Publications

2003
Working Paper

Learning from Diversity: The Effects of Learning on Performance in Racially Diverse Teams

By: Robin J. Ely and David A. Thomas

1998
Working Paper

Paradigms and Pitfalls: Constructions of How Demography Affects Work

By: Robin J. Ely and David A. Thomas

29 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 29

Publications August 2013 Journal of Financial Economics X-CAPM: An Extrapolative Capital Asset Pricing Model By: Barberis, Nicholas, Robin Greenwood, Lawrence Jin, and Andrei Shleifer Abstract—Survey evidence suggests that many... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2004 (Revised August 2005)
Exercise

Orientation to the Public Image Assessment Exercise

By: Robin J. Ely

The Public Image Assessment exercise acquaints students with the ideal images they hold of themselves, the actions they engage in to convey these images, and the benefits and costs of these behaviors to themselves and to others. Social psychologists call this process... View Details

Keywords: Reputation; Perception

December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Teaching Note

Managing Diversity at Spencer Owens & Co. and Managing Diversity at Cityside Financial Services (TN)

By: Robin J. Ely

Teaching Note to (9-405-047) and (9-405-048). View Details

Keywords: Diversity

January – February 2011
Article

Stop Holding Yourself Back

By: Anne Morriss, Robin J. Ely and Frances X. Frei

After working with hundreds of leaders in a wide variety of organizations and in countries all over the globe, the authors found one very clear pattern: when it comes to meeting their leadership potential, many people unintentionally get in their own way. Five barriers... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Personal Characteristics

May 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Carol Fishman Cohen: Professional Career Reentry (A)

By: Myra M. Hart, Robin J. Ely and Susan Wojewoda

Explores the career challenges facing highly successful women who leave the full-time workforce for several years to manage family commitments. Carol Cohen is a 1985 Harvard MBA who has professional line experience in a manufacturing environment, followed by a... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Family and Family Relationships

2010
Article

An Organizational Approach to Undoing Gender: The Unlikely Case of Offshore Oil Platforms

By: Robin J. Ely and Debra E. Meyerson

This case study of two offshore oil platforms illustrates how an organizational initiative designed to enhance safety and effectiveness created a culture that unintentionally released men from societal imperatives for "manly" behavior, prompting them to let go of... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Goals and Objectives; Behavior; Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Gender; Emotions

2022
Other Teaching and Training Material

Organizational Behavior Reading: Managing Differences

By: Robin Ely and Colleen Ammerman

This reading provides principles and practices managers can draw upon to leverage differences in social identities - such as gender and race - to create more effective work relationships, teams, and organizations. The Essential Reading's first section draws upon... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Groups and Teams; Prejudice and Bias; Identity; Management Practices and Processes

2016
Working Paper

Explaining the Persistence of Gender Inequality: The Work-Family Narrative as a Social Defense Against the 24/7 Work Culture

By: Irene Padavic, Robin J. Ely and Erin M. Reid

It is widely accepted that the conflict women experience between family obligations and professional jobs’ long hours lies at the heart of their stalled advancement. Yet research suggests that this “work-family narrative” is partial at best: men, too, experience... View Details

Keywords: 24/7 Work Culture; Hegemonic Narrative; Social Defense; Work-family Conflict; Systems Psychodynamic Theory; Work-Life Balance; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Organizational Culture

Read Now

July – August 2008
Article

Unmasking Manly Men

By: Robin J. Ely and Debra Meyerson

Keywords: Gender

December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Managing a Public Image: Rob Thomas

By: Robin J. Ely and Ingrid Vargas

Rob Thomas describes some of the challenges he has faced as a white, middle-aged man who is managing director of a mid-size consulting firm where he is committed to increasing staff gender and racial diversity. Unwilling to risk the disapproval of any constituency,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Age; Race; Identity; Failure; Gender; Consulting Industry

December 2004 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Managing a Public Image: Sophie Chen

By: Robin J. Ely and Ingrid Vargas

Sophie Chen, an Asian-American MBA student at Harvard Business School, describes a professional situation in which she was unable to mentor a junior person effectively because she disapproved of the way her Asian-American mentee conformed to an ethnic stereotype.... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Perception; Relationships; Diversity

December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Managing a Public Image: Kevin Knight

By: Robin J. Ely and Ingrid Vargas

Kevin Knight recounts an uncomfortable situation he faced as an African-American student at Harvard Business School. Concerned with maintaining an image as a calm and rational person, he is appalled when he finds himself in a heated classroom exchange in defense of an... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Ethnicity; Identity; Competency and Skills; Business Education

October 2007
Article

A Feminist Analysis of Organizational Research on Sex Differences

By: Robin Ely and Irene Padavic

Keywords: Research; Organizations; Theory; Gender

2004
Working Paper

Team Learning and the Radical Diversity-Performance Link

By: Robin J. Ely and David A. Thomas

January 2013
Case

Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, Customer Service, and Company Culture (MM)

By: Frances X. Frei and Robin J. Ely

On July 17, 2009, Zappos.com, a privately-held online retailer of shoes, clothing, and other soft-line retail categories, learned that Amazon.com, a $19 billion multinational online retailer, had won its Board of Directors' approval to offer to merge the two companies.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Internet and the Web; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry