Publications

February 2022
Teaching Note

Stoy Foods

By: John Beshears

Teaching Note for the "Stoy Foods" Exercise (Harvard Business School Exercise 918-044, 918-045, 918-046, and 918-047). View Details

Keywords: Motivation; Framing; Job Design; Family Business

2015
Working Paper

Understanding Conformity: An Experimental Investigation

By: B. Douglas Bernheim and Christine L Exley

Some theories of conformity hold that social equilibrium either standardizes inferences or promotes a shared understanding of conventions and norms among individuals with fixed heterogeneous preferences (belief mechanisms). Others depict tastes as fluid and hence... View Details

Keywords: Conformity; Norms; Image Motivation; Prosocial Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Standards

SSRN

Article

Can You Cut 'Turn Times' Without Adding Staff?

By: Ethan Bernstein and Ryan W. Buell

The president of RSA Ground, the subsidiary of Rising Sun Airlines responsible for servicing its planes at airports across Japan, goes undercover as a service crew member to discover how and whether his employees can speed up cleaning, checking, restocking, and... View Details

Keywords: Employee Empowerment; Employee Motivation; Turnaround; Service Operations; Employees; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Air Transportation Industry; Japan

May 2018
Article

Incentives for Prosocial Behavior: The Role of Reputations

By: Christine L. Exley

Do monetary incentives encourage volunteering? Or, do they introduce concerns about appearing greedy and crowd out the motivation to volunteer? Since the importance of such image concerns is normally unobserved, the answer is theoretically unclear, and corresponding... View Details

Keywords: Incentives; Image Motivation; Volunteer; Prosocial Behavior; Altruism; Gender; Reputations; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Perception; Reputation

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Research Summary

Overview

I am a field researcher studying the relational nature of work. Organizations are inherently social institutions and provide myriad opportunities for relationship formation. My work begins with the simple insight that all relationships are not equal: interpersonal... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Motivation; Feedback; Personal Development; Needs; Organizational Design; Performance Productivity; Social and Collaborative Networks; Networks; Groups and Teams; Family and Family Relationships; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Consulting Industry; Consumer Products Industry

Article

Temporal View of the Costs and Benefits of Self-Deception

By: Zoe Chance, Michael I. Norton, Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely

Researchers have documented many cases in which individuals rationalize their regrettable actions. Four experiments examine situations in which people go beyond merely explaining away their misconduct to actively deceiving themselves. We find that those who exploit... View Details

Keywords: Hindsight Bias; Lying; Motivated Reasoning; Self-enhancement; Social Psychology; Perception; Performance Expectations

2015
Chapter

How Leaders Use Values-based Guidance Systems to Create Dynamic Capabilities

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Matthew Bird, Ethan Bernstein and Ryan Raffaelli

How do strategic leaders create change-adept organizations? Based on qualitative field research, this chapter argues that well-defined institutionalized purpose, values, and principles act as an organizational guidance system that integrates and strengthens the... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Capabilities; Field Research; Intrinsic Motivation; Organizational Identity; Ecosystem; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Motivation and Incentives; Research; Management Systems; Change

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March 2021
Article

Opting-in to Prosocial Incentives

By: Daniel Schwartz, Elizabeth A. Keenan, Alex Imas and Ayelet Gneezy

The design of effective incentive schemes that are both successful in motivating employees and keeping down costs is of critical importance. Research has demonstrated that prosocial incentives, where individuals’ effort benefits a charitable organization, can sometimes... View Details

Keywords: Incentives; Prosocial Behavior; Behavioral Economics; Field Experiments; Recycling; Prosocial Motivation; Decision Making; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior

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April 2014
Article

The Cost of High-Powered Incentives: Employee Gaming in Enterprise Software Sales

By: Ian Larkin

This paper investigates the pricing distortions that arise from the use of a common non-linear incentive scheme at a leading enterprise software vendor. The empirical results demonstrate that salespeople are adept at gaming the timing of deal closure to take advantage... View Details

Keywords: Incentives; Motivation; Compensation; Gaming; Sales Force Management; Motivation and Incentives; Salesforce Management; Software; Compensation and Benefits; Information Technology Industry

February 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Case

The Estate Tax Debate

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Katrina Flanagan and Valerie Galinskaya

Per dollar of revenue, no tax policy generates more sound and fury than the taxation of estates. To supporters, the tax is a break on the concentration of wealth and power and an easy way to fund redistribution. To opponents, the tax is an unjust punishment of the... View Details

Keywords: Atkinson-Stiglitz; Optimal Capital Taxation; Bequest Motives; Taxation; Family and Family Relationships; Property

10 Jun 2014
News

Why Work-Life Balance Is Your Company's Problem

Keywords: work-life balance; employee motivation; workplace culture

May 2016 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Pal's Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth

By: Gary P. Pisano, Francesca Gino and Bradley R. Staats

Pal's Sudden Service has developed a unique operating model and organizational culture in the quick service restaurant business. With a deep emphasis on process control and improvement, zero defects, extensive training, and a high level of employee engagement, Pal's... View Details

Keywords: Growth Strategy; Corporate Culture; Operations Strategy; Motivation; Values; Motivation and Incentives; Strategy; Values and Beliefs; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

March 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Innovation at Moog Inc.

By: Brian J. Hall, Ashley V. Whillans, Davis Heniford, Dominika Randle and Caroline Witten

This case focuses on the challenges of incentivizing innovation within Moog, an engineering company based in New York state that designs and builds guidance systems for space, air, and land-based travel. The case enables students to grapple with the challenges of using... View Details

November 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Stone Finch, Inc.: Young Division, Old Division

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Elizabeth Collins

CEO Jim Billings wants to attract energetic, entrepreneurial talent to Stone Finch, Inc., which comprises an older division that fabricates products like piping and tanks for water and wastewater processing plants, and a much newer division that develops biochemical... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Human Resource Management; Motivation; Business Growth; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Business Subsidiaries; Innovation Strategy; Resource Allocation; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Retention; Operations; Recruitment; Integration; Business Growth and Maturation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Growth and Development Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

November 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Teaching Note

Stone Finch, Inc.: Young Division, Old Division (Brief Case)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Elizabeth Collins

Teaching Note for 3214 View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Human Resource Management; Motivation; Business Growth; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizations; Human Resources

November 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Supplement

Stone Finch, Inc.: Young Division, Old Division, Spreadsheet Supplement for Instructors (Brief Case)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Elizabeth Collins

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Human Resource Management; Motivation; Business Growth; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Behavior; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizations; Human Resources

November 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Supplement

Stone Finch, Inc.: Young Division, Old Division, Student Spreadsheet (Brief Case)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Elizabeth Collins

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Human Resource Management; Motivation; Business Growth; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Behavior; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizations; Human Resources

November 2011
Case

WrapItUp: Developing a New Compensation Plan

By: W. Earl Sasser Jr. and Rachel Shelton

A restaurant chain based in California offers made-to-order sandwich wraps using fresh, healthy ingredients. The founders of the company take a very active role in day-to-day business and tightly control every aspect of the restaurant operation from hiring store... View Details

Keywords: Empowerment; Middle Management; Human Resource Management; Compensation; Incentives; Motivation; Motivation and Incentives; Change Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Service Delivery; Entrepreneurship; Employees; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; California

August 19, 2015
Article

The Slow Decay and Quick Revival of Self-deception

By: Zoe Chance, Francesca Gino, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

People demonstrate an impressive ability to self-deceive, distorting misbehavior to reflect positively on themselves—for example, by cheating on a test and believing that their inflated performance reflects their true ability. But what happens to self-deception when... View Details

Keywords: Self-deception; Cheating; Self-enhancement; Positive Illusions; Motivated Reasoning; Perception; Behavior; Ethics