

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Research on “reflection”

Reflection as a strategy to enhance task performance after feedback

Connection to this page

Do Team and Individual Debriefs Enhance Performance? A Meta-Analysis

Connection to this page

Can holding a stick improve listening at work? The effect of Listening Circles on employees’ emotions and cognitions

Connection to this page

Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: How you do it matters.

Connection to this page

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