Publications

February 1991 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Cultural Change at Nissan Motors

By: John P. Kotter

Depicts the reformation of Nissan Motor Co.'s corporate culture and the company's subsequent turnaround in market share and profits. In 1985, Yutaka Kume became president of Nissan and thereafter, he continually emphasized the need for internal change throughout the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Leadership; Behavior; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Change Management; Management; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry

2008
Working Paper

Cultural Notes on Chinese Negotiating Behavior

By: James K. Sebenius and Cheng (Jason) Qian

Western businesses negotiating with Chinese firms face many challenges, from initiating and smoothing communication to establishing long-lasting relationships and mutual trust, and from bargaining and drafting agreements to securing their implementation. Chinese... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Style; Perception; Societal Protocols; China

September – October 2011
Article

Manage the Culture Cycle

By: James L. Heskett

Organizational culture—the shared assumptions, values, and behaviors that determine "how we do things around here"—can be measured and shaped. In organizations with large numbers of customer-facing employees, it can account for up to half of the difference in operating... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Value; Behavior; Retention; Customer Focus and Relationships; Change Management; Learning; Innovation and Invention; Labor

September 30, 2019
Article

Climate Change and Our Emerging Cultural Shift

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Today, we have made climate change trivial by making its solutions easy, looking for simple answers that are palatable, generally framing it in the language of commerce. In the long run, it won’t work. There is no technological or political silver bullet to solving our... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Climate Change; Values and Beliefs; Transition

2018
Chapter

The Strategic Imperative of Psychological Safety and Organizational Error Management

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Paul Verdin

Despite discussion in the management literature about agile organizations or learning organizations, many large organizations are top-down, slow to change, and fraught with obstacles to learning. We describe “strategy-as-learning” to contrast with the traditional... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Learning; Safety; Organizational Culture; Performance Consistency

Find at Harvard

07 Jul 2023
Blog Post

How to Create a Psychologically Safe Workplace

culture that impacts employee experience at an even deeper level, and can have a significant impact on the company’s bottom line, is psychological safety. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

09 Dec 2020
Blog Post

How to Create a Psychologically Safe Workplace

Another element of culture that impacts employee experience at an even deeper level, and can have a significant impact on the company’s bottom line, is psychological safety. WHAT IS View Details

Web

How to Create a Psychologically Safe Workplace - Recruiting

participation. This seemingly simple practice goes a long way in creating an organizational culture that achieves excellence not by fearing failure, but by identifying problem areas and coming up with innovative solutions. HOW TO... View Details

The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth

Conquer the most essential adaptation to the knowledge economy

The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth offers practical guidance for teams and organizations who... View Details

Blog

Leading in Tough Times: HBS Faculty Member Amy C. Edmondson on Psychological Safety

will tend to become more inclusive as a result. Learn More: In this Harvard Business Review article, 4 Steps to Boost Psychological Safety at Your Workplace, Amy C. Edmondson offers best practices for driving the View Details

18 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

New Hires Lose Psychological Safety After Year One. How to Fix It.

“when it’s lost, much is lost with it.” You Might Also Like: Four Steps to Building the Psychological Safety That High-Performing Teams Need This Workplace Certification Made Already Safe Companies Even Safer To Change Your Company's... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

Book Review

Negotiating with Iran: Cultural and Historical Insights

By: James K. Sebenius

In a vitally important relationship famously caricatured as the "Mad Mullahs" v. the "Great Satan," the fraught negotiating history and future of Iran and the United States demands historical, cultural, and psychological insight if there is to be any prospect of... View Details

Keywords: National Security; Negotiation; Power and Influence; Iran; United States

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22 Nov 2022
Blog Post

Leading in Tough Times: HBS Faculty member Amy C. Edmondson on Psychological Safety

will tend to become more inclusive as a result. Learn More: In this Harvard Business Review article, 4 Steps to Boost Psychological Safety at Your Workplace, Amy C. Edmondson offers best practices for driving the View Details

2024
Working Paper

The Impact of Culture Consistency on Subunit Outcomes

By: Jasmijn Bol, Robert Grasser, Serena Loftus and Tatiana Sandino

We examine the association between subunit culture consistency—defined as the congruence between the organizational values espoused by top management and those perceived and practiced by subunit employees—and subunit outcomes. Using data from 235 subunits of a North... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Employees; Creativity; Satisfaction

January 1996
Background Note

National Cultures and Work-Related Values: The Hofstede Study

People from different national cultures often operate under different assumptions about what is appropriate behavior. In organizational settings, these cultural differences in underlying assumptions can significantly affect interactions when individuals from various... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Organizations; Attitudes; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Computer Industry

04 May 2021
News

Workplace Diversity: Managers Must Build a Culture of Belonging

2017
Gender Conformity & Nonconformity

Organizational Culture as Masculinity Contest: Developing and Validating a Climate Measure

23 Mar 2012
HBS Seminar

Dan Kahan, Professor of Law and Professor of Psychology at Yale Law School

November 1990 (Revised November 1991)
Case

Apple Computer (B): Managing Morale and Corporate Culture

Explores how the human resource function at Apple Computer can best support the company's strategy. Analyzes the culture and morale at Apple. Apple has a very unique culture. Moreover, morale within the company is at a low. The culture is powerful in aiding the company... View Details

Keywords: Attitudes; Organizational Culture; Employees; Business Strategy; Computer Industry; United States