Publications

Research Summary

Dissertation: Is the Ideal Worker Still Real? Sources and Consequences of Men's Professional Identities

My dissertation examines the implications of men's changing lives for their work identities and for gender inequality in organizations. Current theories of workplace gender inequality hinge upon the widely-shared cultural image of an "ideal worker,"... View Details

03 Jun 2015
What Do You Think?

Is the Time Right for Self-Management?

added, "Holacracy strikes me as a positive way to manage professionals, especially in flat organizations where job advancement is limited." Brooks Tanner commented, "Regardless of its level of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

September 2022 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Esas Group: Investing Together, Staying Together

By: Christina R. Wing and Alpana Thapar

This case opens in June 2022, after Esas Group, one of Turkey’s largest family-owned investment firms, implements a series of changes to professionalize the business and help transition family members from operators to responsible investors. In December 2019, the Group... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Transition; Business or Company Management; Organizational Structure; Governing and Advisory Boards; Governance; Financial Services Industry; Turkey

01 Dec 2023
News

The Exchange: Help Wanted

Image by John Ritter The path to a job in the C-suite isn’t what it used to be. For many years, companies could lean on financial expertise and industry connections when recruiting candidates, but HBS professors Raffaella Sadun and Joseph Fuller say that so much has... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

09 May 2024
Research & Ideas

Called Back to the Office? How You Benefit from Ideas You Didn't Know You Were Missing

Leaders have fretted since COVID-19 lockdowns that collaboration and innovation might suffer when teammates interact less. New research points to an emerging concern four years on, as organizations settle into remote, hybrid, and... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

22 Aug 2012
Working Paper Summaries

A Randomized Field Study of a Leadership WalkRounds™-Based Intervention

Background: Leadership WalkRounds have been widely adopted as a technique for improving patient safety and safety climate. WalkRounds involve senior managers directly observing frontline work and soliciting employees' ideas about... View Details

Keywords: by Anita L. Tucker & Sara J. Singer; Health

Article

Making Exit Interviews Count

By: Everett Spain and Boris Groysberg

In the knowledge economy, skilled employees are the assets that drive organizational success. Thus companies must learn from them—why they stay, why they leave, and how the organization needs to change. A thoughtful exit interview—whether it be a face-to-face... View Details

Keywords: Information; Management Practices and Processes; Retention; Resignation and Termination

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May–June 2015
Other Article

HRM at a Crossroads: Comments on 'Evolution of Strategic HRM Through Two Founding Books: A 30th Anniversary Perspective on Development of the Field'

By: Michael Beer

I agree with Bruce Kaufman's evaluation of the HRM field and the danger to its relevance if change does not take place in the field's almost exclusive use of normal science, lack of focus on organizational change and development and indifference to the development of... View Details

Keywords: Management; Performance; Human Resources

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July 2004
Supplement

World Vision International: The AIDS Initiative

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Management discusses the organizational and governance challenges of operating a global network of partner organizations. Then key managers reflect on the decision World Vision must make on the AIDS Hope Initiative--a new strategic direction that challenges many of the... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Goals and Objectives; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Problems and Challenges; Core Relationships; Welfare; Value; Health Industry

March 2022 (Revised March 2025)
Technical Note

Ethical Analysis: Society

By: Nien-hê Hsieh

How should managers determine and deliver on their responsibilities to society? This note summarizes prevailing approaches to this question and outlines an approach centered on what distinguishes society from other key constituencies, such as investors or customers.... View Details

Keywords: Social and Collaborative Networks; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Structure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Ethics; Analysis

March 2019 (Revised August 2019)
Case

CareerWise Colorado

By: Rawi Abdelal, Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Preble

CareerWise Colorado (CWC) is an organization that equips high school students with the skills to build successful careers through apprenticeships. Founded in 2016, the young organization has attracted interest from different groups and civic leaders from across the... View Details

Keywords: Apprenticeship; Nonprofit; Not For Profit; Labor Markets; Skills; Nonprofit Organizations; Education; Competency and Skills; Personal Development and Career; Growth and Development Strategy

11 Feb 2022
News

Skills-Based Hiring Is on the Rise

July 2000 (Revised September 2005)
Case

BMG Entertainment

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Gerrit Meier

As dramatic changes in technology and customer tastes roil the music industry, the top executives of BMG Entertainment, one of the world's largest record companies, must decide how to organize for digital distribution of music. This case includes a brief history of the... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Competitive Strategy; Distribution Channels; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Industry Structures; Customer Focus and Relationships; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Program

Leading Global Businesses

authentic global leader who can step up to more challenging roles. You'll develop global acumen in realms as diverse as purposeful leadership in a multi-stakeholder world, strategy, customer-centric marketing, the structure, culture and operation of global View Details

July 1976 (Revised April 1983)
Case

Corning Glass Works: The Electronic Products Division (A)

By: Michael Beer

Describes a division of Corning Glass Works that finds itself with deep financial and organizational problems. Severe conflict and lack of coordination exist between functional groups. Employees do not have a sense of direction and morale is low. Provides sufficient... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Change Management; Transformation; Employees; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Web

About Michael Porter - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

in 1985 as the outstanding contribution to management thought. More awards & honors Affiliated Organizations & Institutions Porter Prizes The Porter Prize recognizes outstanding companies that have achieved... View Details

November 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Genentech - Capacity Planning

By: Daniel C. Snow, Steven C. Wheelwright and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

While facilitating a complex clinical approval process over the next two to three years for a family of new cancer drugs, Genentech must develop a long-term capacity plan for a major class of new cancer products. Adding to the complexity and uncertainty is the fact... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Style; Management Teams; Time Management; Product; Product Development; Business Processes; Performance Capacity; Planning; Risk and Uncertainty; Complexity; Pharmaceutical Industry

August 1974 (Revised April 1983)
Case

Peter Olafson (A)

By: John J. Gabarro

Describes the problems facing a recent MBA graduate in his job as general manager of a cable television company owned by a parent corporation. Raises issues of corporate divisional relationships and the difficulties facing an inexperienced manager who seems to be... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Television Entertainment; Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Problems and Challenges