Publications

August 2012 (Revised October 2015)
Technical Note

A Note on Trust

By: Jim Sharpe and Charles H. Green

The effective manager and leader understands and appreciates trust at both the personal and the organizational levels. Most managers focus more on being trusted than on trusting. The best way to be trusted is to be worthy of trust—to be trustworthy. View Details

Keywords: Turnarounds; Leadership Skills; Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Trust; Management Style; Leadership Style

Educators

Article

Managing a Polarized Workforce: How to Foster Debate and Promote Trust

By: Julia A. Minson and Francesca Gino

One of the toughest challenges leaders face is managing diverse perspectives—and given heightened tensions over politics and movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, that’s more difficult today than ever before. At the same time, productive disagreement and... View Details

Keywords: Polarization; Employees; Perspective; Interpersonal Communication; Organizational Culture; Trust

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July 2008
Exercise

Information Use by Managers in Decision Making: A Team Exercise

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Ann Cullen

The purpose of this exercise is to explore the challenges of information collection and analysis. Students will, experientially, gain insights into how information is used and be exposed to a framework for identifying and evaluating information. In addition, the... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Decision Making; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Managerial Roles; Business Processes; Groups and Teams

July 1999
Background Note

Management Development Plan In A Family Business, The

By: John A. Davis

Defines management development objectives for family members employed in their family business. Outlines a process of putting these individuals on a career path to provide them with needed developmental experiences while respecting the broader needs of the... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Organizations; Leadership Development; Experience and Expertise

Educators

Teaching Interest

Managing Human Capital: Keeping Hope Alive in Organizations (Not offered 2013-2014)

Managing Human Capital has been specifically designed to teach practical skills for the general manager who seeks to manage both other people and his or her own career with optimal effectiveness. Any and all students who believe they will need to effectively manage... View Details

November–December 2020
Article

Rethinking the On-Demand Workforce

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Manjari Raman, Allison Bailey and Nithya Vaduganathan

As companies struggle with chronic skills shortages and changing labor demographics, a new generation of talent platforms, offering on-demand access to highly trained workers, has begun to help. These platforms include marketplaces for premium expertise (such as Toptal... View Details

Keywords: Talent Acquisition; Platforms; Skilled Labor Recruitment; Gig Economy; Talent and Talent Management; Selection and Staffing; Internet and the Web; Strategy; Digital Platforms

September 13, 2021
Article

Managing Through Crunch Time—Without Burning Out Your Team

By: Flavio Serapiao, Andrew Hill and Boris Groysberg

Crunch times—the long, stressful hours of work that are often required in the final weeks before a new product launch—can have an inordinate impact on the success of businesses and they’re powerful shapers of organizational culture. Effective leaders understand that... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Situation or Environment; Management Skills

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03 Dec 2014
What Do You Think?

Can the Brilliant Jerk Be Managed Effectively?

interpersonal skills often." Grant Stanley said "rather than dismiss them I have been able to use their skills and abilities to create training materials to share their best practices." Todd... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Newsletter - Managing the Future of Work

Subscribe to Managing the Future of Work Newsletter Subscribe to Managing the Future of Work Newsletter Many forces are redefining the nature of work: automation and AI, the gig economy, the care economy,... View Details

12 Mar 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Firing the CEO

the CEO, with manageable consequences that are generally positive. Factor 1: Fit High performing companies require CEOs with the right skill set, decision style, and values. They have strong credibility with... View Details

August 2010
Article

Antitrust—What Role for Strategic Management Expertise?

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Dennis A. Yao

Keywords: Strategy; Management; Experience and Expertise; Law

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TeachingInterests

Managing the Future of Work (MBA Education—Elective Curriculum)

By: Christopher T. Stanton

The nature and scope of work is changing rapidly, creating massive business challenges in the shadow of broader political and social shifts. HBS launched a major initiative in 2017 on Managing the Future of Work to define these workplace issues and... View Details

10 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

High Note: Managing the Medici String Quartet

Why would a business school professor want to write a case study about a string quartet? The answer was easy for Robert Austin, a scholar with research expertise in the management of innovation. While attending an academic workshop near... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Music

Web

Healthy Outcomes - Managing the Future of Work

26 May 2019 | Financial Times Global Workers Are Ready for Retraining Developing Employees 07 May 2019 | Harvard Business Review The Plight of the Graying Tech Worker William R. Kerr 28 Mar 2019 | Sloan Management Review A View Details

April 2010
Teaching Note

Global Talent Management at Novartis (TN)

By: Jordan I. Siegel

Teaching Note for 708486. View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Talent and Talent Management; System; Multinational Firms and Management; Motivation and Incentives; Developing Countries and Economies; Pharmaceutical Industry; China

14 Aug 2006
HBS Case

On Managing with Bobby Knight and “Coach K”

because of it." The story also illustrates the importance of matching management style with the task (or employee) at hand. "There are skills in the workplace that you only get through repetition,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports

Web

Summer Venture in Management | MBA

Summer Venture in Management The Summer Venture in Management Program is an educational program designed to increase opportunity in business education for high-potential college students making an impact in... View Details

December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Managing a Public Image: Kevin Knight

By: Robin J. Ely and Ingrid Vargas

Kevin Knight recounts an uncomfortable situation he faced as an African-American student at Harvard Business School. Concerned with maintaining an image as a calm and rational person, he is appalled when he finds himself in a heated classroom exchange in defense of an... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Ethnicity; Identity; Competency and Skills; Business Education

Educators