It’s the stupidest people in the office who use the most business jargon, study finds
A study found that using business jargon in the office is a sign of low intelligence.
Employees affected by the corporate ‘waffle’ score lower on tests of analytical thinking and problem solving, researchers say.
The findings, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, suggest that people use language to ‘create inflated perceptions’. [their] knowledge, skill, status, achievement, idea or agenda.
Preferred phrases include ‘active stakeholder engagement’; this means talking to customers; and promising to ‘take advantage’ of something – means you will use it.
Participants in the study, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, were asked to rate different sections of the text and given a ranking based on the Institutional Bull**** Receptivity Scale.
People with higher scores were less likely to show signs of strong analytical thinking and more likely to make poor business decisions.
In one part of the experiment, more than 1,000 office participants were given workplace scenarios.
One scenario saw a restaurant implement a new payment system. Participants were told that they had spent weeks training their staff; but the IT department canceled the upgrade due to errors.
Preferred phrases include ‘active stakeholder engagement’; this means talking to customers; and promising to ‘make use of’ something – means you will use it (file image)
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When asked to choose the best response to staff angry at wasted training, the highest scoring option was to speak to IT to check whether reverting to the old system was the best option, consider the alternatives and then explain the plan to staff to address their concerns.
But those most affected by corporate jargon were more likely to choose lower-scoring options, such as going home and trying to solve technical problems themselves.
The research also found that they liked their jobs better, had a better opinion of their bosses, and were more likely to be impressed by company mission statements and reports of being happy at work.
‘Institutional bull****’ is a term used by a growing number of academics to describe a style of communication peppered with buzzwords that makes simple ideas difficult to understand.
Cognitive psychologist Shane Littrell from Cornell University, who created the scale, said the findings created a ‘relative loop’.
He added: ‘Employees who are more likely to buy into the corporate bull** can help increase the types of dysfunctional leaders who are more likely to use it, creating a sort of negative feedback loop.’
