Power is one of the most misunderstood and uncomfortable topics in organizational life. In a new technical note, UVA Darden Professor Peter Belmi and case researcher Bianca Kemp clarify what power truly is, how it differs from status and why that distinction matters.
Expert
Peter Belmi
Scott C. Beardsley Associate Professor of Business Administration
Insights
Sexism and rudeness: not mutually exclusive. New research shows that rudeness can hide sexism, as observers may dismiss perpetrators as “equal-opportunity jerks.” Darden professors explain how the phenomenon not only turns bad behavior into plausible deniability, it can also serve as a barrier to addressing sexism in the workplace.
The months must-reads for managing in the digital age, curated by the Ideas to Action editors
Confident people are seen as competent people. And people of higher social class tend to have more confidence than others — yet perceptions of their abilities tend to exceed their actual performance. Darden Professor Peter Belmi studies cycles of inequality and here explains what the phenomenon means for businesses and what to do to stop it.
Professor Peter Belmi’s research examines the insidious structural and psychological factors that contribute to social and income inequality, often despite people’s best intentions.
Darden Professor Peter Belmi's recent work found that class-based inequality persists not only because of external factors like bias and “glass ceilings,” but also because of structural factors that discourage relatively low-class people from seeking positions of power in the first place.
How do people respond to social identity threats — circumstances under which people think they may be devalued simply because of their social identity (ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation) or membership in a particular group?
