I came across an article reporting that the University of South Florida (USF) was America's fastest-rising university in the recent U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges ranking released on September 14, 2020. Notably, in the last decade, USF has risen from a #181 ranking to #103 among all universities and from a #100 to a #46 ranking among public universities. USF President Steve Currall said, "USF is proud to maintain its position as the fastest rising university in national rankings among institutions both public and private over the last decade. We will continue our strategic focus on initiatives that will help propel USF to even greater heights in the future."
It seems that just about everywhere you turn in today's society, you will encounter some kind of ranking. The Billboard Hot 100, college football's AP Top 25, Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists, the most popular baby names, the New York Times Best Seller List and the U.S. News and World Report Best Places to Retire are just a few examples. We love to rank things from the best to the worst! More importantly, we care a lot (actually, we care a whole heck of a lot) about where we fall in the rankings. People, sports teams, colleges, hospitals, individual athletes - if you can rank them, they will not only care about where they rank, but they will also worry about who will pass them in the rankings. As it turns out, we tend to worry more about those who are quickly rising up through the ranks (like the University of South Florida) even more than the others who are below us in the rankings.
The Austrian physicist, Christian Doppler, first described the Doppler effect in 1842. Technically speaking, it is the change in frequency of a wave in relation to an observer who is moving relative to the wave source (think of the changing sound of a siren as an ambulance is driving past you on the highway). Well here, when it comes to rank-order, there is apparently a Doppler effect as well. According to a recent study, "the motion of a social competitor toward a higher-status actor amplifies that actor's experience of psychological threat, and in turn, impairs performance."
These investigators found that across 6 studies (4 laboratory-based experiments and 2 real-world applications - in chess and professional tennis) an opponent's momentum (i.e. how fast they are rising in the rankings - think University of South Florida) directly causes increased stress, anxiety, and fear in the individual whose ranked higher than the opponent, which impairs subsequent performance. Even professional athletes tend to be intimidated and make mistakes when they are playing opponents who have risen rapidly in the rankings.
Similarly, this "Doppler-like effect" even affects how independent observers judge others' performance. According to an earlier study from these same investigators, people, products, and institutions are judged as higher status when they arrived at their current rank position by ascending rather than descending in rank. So, to go back to our original example, we, as independent observers (or even as prospective students applying to college) would be even more impressed by the University of South Florida because they have rapidly risen in ranks. Subjectively, their top 50 ranking among public universities seems higher because they reached that ranking on the way up as opposed to on the way back down.
It's important to be cognizant of this so-called "Doppler-like effect" as leaders. For example, when it comes to the U.S. News and World Report Best Hospital rankings, an upward movement in the rankings always feels better than a fall in the rankings. More importantly, our natural tendency is to place more importance on either a consistent move up in the rankings (year-to-year) or even a big jump upwards in the rankings in a single year. The same is true internally, as we think about whether we should rank hospital teams or even individuals (say, by quality outcomes, patient/family experience scores, infection rates, etc). Competition often motivates us to do our best. However, the perceived "threat" of teams or individuals who are rapidly ascending the ranks may actually impair the performance of other teams and individuals, so forcing teams or individuals to compete may actually backfire in the long run.
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