Publications

23 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

What’s Your Strategy for Managing Knowledge?

Some large consulting companies, such as Andersen Consuiting and Ernst & Young, have pursued a codification strategy. Over the last five years, they have developed elaborate ways to codify, store, and reuse knowledge. (See the exhibit "How Consulting Firms... View Details

Keywords: by Morten T. Hansen, Nitin Nohria & Thomas Tierney; Consulting

2016
Working Paper

Workplace Design: The Good, the Bad, and the Productive

By: Michael Housman and Dylan Minor

We study the effects of performance spillover in the workplace-both positive and negative-on several dimensions, and find that it is pervasive and decreasing in the physical distance between workers. We also find that workers have different strengths, and that while... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Human Resource Management; Peer Effects; Productivity; Spillovers; Toxic Worker; Strategy; Working Conditions; Performance Productivity; Human Resources

SSRN

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05 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

The Middle Manager of the Future: More Coaching, Less Commanding

Zhang says. They still maintain traditional supervisory responsibilities such as setting work schedules, enforcing human resource policies, conducting job reviews, and more. At the same time, managers are... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

August 2013
Background Note

A Note on Knowledge Management in Professional Services Firms

By: Robert G. Eccles, Ana Kreacic and Penelope Rossano

Knowledge management is a subject of broad interest, especially in "knowledge industries" and "knowledge economies." It is also a topic filled with frustration on the part of practitioners and the level of resource commitment to this function waxes and wanes. This note... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Management

September – October 2011
Article

Manage the Culture Cycle

By: James L. Heskett

Organizational culture—the shared assumptions, values, and behaviors that determine "how we do things around here"—can be measured and shaped. In organizations with large numbers of customer-facing employees, it can account for up to half of the difference in operating... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Value; Behavior; Retention; Customer Focus and Relationships; Change Management; Learning; Innovation and Invention; Labor

10 Jan 2008
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Operations Management

Sharpening Your Skills dives into the HBS Working Knowledge archives to bring together articles on ways to improve your business skills. Questions to be answered: Can "lean" productions methods improve service industries? How can a company's order View Details

25 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Rapport: The Hidden Advantage That Women Managers Bring to Teams

communication and rapport between managers and employees. In this case, the manager may not have scheduled the fast-food stations properly, forcing an overtaxed employee to juggle both packaging meals and... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Food & Beverage

November 1990 (Revised November 1991)
Case

Apple Computer (B): Managing Morale and Corporate Culture

Explores how the human resource function at Apple Computer can best support the company's strategy. Analyzes the culture and morale at Apple. Apple has a very unique culture. Moreover, morale within the company is at a low. The culture is powerful in aiding the company... View Details

Keywords: Attitudes; Organizational Culture; Employees; Business Strategy; Computer Industry; United States

April 2008
Teaching Note

TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial (Brief Case)

By: Michael Beer and Sunru Yong

Teaching note to case #2184 View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Meetings; Group Dynamics; Human Resource Management; Conflict; Leadership; Communication; Groups and Teams; Organizations; Decision Making; Human Resources; Conflict and Resolution

1997
Chapter

Resource Allocation, Incentives, and Control: The Importance of Venture Capital in Financing Entrepreneurial Firms

By: P. A. Gompers

Keywords: Venture Capital; Resource Allocation; Motivation and Incentives; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Governance

28 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

The Clock Is Ticking: 3 Ways to Manage Your Time Better

and limited resources better: our time. Here’s what they said. Leslie Perlow: Consider where you work, not just when The pandemic has brought on many changes with respect to how people can use and manage... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

April 2008
Case

TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial

By: Michael Beer and Sunru Yong

TerraCog, a successful privately held high-tech firm that develops GPS (global positioning system) and similar products for consumer markets, has recently been caught off-guard by a competitor's new product that makes novel use of satellite imagery. When TerraCog... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Meetings; Decision Making; Group Dynamics; Human Resource Management; Conflict; Information Technology; Leadership; Conflict Management; Competition; Groups and Teams; Organizational Culture; Human Resources; Communication; Decision Choices and Conditions; Crisis Management; Technology Industry

Article

When Every Employee Is a Risk Manager

By: Kurt Meyer, Anette Mikes and Robert S. Kaplan

Risk management needs to be part of the daily lives of all employees up, down, and across an organization. Here’s how the Swiss electricity network achieves that. View Details

Keywords: Employees; Risk Management

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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

May 1996
Background Note

The GM's Operational Challenge: Managing Through People

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

Highlights and explores how a general manager adds value to the firm at the operational level by managing through people. Discusses how assumptions about human motivation influence the employment contract that the general manager implicitly enters into with the workers... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Contracts; Managerial Roles; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Value

January 2009 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Solvay Group: International Mobility and Managing Expatriates

By: Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria and Kerry Herman

Marcel Lorent, head of International Mobility at Brussels-based Solvay Group, faces decisions on the expatriation status of four of his firm's talented executives. Each decision will impact the candidate's professional and personal life and will have implications for... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Globalized Firms and Management; Work-Life Balance; Talent and Talent Management; Residency; Employees; Brussels

13 Apr 2021
Book

How Inclusive Managers Create Glass-Shattering Organizations

managers about the gender biases that influence hiring decisions. Companies should also anonymize resumes, diversify interview panels, and evaluate candidates as a group against a set of defined criteria. Integration. Create opportunities... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

December 1997 (Revised January 1998)
Exercise

COO and Country Manager Job Selection Exercise

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

From seven candidates, students must choose two who are most qualified for the COO position at an entrepreneurial Danish multinational organization, and two who are the best choices for country manager in Vietnam for the company. View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Experience and Expertise; Multinational Firms and Management