g-f(2)22 MIT Sloan expert insights: 4 books from 2020

VIRAL KNOWLEDGE: The “genioux facts” knowledge news

Extra-condensed knowledge

What started as a promising new decade quickly turned into one of the most tumultuous and divisive years in modern history. 

• The COVID-19 pandemic shuttered businesses and shifted workers to remote offices. 
• And the fear and uncertainty that threaded its way throughout the pandemic and lead up to the presidential election were fueled by social media and the ongoing battle over freedom of speech and how to define misinformation.
• Here are four books from MIT Sloan experts that make some sense of the power of social media, the future of remote work, and more.

Genioux knowledge fact condensed as an image.

Condensed knowledge 

• Why It Matters. 2020 left many of us confused, concerned, and curious about what lessons to take from a year of quarantine and remote work. Here are four books to help make sense of it all.
• The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health — And How We Must Adapt. Sinan Aral, professor of management and director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy.
• This year brought highs and lows for the communication ecosystem created by social media — what MIT Sloan professor Sinan Aral calls the “Hype Machine.” 
• Aral lays out the path to achieve the promise of social media, the forces at play and the science behind the Hype Machine, and what social media companies, policymakers, and users need to do to achieve the promise and avoid the peril of this new social order.
• Overload: How Good Jobs Went Bad and What We Can Do About It. Erin L. Kelly, professor of work and organization studies, and University of Minnesota sociology professor Phyllis Moen.
• Remote work allows an employee to build their schedule around their personal responsibilities, supporting mental health and a better work-life balance. 
• Over the course of about five years, Kelly and Moen and their collaborators in the Work, Family and Health Network studied how an organizational change initiative called STAR [Support. Transform. Achieve. Results.] benefited overloaded employees at a tech-focused company referred to as TOMO.
• Creating Good Jobs: An Industry-Based Strategy. Edited by Paul Osterman, professor of human resources and management. 
• During the first wave of the pandemic, people became amateur bread bakers and at-home fitness gurus thanks to point-and-click orders on e-commerce sites like Amazon. 
• In this book edited by Paul Osterman, he and a cadre of experts examine industries like retail, restaurants, manufacturing, and hospitals to learn how workers live paycheck to paycheck, and what can be done to improve these jobs.
• Recommendation Engines. Michael Schrage, research fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management's Initiative on the Digital Economy. 
• It’s not a coincidence that Netflix seems to have such good taste in your tastes. 
• There’s technology behind those recommendations that seem perfectly tailored to you quarantine-driven impulse purchases. 
• In his book, Schrage explores the origins of recommendation engines, from the earliest predictors to today’s services that can dress and distract you better than you possibly could yourself.

Category 1, 2, 3 and 4: 

1. A new, better world for everyone

2. The Big Picture of the Digital Era

3. The Big Picture of Sports

4. Coronavirus and other viruses

[genioux fact extracted from MIT Sloan School of Management]

Authors of the genioux fact

Fernando Machuca

References

MIT Sloan expert insights: 4 books from 2020, Meredith Somers, November 25, 2020, MIT Sloan School of Management.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Meredith writes about management issues affecting global business leaders, with an emphasis on behavioral and policy sciences. She also covers leadership, workplace communication, competitive strategy and decision-making, diversity and hiring, entrepreneurship, and innovation. 

Prior to MIT Sloan, Meredith was a reporter for Federal News Network in Washington, D.C. She's worked as a Maryland state government reporter for the Associated Press, and as a general assignment reporter on the Metro desk at The Washington Times.