Publications

December 2014
Article

Team Reflexivity as an Antidote to Team Information Processing Failures

By: M. C. Schippers, A. C. Edmondson and M. A. West

This article proposes that team reflexivity—a deliberate process of discussing team goals, processes, or outcomes—can function as an antidote to team-level biases and errors in decision making. We build on prior work conceptualizing teams as information-processing... View Details

Keywords: Team Reflexivity; Team Information-processesing Failures; Team Regulatory Processes; Team Learning; Groups and Teams; Knowledge Management

Research Summary

Top Management Teams

Michael Roberto is studying how senior management teams function, and how chief executives lead these teams effectively. Many chief executives can identify their top management team, but this set of executives does not necessarily perform critical tasks and make... View Details

26 Aug 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Unpacking Team Diversity: An Integrative Multi-Level Model of Cross-Boundary Teaming

Keywords: by Amy C. Edmondson and Jean-François Harvey

April 2014
Article

Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor in Top Management

By: Maria Guadalupe, Hongyi Li and Julie Wulf

Top management structures in large U.S. firms have changed significantly since the mid-1980s. While the size of the executive team—the group of managers reporting directly to the CEO—doubled during this period, this growth was driven primarily by an increase in... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Functions; Centralization; M-form; Hierarchy; Top Management Team; C-Suite; Activities; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Diversification; Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Management Teams; United States

May 2006
Module Note

Leading Culturally Diverse Teams

By: Robin J. Ely

Describes the Leading Culturally Diverse Teams module (eight class sessions), which teaches students the leadership perspectives and skills necessary to develop high-functioning, culturally diverse teams (teams diverse in, for example, race, ethnicity, gender,... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Diversity; Leadership; Groups and Teams; Perspective; Culture

March 1997 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Business Teams at Rubbermaid, Inc.

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Dean Whitney

Rubbermaid, a consumer-products company widely praised for its innovation, has instituted a company-wide experiment to stimulate innovation even further. The experiment consists of creating small cross-functional business teams within each division, with each team... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Innovation Strategy; Groups and Teams; Innovation and Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Consumer Products Industry; United States

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Functional Centralization and the Division of Labor in Management

By: Julie Wulf, Maria Guadalupe and Hongyi Li

This paper shows that the trend towards flatter hierarchies in large US firms since the mid-80's has been accompanied by increased centralization of activities at the top of the organization. In particular, the number of functional managers (e.g., Chief Financial... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Management Teams; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Diversification; Information Technology; United States

September 1990 (Revised March 1991)
Case

Mod IV Product Development Team

By: Anne Donnellon and Joshua D. Margolis

Focuses sharply on a crossfunctional product development team at Honeywell's Building Controls Division. Traces the history of teams at the division, which introduced them as a response to intensifying competition and the need for faster development. Reveals the... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Management Teams; Product Development; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams; Competitive Strategy

24 Sep 2015
News

Global Teams That Work

August 2017
Article

Effective Leadership of Surgical Teams: A Mixed Methods Study of Surgeon Behaviors and Functions

By: J. Stone, E. Aveling, M. Frean, M. Shields, C. Wright, F. Gino, T. Sundt and S.J. Singer

The importance of effective team leadership for achieving surgical excellence is widely accepted, but we understand less about the behaviors that achieve this goal. We studied cardiac surgical teams to identify leadership behaviors that best support surgical teamwork.... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Leadership; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

31 Oct 2018
What Do You Think?

What is the Function of Fear in Leadership?

leader’s role should involve reducing fear among associates to a minimum. Beatriz commented that, “quite often, team members paralyze due to fear and start delegating upward New KPIs, action plans, and strategies that don’t decipher the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Dec 2008
News

The CEO and the Functions of Leadership

work of the organization. The recruiting and retention of the management team is therefore another vital function of leadership. “In each of these areas, the challenge is not only design and implementation... View Details

12 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Crowded at the Top: The Rise of the Functional Manager

other functional managers, in hopes that they'll work as a team and discover effective ways to cooperate better. "By narrowing their focus in terms of their business portfolio, companies increase the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

June 1978
Article

Large Group Bargaining in a Characteristic Function Game

By: J. K. Murnighan and A. E. Roth

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Negotiation; Games, Gaming, and Gambling

31 May 2004
Research & Ideas

How Team Leaders Show Support–or Not

What do leaders do to make employees in creative functions feel supported or not? That was one of the research questions posed by Harvard Business School professor Teresa Amabile and colleagues in what has turned into a penetrating study... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

October 2009
Case

Medisys Corp.: The IntensCare Product Development Team

By: Anne Donnellon and Joshua D. Margolis

Key topics include designing teams, managing teams, managing conflict, group dynamics, project management, product development, interdepartmental relations, and organizational change. MediSys, a U.S.-based medical equipment maker, has been developing IntensCare, a new... View Details

Keywords: Project Management; Interdepartmental Relations; Organizational Change; Leadership; Conflict Management; Interpersonal Communication; Groups and Teams; Product Design; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Health Care and Treatment; Power and Influence; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

August 2006
Article

Extending the Faultline Concept to Geographically Dispersed Teams: How Colocated Subgroups Can Impair Group Functioning

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer, Brad Crisp, Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa and Jerry W. Kim

We theorize that in geographically dispersed teams, members' geographic locations are likely to activate "faultlines" (hypothetical dividing lines that split a group into subgroups) that impair team functioning. In a study of 45 teams comprised of graduate students... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Nationality; Groups and Teams; Trust; Conflict and Resolution