Communications

How Gamification Impacts Motivation Companies of all sizes and types can benefit by using gamification mechanics and game theory to improve engagement, learning and desired behavioral changes By Ira Ozer Last fall’s Gamification Summit in New York City saw leading professionals in the field gather to present best practices, research and case studies. Although gamification is a relatively new term in the world of human capital and engagement, the concepts of game mechanics are well supported by research from psychologists and behavioral scientists, with studies that span more than half a century. Leading performance improvement companies in the incentive industry have used fundamental game strategies and tactics for more than a decade, but only recently has the integration of multiple methods been used to create “gamified” websites that dramatically improve participation and results.

This study from the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement examines how companies can boost engagement via internal marketing.

This paper from the Integrated Marketing Communications Department at Northwestern University takes a closer look at the six characteristics of highly effective internal marketing programs.

A survey of over 3,000 Americans by JUST Capital demonstrates that the Stakeholder Capitalism movement has made minimal progress since the 2019 Business Roundtable update of the corporate charter to include all stakeholders. The survey responses highlight the reasons for the high, hidden cost of Shareholder Capitalism: high levels of employee and customer dissatisfaction.

A new debit card and app are designed to make it easy for consumers to locate and spend their money with companies with high sustainability ratings.

A new global ranking from TIME and Statista underscores growing corporate interest in stakeholder capitalism, while also revealing how narrowly sustainability is still defined in much of the business world.

Part 1 in this series, The Future of HR in a Stakeholder World, addresses why human resources has remained a cost rather than a profit center. Part 2 addresses what human resources can learn from the total quality management movement to elevate its impact.

Kirk Kazanjian, author of Exceeding Customer Expectations, says it’s the little things that mean a lot when it comes to employee engagement

This article explains the concept of zero-based people performance strategies and provides a list of performance improvement companies that can help to put such a strategy into effect.

This case study looks at the promotional campaign that was created to boost a college football player's visibility in the Heisman Trophy competition.

This item provides highlights of a study by the Promotional Products Association International on how use of promotional products can boost customer referrals.

Here is a comparison of the two business systems to help you decide which is better for business.

Veteran sales training executive Richard (Rick) Beers turns a lot of traditional thinking about sales training on its head through a strategic, systematic, and measurable approach. His program is designed to increase learning retention by creating a positive training environment, leveraging the strengths of newly hired sales professionals, and delivering a strong training curriculum.

As the ability to use advertising networks and remarketing powered by third-party cookies diminishes, organizations will have to take a closer look at how they identify and build relationships with customers and the people most likely to buy. The good news is that once in place a permission-based marketing strategy offers significant financial and experiential advantages over traditional advertising-based marketing.

According to published reports, the business world is moving away from using the term ESG (environmental, social, governance) and replacing it with terms such as “responsible investment.” Here are some of the latest arguments against ESG.

This research article looks at best practices for achieving an ROI through integrated marketing.

As frequently reported in ESM, the concepts of stakeholder management go back decades not to social activitists but to management consultants. People like W. Edwards Deming sought a more sustainable path to value creation than the purely shareholder-focused approach that sanctions enhancing profits by extracting value from stakeholders and the environment by producing poor quality products in a wasteful manner.

An approach to employee engagement that reinforces behaviors linked to patient satisfaction.

Investment activists promoting DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) should place more focus on the economic benefits and how DEI practices get integrated into the enterprise rather than siloed into departments with limited scope writes the author, principal of a boutique ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) advisory firm and board member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and the Enterprise Engagement Alliance,