Publications

2018
Report

The Water of Systems Change

By: Mark R. Kramer, John Kania and Peter Senge

Foundations involved in systems change can increase their odds for success by focusing on the least explicit but most powerful conditions for change, while also turning the lens on themselves. The Water of Systems Change aims to clarify what it means to shift... View Details

Keywords: Foundations; Systems Thinking; Systems Change; System; Change; Organizations; Strategy

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Research Summary

Workforce Change

By: Sandra J. Sucher

This research encompasses layoffs, furloughs and restructuring, global practices that affect millions of employees and thousands of companies every year. In this work I aim to replace bad practice that damages trust with good (or at least better) practice through... View Details

Keywords: Layoffs; Leadership And Change Management; Global Innovation; Strategic Decision Making; Multinational Corporations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; United States; France; Germany; Hungary; Finland; United Kingdom; Netherlands; China; Japan; Brazil

May 2017 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Webasto Roof Systems Americas: Leadership Through Change (A)

By: Francesca Gino and Paul Green

Webasto Roof Systems, Americas, the North American subsidiary of Germany-based Webasto Group, limped into 2014 in poor financial and operational shape. The company's early optimism emerging from the financial downturn had proven naive, and now, five years later, the... View Details

Keywords: Culture Change; Change Management; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Organizational Culture; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; North and Central America

June 2014
Teaching Note

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.: Driving Change Through Internal Communication

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Robin Abrahams

Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), confronted in 2003 with an urgent need to change how it operated externally, adopted a highly innovative approach to communicating internally. This case, set in 2010, presents an overview of the new, more interactive model of employee... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Change Management; Communication; Change; Leadership; Management; Energy Industry; India

2011
Chapter

Changing Identity, Changing Language

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Jeffrey T. Polzer

Environmental jolts and shifting membership challenge a group's efficacy and survival. Group identity is critical for a shared interpretation of and response to these challenges, but external and internal changes may require corresponding changes in a group's... View Details

Keywords: Change; Spoken Communication; Performance Efficiency; Problems and Challenges; Safety; Identity; California

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January 1988 (Revised January 2007)
Background Note

Leading Change

By: Michael Beer

Presents a conceptual framework for understanding the process of leading organizational change. Change leaders must create dissatisfaction with the status quo, develop a vision of the future state, and manage a process that sequences and orchestrates events and changes... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Leading Change

02 Jan 2016
News

Cultural Change Afoot in the Yard

Keywords: diversity; inclusion; leadership; cultural change; Educational Services

June 3, 2020
Article

Business Leaders Have to Create the Change Needed to End Racism

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Keywords: Leaders; Change; Racism; Change Leadership; Change Barriers

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February 2013 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Monique Leroux: Leading Change at Desjardins

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Monique Leroux led a major transformation, overcoming resistance, at a large Canadian financial cooperative based in Quebec that competed with top Canadian banks. Leroux was elected in 2008 as Chairman, President, and CEO of Desjardins Group. In order to compete... View Details

Keywords: Change Barriers; Leadership; Women And Leadership; Cooperatives; Social Enterprise; Financial Firms; Communication Strategy; Change Management; Transformation; Communication; Financial Services Industry; Canada

July 2024
Teaching Note

Leading Culture Change at Microsoft Western Europe

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Catherine Huang

This teaching plan is designed to be used in conjunction with the case study “Leading Culture Change at Microsoft Western Europe,” HBS No. 624-096, to help faculty deepen student understanding of psychological safety and organizational culture transformation through... View Details

Keywords: Culture Change; General Management; Psychological Safety; Leadership; Transformation; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Groups and Teams; Business or Company Management; Technology Industry; Europe

13 Oct 2014
News

Experiment with Organizational Change Before Going All In

Keywords: organizational change; behavioral economics; strategy

1996
Book

Leading Change

By: J. P. Kotter

Keywords: Leading Change; Boston

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2021
Article

How Top Managers Use the Entrepreneurial Gap to Drive Strategic Change

By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila

Prior research provides strong evidence for the association between business strategy and the design and use of management control systems. We complement this research by examining the role of management control systems in situations of strategic change. We report the... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Accountability; Strategic Change; Organization Change And Adaptation; Organizational Performance; Management Systems; Organizational Structure; Corporate Accountability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance

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September 1989
Case

Navistar: Managing Change

Describes 15 years of change at Navistar. Highlights changes in strategy, name, products, services, size, human resources policies, and programs. Underscores the brisk pace and scope of changes. Students are asked to categorize the types of change, evaluate them, and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management

Edward Chang (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches Inclusion in the MBA required curriculum and Negotiations in the MBA elective curriculum.
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CSML: Leading Change

School leaders are key change agents for their schools and are tasked with improving practice while navigating an increasingly challenging school environment. Driving change requires a strong foundation of knowledge and skills to effectively manage improvement and... View Details

01 Sep 2023
News

Wheel Change

A serial entrepreneur, Paris Wallace (MBA 2007/MPA 2008) is founder of Ovia Health and Good Start Genetics. But he started his first business—an online store selling bike parts and accessories—at age 16. With his launch this year of the National Cycling League (NCL),... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; cycling; entrepreneurship; leadership; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

September 2014
Case

Havas: Change Faster

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Michael L. Tushman

As of 2013, Havas was the 6th largest global advertising, digital, and communications group in the world. Headquartered in Paris, France, the group was highly decentralized, with semi-independent agencies in more than 100 countries offering a variety of services. The... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Agency; Open Innovation; Commercials; Digital Media; Digital Transition; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Advertising Campaigns; Acquisition; Change Management; Disruption; Transformation; Advertising Industry; Communications Industry