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(874)
- News (119)
- Research (656)
- Multimedia (1)
- Faculty Publications (226)
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- March 2011 (Revised March 2012)
- Case
Arck Systems
By: Ian Larkin
The Arck Systems series of cases describes the dilemmas faced by a senior sales manager in determining a sales compensation plan at an enterprise software company. The existing compensation plan is aggressive and highly rewards "star" performers. The cases track a... View Details
Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Retention; Performance Effectiveness; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Software; Information Technology Industry
Larkin, Ian. "Arck Systems." Harvard Business School Case 911-056, March 2011. (Revised March 2012.)
- July 2012
- Case
Performance Management at Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc.
By: John Bingham and Michael Beer
Vitality Health Enterprises, a medium-sized firm that manufactures health and personal care products, has experienced six straight quarters of strong revenue growth. James Hoffman, the new Senior Vice President of Human Resources, fears that the chain of success is... View Details
Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Compensation and Benefits; Talent and Talent Management; Health Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States
Bingham, John, and Michael Beer. "Performance Management at Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc." Harvard Business School Brief Case 913-501, July 2012.
- October 1995
- Article
Start-ups, Spin-offs, and Internal Projects
By: James J. Anton and Dennis Yao
We examine the incentive problem confronting a firm and employee when the employee privately discovers a significant invention and faces a choice between keeping the invention private and leaving the firm to form a new company (start-up), or transferring knowledge and... View Details
Keywords: Business Startups; Projects; Motivation and Incentives; Rights; Employees; Innovation and Invention; Compensation and Benefits; Knowledge Sharing; Capital; Profit
Anton, James J., and Dennis Yao. "Start-ups, Spin-offs, and Internal Projects." Journal of Law, Economics & Organization 11, no. 2 (October 1995): 362–378. (Harvard users click here for full text.)
- August 2019
- Case
Bark Gift Shop Ltd.
By: Susanna Gallani, Jan Bouwens and Peter Kroos
This case describes a setting in which the CFO of Bark Gift Shop Ltd., a gift items retailer, discovers an undesired pattern in the performance data suggesting that her shop managers that perform well during the first part of the year, purposely reduce their effort in... View Details
Keywords: Data Analytics; Employees; Behavior; Performance; Management; Goals and Objectives; Motivation and Incentives; Analysis
Gallani, Susanna, Jan Bouwens, and Peter Kroos. "Bark Gift Shop Ltd." Harvard Business School Case 120-008, August 2019.
- April 2011
- Article
The Emotional Impact and Behavioral Consequences of Post-M&A Integration: An Ethnographic Case Study in the Software Industry
By: David Ager
This ethnographic case study has focused in depth on one type of acquisition, that of two small, young firms (each with less than 2,000 employees and less than ten years in operation) acquired by one company in the software development industry based in the United... View Details
Keywords: Integration; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Behavior; Groups and Teams; Mergers and Acquisitions; Emotions
Ager, David. "The Emotional Impact and Behavioral Consequences of Post-M&A Integration: An Ethnographic Case Study in the Software Industry." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 40, no. 2 (April 2011): 199–230.
- 03 Feb 2009
- First Look
First Look: February 3, 2009
course of action). It shows that persuasion and authority are complements at low levels of effectiveness but substitutes at high levels. Furthermore, the principal will rely more on persuasion when agent motivation is more important for... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
- January 2022 (Revised November 2023)
- Case
Expanding the Culture of Learning at Kraft Heinz
By: Ashley V. Whillans and Carolyn Watson
The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) was an American food company formed in 2015 by the merger of Kraft Foods Group, Inc and the H.J. Heinz Company. The company sold food products like Heinz Ketchup, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Kool-Aid, and Philadelphia cream cheese to supermarkets,... View Details
Keywords: Learning; Culture; Work Culture; Workplace Practices; Mergers; Mergers and Acquisitions; Competitive Advantage; Human Capital; Training; Performance Evaluation; Growth and Development; Personal Development and Career; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry
- 14 Apr 2003
- Research & Ideas
Pay-for-Performance Doesn’t Always Pay Off
have argued that the real problem is that incentives work too well. Specifically, they motivate employees to focus excessively on doing what they need to do to gain rewards, sometimes at the expense of doing... View Details
Keywords: by Martha Lagace
- April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
Sears: The Demise of an American Icon
By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott
In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following... View Details
Keywords: Bankruptcy; Reorganization; Bonds; Restructuring; Business Divisions; Transformation; Fairness; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Motivation and Incentives; Retail Industry; United States
Mugford, Kristin, and Sarah L. Abbott. "Sears: The Demise of an American Icon." Harvard Business School Case 219-106, April 2019. (Revised December 2021.)
- September 2013
- Article
Great Leaders Who Make the Mix Work
By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly
Business leaders send a powerful message when they make a commitment to diversity that goes beyond rhetoric. But what motivates them to do so, and how do they actually create inclusive cultures? To find out, the authors interviewed 24 CEOs whose firms were known for... View Details
Keywords: Leadership Development; Working Conditions; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Diversity; Gender
Groysberg, Boris, and Katherine Connolly. "Great Leaders Who Make the Mix Work." Harvard Business Review 91, no. 9 (September 2013): 68–76.
- Research Summary
Non-Financial Incentives
My research shows how firms combine many facets of internal governance to motivate managers. A perspective that underlies much of my research is that managers are not motivated by financial rewards alone: “it’s not just about the... View Details
- 2006
- Article
Performance Measure Properties and the Effect of Incentive Contracts
By: J. Bouwens and L. van Lent
Using data from a third-party survey on compensation practices at 151 Dutch firms, we show that less noisy or distorted performance measures and higher cash bonuses are associated with improved employee selection and better-directed effort. Specifically, (1) an... View Details
Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Data and Data Sets; Problems and Challenges; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Netherlands
Bouwens, J., and L. van Lent. "Performance Measure Properties and the Effect of Incentive Contracts." Journal of Management Accounting Research 18 (2006): 55–75.
- May 1996
- Background Note
The GM's Operational Challenge: Managing Through People
By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda
Highlights and explores how a general manager adds value to the firm at the operational level by managing through people. Discusses how assumptions about human motivation influence the employment contract that the general manager implicitly enters into with the workers... View Details
Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Contracts; Managerial Roles; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Value
Bartlett, Christopher A., and Ashish Nanda. "The GM's Operational Challenge: Managing Through People." Harvard Business School Background Note 396-400, May 1996.
- 05 Dec 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
The Salary Taboo: Privacy Norms and the Diffusion of Information
- July–August 2014
- Article
Becoming a First-Class Noticer: How to Spot and Prevent Ethical Failures in Your Organization
By: Max Bazerman
We'd like to think that no smart, upstanding manager would ever overlook or turn a blind eye to threats or wrongdoing that ultimately imperil his or her business. Yet it happens all the time. We fall prey to obstacles that obscure or drown out important signals that... View Details
Keywords: Accountability; Business Ethics; Cognitive Psychology; Human Behavior; Personal Ethics In Business; Business or Company Management; Ethics
Bazerman, Max. "Becoming a First-Class Noticer: How to Spot and Prevent Ethical Failures in Your Organization." Harvard Business Review 92, nos. 7/8 (July–August 2014): 116–119.
- June 2014
- Case
Making Progress at IDEO
By: Teresa M. Amabile and Katrina Flanagan
This case focuses on different types of client relationships at IDEO, the value of these relationships for IDEO and clients, and the implications for IDEO designers' everyday experience of work. As new types of client work have shifted away from the more classic design... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Motivation and Incentives; Employees; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry
Amabile, Teresa M., and Katrina Flanagan. "Making Progress at IDEO." Harvard Business School Case 814-123, June 2014.
- November 2010 (Revised April 2011)
- Supplement
Aman Resorts (B)
By: Eugene Soltes and Aldo Sesia
The (B) case describes how employees are rewarded and compensated and is used to supplement the (A) case. View Details
Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Globalized Firms and Management; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Accommodations Industry
Soltes, Eugene, and Aldo Sesia. "Aman Resorts (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 111-015, November 2010. (Revised April 2011.)
- 12 Jun 2018
- First Look
New Research and Ideas, June 12, 2018
emergence of political economy and the project of creating market societies. By reconstructing ideas in their historical contexts, I address motivations and contingencies at the very foundations of modernity. Publisher's link:... View Details
Keywords: Dina Gerdeman
- 08 Oct 2008
- Research & Ideas
Book Excerpt: A Sense of Urgency
strongly connected to real business problems, they may suspect sabotage or lunacy, both of which can create anger and not a steely determination to act fast and win. The crisis-creating strategy not only fails but makes matters worse. Because his managers and View Details
Keywords: by John P. Kotter
- March 2011 (Revised August 2012)
- Case
Caesars Entertainment: CodeGreen
By: George Serafeim, Robert G. Eccles and Tiffany A. Clay
The case describes the development of Caesar's sustainability initiative program, the effect of the initiative on employee engagement and motivation, and on customer satisfaction. View Details
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Employees; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Motivation and Incentives; Accommodations Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry
Serafeim, George, Robert G. Eccles, and Tiffany A. Clay. "Caesars Entertainment: CodeGreen." Harvard Business School Case 111-115, March 2011. (Revised August 2012.)