Webinar: Pitfalls of a Zero-Sum Mindset

Management professor Rellie Derfler-Rozin at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business will discuss her research that exemplifies under which conditions people are more likely to adopt a zero-sum mindset (in hiring, negotiations, creativity) and practical implications to resist and combat such mindsets.

The free webinar is noon Tuesday, May 18. Register via https://go.umd.edu/T5B.

Derfler-Rozin will address scenarios reflected in such questions as, Does she work for the money/perks OR because she likes the job? Will they be winning OR will we be winning? Should we follow the rules OR should we be creative?

These questions, says Derfler-Rozin, “reflect how humans tend to think, in many cases in a zero-sum, either-or fashion. Although people’s motives are complex, we tend to simplify how we think about their motivation to do work.”

“Though negotiations allow for ample opportunities to create win-win situations, in many cases we think about them as a win-lose situation,” she says. “And though one can be creative while still being ethical, we often tend to associate creativity with deviant rule-breaking.”

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