Systems Thinking - Publications - Faculty & Research

09 Aug 2024
Blog Post

Addressing Inequities in Education: Social Enterprise Summer Fellow Amal Tariq (MBA 2025)

organizations driving systemic changes in public education. City Fund partners with local leaders across the country to build innovative public school systems aimed at moving children out of poverty and into... View Details

09 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 9

Cases & Course Materials Harvard Business School Case 612-016 Lowell General Physician Hospital Organization This case focuses on the Alternative Quality Contract (AQC), a novel payment program designed to incentivize providers to deliver less costly, high... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Apr 2024
HBS Case

Deion Sanders' Prime Lessons for Leading a Team to Victory

progress. In one survey in August 2023, for example, 73 percent of workers identify micromanagement as the biggest “workplace red flag,” saying it leads to negativity and anxiety in the workplace. “If you think about situational... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

01 Aug 2023
What Do You Think?

As Leaders, Why Do We Continue to Reward A, While Hoping for B?

they will influence performance. But the incentives are so small that employees ignore them. Forty-eight years after Kerr’s paper, you might think that leaders and managers would be getting better at shaping and administering incentives.... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Lifelong Learning - Alumni

Program) 458 01 Mar 2024 HBS Alumni Bulletin Leading Businesses in a Web3 World How will the next generation of the internet empower users, disrupt industries, and enable ownership of digital assets? 377 01 Mar 2024 HBS Alumni Bulletin On the Radar An early warning... View Details

20 Dec 2006
Op-Ed

Investors Hurt by Dual-Track Tax Reporting

goal. Profits reported to tax authorities and to capital markets were essentially the same. Over time, well-considered exceptions—expensing of investments, for example—were introduced to advance policy goals such as stimulating investment. In the last decade, the two... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

26 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

STEM Needs More Women. Recruiters Often Keep Them Out

much as 80 percent of tuition for delivering top applicants. “If you're not really thinking about how these little subtle differences might occur here, before people even apply, then maybe you're missing out on potential non-traditional... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

March 2022
Teaching Note

Inclusive Innovation at Mass General Brigham

By: Katherine Coffman and Olivia Hull

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 921-006, “Inclusive Innovation at Mass General Brigham." This case invites students to explore the individual and structural factors that lead to an under-representation of women in male-dominated domains, and to think critically about... View Details

Keywords: Inclusion; Gender Gap; Gender Inclusivity; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

Citation

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June 2020
Case

RBC: Transforming Transformation (A)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Aldo Sesia

In 2017, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), a Canadian financial icon, mandated a swat team of “enablers of collaboration” (their job description) to support the personal and commercial bank in the enterprise-wide RBC Cultural Transformation initiative. Historically,... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Information Technology; Transformation; Change Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Decision Making; Human Resources; Management Systems; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Canada

Citation

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21 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Good Banks, Bad Banks, and Government’s Role as Fixer

[implicit federal guarantees] by that very process. Third, you're assuming that we can know in advance every institution that's systemically risky, but I don't think that's possible. Finally, why do we... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

30 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

‘Intrinsic Joy’ Sparks Ideas Better than Cash

assistant professor Maria Roche and colleagues. Essentially, the authors write, payment killed the “intrinsic joy” developers felt, a motivation akin to scientists making a big discovery. “So often, money is the quick fix. Or you think it... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology

22 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

How to Make AI 'Forget' All the Private Data It Shouldn't Have

training for various reasons.” Rachel Layne: What is machine “unlearning” and why is it important? Seth Neel: Before defining machine unlearning, maybe it's good to set a baseline of what machine learning is. Broadly, I view machine learning as using data to create... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology; Information Technology

26 Apr 2023
In Practice

Is AI Coming for Your Job?

The launch of ChatGPT seems to have reignited doomsday fears about artificial intelligence (AI) replacing workers en masse. Are these fears prescient or overblown? A recent survey shows 62 percent of Americans think AI will majorly impact... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Technology

10 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

In Empowering Black Voters, Did a Landmark Law Stir White Angst?

states (the data excludes Texas) for 1956 through 1980. They use the information to create a database—the first time that such records have been systemically collected for this part US for the years covered by the study, they note. “One... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

16 May 2023
HBS Case

How KKR Got More by Giving Ownership to the Factory Floor: ‘My Kids Are Going to College!’

workers like his father a share of the profits and get them to think like owners. The case studies, written by HBS Professor Dennis Campbell and assistant professor Ethan Rouen, describe the sea change in motivation that happens when... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

03 Oct 2023
Research Event

Build the Life You Want: Arthur Brooks and Oprah Winfrey Share Happiness Tips

coauthor of the new book Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier, for an intimate, powerful conversation that touches on: the mistake people make in thinking that money, power, and fame will bring them happiness;... View Details

Keywords: by HBS Staff

31 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

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

because it leads to disconnects at two levels: Individually, it can make leaders exhibit more bias. Organizationally, it does not move leaders to confront biased HR systems and corporate cultures. What this means is that a company might... View Details

Keywords: by Katherine Hutt Scott and Barbara DeLollis

17 Dec 2012
Research & Ideas

Teaming in the Twenty-First Century

Even as academic journals and business sections of bookstores fill up with titles devoted to teams, teamwork, and team players, Harvard Business School Professor Amy C. Edmondson wonders if many might be barking up the wrong tree. "I've begun to View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

09 Jan 2024
In Practice

Harnessing AI: What Businesses Need to Know in ChatGPT’s Second Year

limitations of generative AI solutions, discerning optimal use cases, and establishing boundary conditions will be pivotal. Responsible AI and AI ethics. As integration of AI systems deepens into society, businesses, and education, an... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology

12 Mar 2024
HBS Case

How Used Products Can Unlock New Markets: Lessons from Apple's Refurbished iPhones

Some of Apple’s most loyal customers think nothing of upgrading to the latest iPhone every time one comes out. But what about consumers who can’t splurge on a $1,000 iPhone 15 Pro? And what about the electronic waste that would accrue if people threw away functional... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Electronics; Information Technology

Publications