Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,113)
- Faculty Publications (475)
- December 24, 2019
- Editorial
Why It’s So Hard to Change People’s Commuting Behavior
By: Ariella Kristal and Ashley Whillans
Car commuters report higher levels of stress and lower job satisfaction compared to train commuters—in large part because car commuting can involve driving in traffic and navigating tense road situations. Some employers are trying to get involved and reduce car... View Details
- December 2019
- Case
The Business of Pain: Johnson & Johnson and the Promise of Opioids
By: Erik Snowberg, Trevor Fetter and Amy W. Schulman
This case is designed to provide an engrossing overview of stakeholder capitalism through a vigorous discussion of the conflicts that can arise when trying to serve multiple stakeholders.
In 2007, Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) subsidiary Janssen has to decide whether or... View Details
- November 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Starbucks: Reaffirming Commitment to the Third Place Ideal
By: Francesca Gino, Katherine B. Coffman and Jeff Huizinga
On April 12, 2018, two African American entrepreneurs had scheduled a business meeting at a Starbucks in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. They sat without ordering, waiting for a local businessman to show up for the meeting. The store manager called 911... View Details
- 2020
- Working Paper
Recognition Incentives for Internal Crowdsourcing: A Field Experiment at NASA
By: Jana Gallus, Olivia S. Jung and Karim R. Lakhani
What might motivate employees to participate in internal crowdsourcing, a peer-based approach to innovation? Should organizations use incentives that are congruent with their established hierarchical structures, or should they use incentives that are aligned with the... View Details
- November–December 2019
- Article
Head, Heart or Hands: How Do Employees Respond to a Radical Global Language Change Over Time?
By: Sebastian Reiche and Tsedal Neeley
To understand how recipients respond to radical change over time across cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions, we conducted a longitudinal study of a mandated language change at a Chilean subsidiary of a large U.S. multinational organization. The... View Details
Keywords: Language; Communication; Change; Employees; Attitudes; Emotions; Globalized Firms and Management
- October 14, 2019
- Article
The Truth About Open Offices: There Are Reasons Why They Don't Produce the Desired Interactions
By: Ethan Bernstein and Ben Waber
It’s never been easier for workers to collaborate—or so it seems. Open, flexible, activity-based spaces are displacing cubicles, making people more visible. Messaging is displacing phone calls, making people more accessible. Enterprise social media such as Slack and... View Details
- October 2019
- Case
Engaging the Nationwide Workforce
By: Ethan S. Bernstein, Jessica Gover and Sarah Mehta
Nationwide is “on your side,” but did employees feel that way? CAO Gale King and CEO Steve Rasmussen, starting in 2008, invested heavily in a human capital strategy centered around “engagement” at the Ohio-based Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Set in 2014, this... View Details
Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Insurance; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Employment; Human Capital; Leadership; Leadership Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Social Psychology; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Ohio
- October 2019
- Teaching Note
Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?
By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg
A Teaching Note for the "Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?" case study (HBS#820-048). The case discusses recent controversies regarding how Google manages temporary help agency workers, workers supplied by vendors, and independent contractors ("TVCs"). Such TVCs reportedly... View Details
Keywords: Workforce; Independent Contractors; Talent Management; Silicon Valley; Google; Employee Attitude; Employee Compensation; Employee Engagement; Future Of Work; Innovation; Innovation And Strategy; Inequality; Talent Acquisition; Labor; Talent and Talent Management; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Employees; Attitudes; Innovation and Management; Human Resources; Information Technology Industry; United States; San Francisco
- 2019
- Working Paper
Birds of a Feather ... Enforce Social Norms? Interactions Among Culture, Norms, and Strategy
By: Hongyi Li and Eric J. Van den Steen
This paper analyzes how shared beliefs and preferences (or values) cause the emergence of social norms; why people may enforce norms that go against their own beliefs and preferences/values; and how this may cause a disconnect to develop between the... View Details
- September 2019 (Revised December 2022)
- Case
Cooking Down a Storm: Changing Culture at Pasta Serafina (A)
By: Susanna Gallani, Francesca Gino and Raffaella Sadun
Plant management at Pasta Serafina, a pasta producer in the south of Italy, is struggling to contain employee absenteeism. While the misbehavior is concentrated in a minority of the workers, its effects impact not only the plant’s performance, but also the climate and... View Details
- September 2019 (Revised December 2022)
- Supplement
Cooking Down a Storm: Changing Culture at Pasta Serafina (B)
By: Susanna Gallani, Francesca Gino and Raffaella Sadun
The case complements Pasta Serafina (A) by describing the aftermath of a town hall meeting in which management had publicly denounced the absenteeism problem and challenged the employees to find a solution. In spite of the initial mistrust against management, the fear... View Details
- September 2019 (Revised December 2019)
- Case
Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?
By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg
In late 2018, evidence emerged that many of Google’s temporary help agency workers, vendors, and independent contractors (“TVCs”) were unhappy with the company. TVCs, who reportedly made up 49.95% of Google’s 170,000-person global workforce, had raised concerns of... View Details
Keywords: Workforce; Independent Contractors; Talent Management; Silicon Valley; Google; Employee Attitude; Employee Compensation; Employee Engagement; Future Of Work; Innovation; Innovation And Strategy; Inequality; Talent Acquisition; Labor; Talent and Talent Management; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Employees; Attitudes; Innovation and Management; Human Resources; Equality and Inequality; Information Technology Industry; United States; San Francisco
- September 2019
- Case
Shell: A Company of Opportunity?
By: Joseph B. Fuller and Emer Moloney
The Opportunity Hub was a cloud-based platform that enabled managers to market projects they were working on and associated resourcing needs as “Opportunity Owners” and employees, or “Opportunity Seekers,” to browse these statements of need and engage when they had... View Details
Keywords: Business Divisions; Change Management; Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Energy; Energy Sources; Non-Renewable Energy; Renewable Energy; Human Resources; Employees; Retention; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Jobs and Positions; Job Design and Levels; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Labor; Human Capital; Labor Unions; Leading Change; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Evaluation; Performance Productivity; Strategic Planning; Projects; Motivation and Incentives; Business Strategy; Social and Collaborative Networks; Technology Platform; Chemical Industry; Energy Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United Kingdom; Netherlands
- Article
How to (Inadvertently) Sabotage Your Organization
By: Stefan Thomke
Some of the biggest threats to organizational performance can and do come from within. In an age when companies are told to be agile, to learn from experiments, and to be entrepreneurial, we are still vulnerable to actions — deliberate or unintentional — that stem from... View Details
- Article
Risk Attitudes and Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs and Venture Team Members
By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Margaret Dalton
Personality distinctions between entrepreneurs, nonfounder CEOs/leaders, and inventor employees have received limited attention, especially in innovative settings where they are working together. We surveyed these groups, along with other employees of innovative firms,... View Details
- August 2019
- Case
Humanistic Capitalism at Brunello Cucinelli
By: Francesca Gino and Gary Pisano
This case explores one company’s attempt to experiment with a different underlying model for a capitalist enterprise. Brunello Cucinelli, S.p.A. is a leading manufacturer of luxury fashion apparel. Despite being a publicly traded enterprise with annual revenues... View Details
- August 2019
- Case
Bark Gift Shop Ltd.
By: Susanna Gallani, Jan Bouwens and Peter Kroos
This case describes a setting in which the CFO of Bark Gift Shop Ltd., a gift items retailer, discovers an undesired pattern in the performance data suggesting that her shop managers that perform well during the first part of the year, purposely reduce their effort in... View Details
- July 24, 2019
- Editorial
How to Make Even the Most Mundane Tasks More Motivating
By: Jaewon Yoon, A.V. Whillans and Ed O'Brien
People want purposeful work, and managers know it. That’s why companies try to inspire employees with mission statements about the impact their work can have. Ikea tells employees they’re “creating a better everyday life”; Microsoft says they’re “empowering every... View Details
- July–August 2019
- Article
The Soul of a Startup
By: Ranjay Gulati
There’s an essential, intangible something in start-ups—an energy, a soul. It inspires enthusiasm and fosters a sense of deep connection and mutual purpose. While this spirit persists, engagement is high and businesses keep their edge.
But all too often,... View Details
But all too often,... View Details
- June 26, 2019
- Article
The Biggest Mistakes Companies Make With Corporate Social Responsibility
There’s almost nothing worse for the corporate ego than thinking that you’re doing good and should be appreciated for it, only to find that you’re pilloried instead. The public doesn’t believe you, the community doesn’t want you, and your own employees won’t defend... View Details