Publications

Program

Families in Business

foundations. All three types of businesses will benefit from this program. Details Address the complex dynamics of a family business Manage expectations for the family's involvement with the business Develop plans for onboarding the rising generation Resolve View Details

14 Dec 2021
Op-Ed

To Change Your Company's Culture, Don't Start by Trying to Change the Culture

constructive conflict and engagement.” The company formed a “culture committee” that Forlenza considered a waste of time and, ultimately, jettisoned, adding that: “Culture gets changed by doing real work in line with the new strategy, a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer

11 Jun 2021
Blog Post

Saying “Race” Out Loud: Leading Conversations on Diversity in HBS Classrooms

As an organizational behavior scholar, diversity and identity expert, and an assistant professor of management at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Dr. Stephanie Creary has become a recognized thought leader in navigating the... View Details

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

to share in decision-making and creating a culture that makes people feel safe enough to take risks and act on behalf of organizational interests. It’s also about earning trust from and offering trust to increasingly diverse stakeholders... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

April 1999 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Gerald Weiss

By: Brian J. Hall and Carleen Madigan

Gerald Weiss left Wall Street for the promise of a CFO position at a well-established corporation. He was given a 10-year options package with a guaranteed floor of $12 million and unlimited upside. To ensure the entire package would be worth at least $12 million after... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Resignation and Termination; Executive Compensation; Organizational Culture; Agreements and Arrangements; Stock Options; Conflict and Resolution; New York (city, NY)

January 2014 (Revised August 2014)
Case

The Kursk Submarine Rescue Mission

By: Anette Mikes

The Kursk, a Russian nuclear-powered submarine sank in the relatively shallow waters of the Barents Sea in August 2000, during a naval exercise. Numerous survivors were reported to be awaiting rescue, and within a week, an international rescue party gathered at the... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Moral Sensibility; Leadership; Organizational Structure; Crisis Management; Failure; Cooperation; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Norway; United Kingdom; Russia

03 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Layoffs Can Be Bad Business: 5 Strategies to Consider Before Cutting Staff

countries even require approvals from local governments. Labor law differences also exist between states, and even those sometimes conflict with federal law. A management team that fails to factor these differences into planned layoffs,... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Telecommunications; Technology; Financial Services; Manufacturing

12 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 12, 2017

also for new business models, products, strategies, and marketing campaigns—all relatively inexpensively. This will help it find the right path forward, especially when answers aren’t obvious or people have conflicting opinions.... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

03 May 2016
First Look

First Look, May 3, 2016

Abstract—Leaders face a multitude of strategic paradoxes—contradictory pressures that are too often viewed as “either/or” choices. There are innovation paradoxes, in which the pursuit of new offerings and processes conflicts with the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 23

importance of organizational governance, and the role of governing boards in particular, in prioritizing and aligning potentially conflicting objectives and interests in order to avoid mission drift and to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2000
Article

The Consequences of Customization on the Use of Management Accounting Systems

By: J. Bouwens and Margaret A. Abernethy

The understanding of the antecedent conditions influencing the design of management accounting systems (MASs) is very limited. In recent years, significant research attention has been devoted to understanding how different strategic priorities influence these systems.... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Management Systems; Accounting; Customization and Personalization

Find at Harvard

27 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

Religion in the Workplace: What Managers Need to Know

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission joined Elauf in a complaint against the company, and they prevailed in the first court hearing, but Abercrombie won on appeal, with the court saying that Elauf should have spoken up about her need for an accommodation that View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage; Apparel & Accessories

June 2007 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Managing Orthopaedics at Rittenhouse Medical Center

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Robert S. Huckman, James Weber and Kevin J. Bozic

Considers the issues associated with running multiple business models–a private practice and an academic faculty practice--within the confines of the orthopaedics department of a single medical center. Students assume the role of Neela Wilson, Executive Director of... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Business Model; Health Care and Treatment; Service Operations; Conflict Management; Competition; Health Industry

15 Nov 2022
Book

Stop Ignoring Bad Behavior: 6 Tips for Better Ethics at Work

also advising the government—the drug-regulation division of the US Food and Drug Administration—on how to strengthen its oversight of pharma. In addition to this alleged conflict of interest, McKinsey recommended questionable sales... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

17 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

What the Stockdale Paradox Tells Us About Crisis Leadership

immediate and long-term goals in mind. One respondent summed up the challenge in a particularly apt way: “Shifting existing organizational structures from ‘peacetime’ value creation to ‘wartime/survival’ in a very short period of time As... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

07 Sep 2012
Working Paper Summaries

IP Modularity: Profiting from Innovation by Aligning Product Architecture with Intellectual Property

Keywords: by Joachim Henkel, Carliss Y. Baldwin & Willy C. Shih

31 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 31, 2007

Working PapersCoupled Search Processes: Why Is It So Difficult to Find that Organizational Design Matters? Authors:Nicolaj Siggelkow and Jan W. Rivkin Abstract Organizational design affects performance via... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2006
Working Paper

The Limits of Authority: Motivation versus Coordination

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper studies the effects of open disagreement on motivation and coordination. It shows how, in the presence of differing priors, motivation and coordination impose conflicting demands on the allocation of authority, leading to a trade-off between the... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Governance Controls; Organizational Culture; Agency Theory; Conflict and Resolution; Motivation and Incentives