Publications

Read Now

31 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

Beyond the 'Business Case' in DEI: 6 Steps Toward Meaningful Change

disconnect between a company’s stated argument for diversity and the psychological reality of decision-making. “Your employees, future employees, customers and investors are watching.” As some CEOs weigh the future of their company’s DEI... View Details

Keywords: by Katherine Hutt Scott and Barbara DeLollis

20 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Creating a Positive Professional Image

story of managing your professional image, says Roberts. You also belong to a social identity group—African American male, working mother—that brings its own stereotyping from the people you work with, especially in today's diverse... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

February 2025
Teaching Note

Barbie: Reviving a Cultural Icon at Mattel

By: Elie Ofek and Sarah Mehta

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 525-006 and 525-020. View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Marketing Strategy; Entertainment Marketing; Intellectual Property; Consumer Preferences; Toy Industry; Culture And Marketing; Societal Marketing; Brand Purpose; Diversity And Inclusion; Turnaround Strategies

30 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Recruiters: Highlight Your Company’s Diversity, Not Just Perks and Pay

particularly young people: the diverse, inclusive workplaces they’ve worked hard to develop. “Job seekers are more likely to click on job ads for firms with high diversity scores when presented with this information.” “Job seekers are... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

18 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

What Your Non-Binary Employees Need to Do Their Best Work

beyond.” You Might Also Like: Breaking Through the Self-Doubt That Keeps Talented Women from Leading Want to Make Diversity Stick? Break the Cycle of Sameness Career Advice for Minorities and Women: Sharing Your Identity Can Open Doors... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

13 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

The Color of Private Equity: Quantifying the Bias Black Investors Face

Black venture capital and growth investors have a much harder time getting funding than white investors, because—despite efforts to bring more racial diversity to financial services—private equity’s gatekeepers remain mostly white,... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds; Financial Services

18 Nov 2022
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Safeguard a Legacy in Asset Management?

Last year, the pioneering Black-owned global asset management firm Brown Capital Management found itself at a crossroads. The secret to its success had been a deliberately diverse hiring strategy, but with the looming retirement of its... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

August 2021
Case

Zoom Video Communications: Building a Culture of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion During COVID-19

By: Karen G. Mills, Scott Duke Kominers, Christopher Stanton, Andy Wu, George Gonzalez and Gabriella Elanbeck

Keywords: Diversity Management; Diversity Training; Cultural Change; Cultural Diversity; Inclusion; Inclusive Growth; Inclusive Hiring; Hiring; Hiring Of Employees; Recruiting; Performance Management; Change Leadership; Race And Ethnicity; Racial Bias; Racial Disparity; Racial Injustice; Racial Tensions; Racism; Organization; Organization Process; Organization Structure; Structural/institutional Racism; Leadership And Change Management; Leadership And Managing People; Leading; Gender Bias; Discrimination; Inequalities; Inequality; Social Change; Employee Attitude Development And Empowerment; Employee Bonding; Employee Empowerment; Employee Engagement; Employee Fairness; Employee Morale; Employee Performance Management; Employee Relations; Company Culture; Company Values; Values; COVID-19 Pandemic; Demographics; Diversity; Age; Ethnicity; Gender; Business Processes; Change Management; Change; Race; Human Capital; Human Resources; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Jobs and Positions; Job Interviews; Leadership; Leading Change; Management; Management Teams; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Style; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Culture; Happiness; Prejudice and Bias; Satisfaction; Equity; Identity; Leadership Style; Values and Beliefs; Technology Industry; United States

October 2022
Case

Colette Phillips and GetKonnected!: Creating Inclusive Ecosystems

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Amy Chiu and Joyce Kim

Colette Phillips’ marketing firm had just won the City of Boston’s 2nd largest contract in history to a Black-owned company. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Get Konnected!, the networking organization for people of color that she founded 15 years earlier and led to... View Details

February 2023
Teaching Note

Colette Phillips and GetKonnected: Creating Inclusive Ecosystems

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 323-035. View Details

03 Oct 2018
What Do You Think?

How Should Managers Deal with the Challenges of Building an Inclusive Workplace?

column about how best to foster a climate of inclusion in an organization. Dianne Jacobs made the case for inclusion succinctly when she said: “Those that manage diversity and inclusion well tend to manage change well.” MarufSalmon added,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 2020
Article

Organizing Knowledge Production Teams Within Firms for Innovation

By: Vikas A. Aggarwal, David H. Hsu and Andy Wu

How should firms organize their pool of inventive human capital for firm-level innovation? While access to diverse knowledge may aid knowledge recombination, which can facilitate innovation, prior literature has focused primarily on one way of achieving that: diversity... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Recombination; Organization Design; Team Boundary; Innovation; Knowledge Sharing; Diversity; Innovation and Invention; Groups and Teams; Human Capital; Organizational Design

Read Now

04 Jan 2021
What Do You Think?

How Do We Sustain Organization Diversity?

about why else this could happen. With little evidence to support a theory, it occurred to me that one additional issue that hasn’t shown up in the press might be that of sequencing; in a sense, putting the cart before the horse. When I think of View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

August 1999 (Revised October 2000)
Case

Millennium Media, Inc. and John Voorenberg

By: David A. Thomas

Millenium Media's CEO reviews the company diversity report and considers the challenges of maintaining a diverse workforce in light of the news that three individuals, two of whom are people of color, are leaving for opportunities with a competitor. View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Employee Relationship Management; Resignation and Termination; Retention; Leadership Style; Problems and Challenges; Competition

13 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

The Problem with Productivity of Multi-Ethnic Teams

people are voting on ethnic lines. Other research has found that teams made up of people from diverse cultural viewpoints show more creativity and versatility in unfamiliar situations. “Indeed, ethnic View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

March 2012
Article

Racial Diversity, Racial Asymmetries, and Team Learning Environment: Effects on Performance

By: Robin J. Ely, Irene Padavic and David A. Thomas

This paper argues that learning in cross-race interactions is critical for work teams to realize performance benefits from racial diversity but that diversity is a liability when society's negative stereotypes about racial minorities' competence inhibit such... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Performance; Learning; Diversity

Find at Harvard

November 2007
Supplement

Differences at Work: Jason (B)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Rachel Gordon

In Differences at Work: Jason (B) HBS Case No. 9-408-049 Jason decides that his firm should have a more articulated position that everyone in the firm understands about why diversity benefits the firm instead of pursing diversity because it feels like the “right” thing... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Policy; Employees; Diversity

November 2007
Case

Differences at Work: Jason (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Rachel Gordon

Jason is a member of his firm's recruiting team, which has a mandate to create a more diverse workforce. When the group decides to interview a candidate based on the candidate's race, Jason wonders whether they made the right decision and how, in general, diversity... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Ethnicity; Job Interviews; Race; Recruitment; Diversity

July 2016 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Alphabet Eyes New Frontiers (A)

By: Juan Alcacer, Raffaella Sadun, Olivia Hull and Kerry Herman

In October 2015, Google restructured into Alphabet, a holding company, which analysts said would facilitate innovation among its diverse subsidiaries. But when news reports surfaced revealing struggles within Alphabet companies including Nest, the smart thermostat... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Conglomerates; Corporate Restructuring; Google; Corporate Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Research and Development; Diversification; Financial Reporting; Talent and Talent Management; Technology Industry; Computer Industry; California; United States