The Science of Subtle Signals

Researchers from the Human Dynamics Group at MIT's Media Lab set up electronic devices that analyzed the speech patterns of operators on a call center floor in Scotland, capturing neither the words used nor the logic, but only the variations in tone and pitch. Amazingly enough, they predicted accurately, after only a few seconds of listening, the ultimate success or failure of almost every call. This story throws down a profound challenge to the prevailing views of organizational effectiveness. Most explanations of human behavior in organizations presume that people are influenced most by meaning and reasoning. It's what gets said that matters, not how it is said. But the performance of these telephone operators and a growing volume of other evidence suggest another view; this article offers an in-depth analysis of the science of subtle signals.

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