Publications

05 Aug 2015
News

Helping Women Executives Return to Work

Katerina Gould (MBA 1990), cofounder of Women Returners and founder of Thinking Potential, is helping executive women in the United Kingdom re-enter the workforce after extended career breaks. “They are going to be more stable than other employees. They’re not going to... View Details

02 Jun 2003
What Do You Think?

What Can Aspiring Leaders Be Taught?

portion of faculty discussion and planning time as well in the coming months. Should the topics be addressed in separate courses staffed by those with substantial training in philosophy as well as management theory? Or should they be... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Feb 2001
What Do You Think?

Do MBA Programs Face “The Innovator’s Dilemma”?

implemented by a new breed of educator, one that has had little to do with the traditional halls of ivy or institutions such as academic tenure. The Christensen defense to this educational competitive threat might be for traditional purveyors of management education to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

June 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Mercy Corps: Global Social Entrepreneurship (A)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Daniel F. Curran

Neal Keny-Guyer, CEO of Mercy Corps International, built his organization by following the advice of Theodore Roosevelt: "Be smart enough to hire good people and have sense enough to get out of their way." For eight years, Keny-Guyer helped Mercy Corps grow in size and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Government and Politics; Selection and Staffing; Leadership; Organizational Structure; Opportunities; Afghanistan; Iraq

September 2000 (Revised December 2020)
Background Note

Identifying and Developing Capable Leaders

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Morgan McCall Jr

Presents a synopsis of High Flyers, by Morgan McCall. Offers a method for identifying and training managers with potential--to build management bench strength. View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Resources; Talent and Talent Management

10 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt--‘Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World’

enterprise. These processes include planning, budgeting, structuring jobs, staffing jobs, giving people time-tested policies and procedures to guide their actions, measuring their results, and problem solving when results do not fit the... View Details

Keywords: Re: John P. Kotter

November 2022
Case

Hiring with the Community in Saint Paul

By: Mitchell B. Weiss and Sarah Mehta

This case reviews Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s decision to involve the community in the process of hiring his cabinet members. Rather than relying on an executive recruiting firm or choosing cabinet heads from his own network, Carter recruited 100 community members... View Details

Keywords: Community Engagement; Competency and Skills; Government and Politics; Human Resources; Government Administration; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Decision Making; Public Administration Industry; United States; Minnesota; Saint Paul

October 2004
Case

Sales Force Training at Arrow Electronics (A)

By: Jason R. Barro, Brian J. Hall and Aaron Zimmerman

In the mid-1980s, Arrow, the world's largest electronics distributor, implemented a college recruiting program to hire salespeople. The program was part of an effort to increase the professionalism and skill set of the sales force in an industry where few salespeople... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Compensation and Benefits; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Salesforce Management; Competition

Forthcoming
Article

Group Size and Its Impact on Diversity-Related Perceptions and Hiring Decisions in Homogeneous Groups

By: Aneesh Rai, Edward H. Chang, Erika Kirgios and Katherine L. Milkman

Why do some homogeneous groups face backlash for lacking diversity, whereas others escape censure? We show that a homogeneous group’s size changes how it is perceived and whether decision makers pursue greater diversity in its ranks. We theorize that people make... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Perception; Decision Making; Groups and Teams; Selection and Staffing; Size

Read Now

24 Feb 2014
News

The "40-Year-Old Intern" Goes to Wall Street

Keywords: on ramping; back to work; women's issues

March 2008
Case

Patel Food and Chemicals Private Limited (A)

By: Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Alok Patel, the founder and chairman of a Gujarat-based, privately held edible oils processor, must decide whether to hire a CFO candidate. Previously, his company's book-keeping has been done by an uncle, who has mentioned that he may retire soon. Patel could hire his... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Family Business; Managerial Roles; Emerging Markets; Diversity; Finance; Food and Beverage Industry; Gujarat

Find at Harvard

01 Mar 2013
News

Leveraging Female Talent

The research of HBS professor Boris Groysberg centers on a question that troubles many managers: How do I hire and develop top performers who will contribute to my company's success? The author of Talk, Inc.: How Trusted Leaders Use Conversation to Power Their... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

September 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Burunda Prince at The Farm, a Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Hub (Powered by Boomtown)

By: Linda A. Hill, Eric Mankin and Emily Tedards

After a successful inaugural year, Burunda Prince, the Managing Director of Comcast’s startup business accelerator The Farm, was getting ready for an eventful 2019. Comcast was America's largest cable and internet service provider, having built a profitable business... View Details

2012
Working Paper

When Performance Trumps Gender Bias: Joint versus Separate Evaluation

By: Iris Bohnet, Alexandra van Geen and Max H. Bazerman

We examine a new intervention to overcome gender biases in hiring, promotion, and job assignments: an "evaluation nudge," in which people are evaluated jointly rather than separately regarding their future performance. Evaluators are more likely to focus on individual... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Selection and Staffing; Behavior; Groups and Teams; Decision Making; Performance Evaluation; Gender

Read Now

June 1989 (Revised May 1993)
Case

Fairfield Inn (A)

By: James L. Heskett

The Fairfield Inn, an economy hotel venture by the Marriott Corp., has developed a novel method for selecting and measuring the performance of its hotel personnel that fits the company's strategy. Because it faces the need to grow rapidly, questions have arisen as to... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Franchise Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Corporate Strategy; Accommodations Industry

01 Apr 2001
News

The Small Business Difference: How Smaller Companies Manage with Less

A few years ago, H. Kent Bowen, the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Business Administration, undertook a study of smaller companies (firms in the $5 million to $50 million range) in order to develop cases and teaching materials for the elective course Running and Growing... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

January 2009
Supplement

Yieldex (B)

Yieldex CEO Tom Shields was hired by the company's technical founder, Doug Cosman, in October 2007. One of Shields' top priorities is finding a vice president of engineering to manage the company's software development efforts. Shields and Costman disagree about the... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Applications and Software; Engineering; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Development; Information Technology Industry

September 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Exercise

Pitch Yourself!

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Michael I. Norton

Helps students develop an elevator pitch for their most important asset—themselves. Before class students are asked to interview a potential employer and to develop preliminary elevator pitches. Once in class, students work through an exercise that helps them refine... View Details

Keywords: Spoken Communication; Selection and Staffing; Job Interviews; Marketing; Personal Development and Career

2023
Working Paper

Setting Gendered Expectations? Recruiter Outreach Bias in Online Tech Training Programs

By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Karim R. Lakhani and Roberto Fernandez

Competence development in digital technologies, analytics, and artificial intelligence is increasingly important to all types of organizations and their workforce. Universities and corporations are investing heavily in developing training programs, at all tenure... View Details

Keywords: STEM; Selection and Staffing; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Training; Equality and Inequality; Competency and Skills