Star Employees and Organizational Performance: Key Insights

Introduction: The Star Employee Tradeoff

Chen and Garg's (2018) study examines organizational situations where star employees must work closely with non-star employees, highlighting the inherent tradeoff organizations face when relying on their top performers. When an organization leverages its star employees, it simplifies its learning process and improves overall performance. However, over-reliance on the star employee leads to organizational myopia — a narrowed focus that prevents the development of broader capabilities. The temporary absence of a star employee can help the organization overcome this myopia and trigger new routines that are not dependent on any single individual.

This question is vital because it offers insights into what happens to an organization when its star employees are unavailable. Organizations should be prepared to allow star employees to step back periodically, giving space for new routines to emerge — routines that the star employee would then need to adopt upon returning. Many organizations fear losing their star employees, yet the study suggests this fear is overstated: non-star employees will adapt to the situation and create new methods for increasing performance.

Star employees are often given the freedom to work as they please without being required to fully consider the contributions of other team members. This dynamic can cause them to view themselves as irreplaceable, which negatively affects the morale and motivation of non-star employees. Understanding that organizational performance can remain strong — or even improve — without the constant presence of a star employee can be transformative for many organizations. The study's central finding is that a star employee's temporary absence helps the organization overcome its over-reliance on that individual and ultimately improves teamwork (Chen & Garg, 2018).

Understanding Star-Centric Routines

Star-centric routines are the methodologies an organization develops for carrying out its work that are built around a star employee (Chen & Garg, 2018). These workflows rely heavily on the star's presence and cannot be effectively executed without them. For example, on an NBA team, the star player may be the primary ball-handler, with all other players focusing their efforts on delivering the ball to that individual. Without the star player, teammates struggle to coordinate because the entire system was designed around one person.

Star-centric routines allow an organization to simplify its learning process, but this simplification comes at a cost: it leads to organizational myopia. The organization loses the motivation to continually refine its interactions or improve teamwork more broadly. With all routines centered on the star, there is little incentive to develop approaches that distribute responsibility more evenly. These routines are easy to understand and follow precisely because they revolve around a single focal point (Chen & Garg, 2018).

The problem emerges when the star is no longer available. Performance typically declines, but this disruption also creates an opportunity. Facing declining results without the star employee, the organization is forced to create new routines — ones that distribute focus across multiple employees and, in doing so, eliminate the myopia that star-centric routines had produced.

References

Chen, J. S., & Garg, P. (2018). Dancing with the stars: Benefits of a star employee's temporary absence for organizational performance. Strategic Management Journal, 39(5), 1239–1267.