Publications

Article

Fighting Bias on the Front Lines

By: Alexandra C. Feldberg and Tami Kim

Most companies aim for exceptional customer service, but too few are attentive to the subtle discrimination by frontline employees that can alienate customers, lead to lawsuits, or even cause lasting brand damage by going viral.
This article presents research... View Details

Keywords: Customer Service; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Delivery; Diversity; Prejudice and Bias; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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July 2002 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Avon.com (A)

Avon has always sold its products through a large independent direct-selling organization. However, it is now considering whether it should sell directly to the consumer. The company's independent representatives number 500,000 in the United States alone. Yet, there... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Salesforce Management; Marketing Channels; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

October 2000 (Revised October 2001)
Case

adM@rt(A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Lane

Describes the complex policy alternatives facing an online Hong Kong grocery company as it tries to apply Webvan-type concepts in the Hong Kong marketplace. Captures the extraordinary process of adaptation the company is going through as it tries to find the right... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Markets; Marketing; Business Strategy; Business Model; Decisions; Problems and Challenges; Retail Industry; Web Services Industry; Hong Kong

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Web

2019 Symposium - Race, Gender & Equity

development, and racial integration of communities. She works with the Center for Social Policy to facilitate inclusive change processes that involve multiple stakeholders from the community. She is a coauthor of a textbook widely used in... View Details

May–June 2021
Article

How to Close the Gender Gap

By: Colleen Ammerman and Boris Groysberg

Most companies say they’re committed to advancing women into leadership roles. What they may fail to recognize, though, is that systemic barriers are holding women back. As a result, women remain disadvantaged at every stage of their employment and underrepresented in... View Details

Keywords: Gender Discrimination; Employment; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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2014
Working Paper

Conflicts of College Conference Realignment: Pursuing Revenue, Preserving Tradition, and Assessing the Future

By: Vadim Kogan and Stephen A. Greyser

Over the past two years, conference realignment has taken a front seat in the college sports landscape. Economic incentives were too attractive to overlook for some universities. College football programs across the country have a lot at stake, because for many,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Motivation and Incentives; Higher Education; Sports; Revenue; Emotions; Sports Industry; Education Industry

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29 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and Organizations of the Future

Date: December 7-8, 2007 Faculty Chairs: Teresa Amabile, Mukti Khaire Faculty Summary Report: What were the overall goals of the event? To elucidate the antecedents, facilitators, and consequences of creativity in the organizational... View Details

Keywords: by Teresa M. Amabile & Mukti Khaire

15 Oct 2019
News

In Pursuit of Academia

later informed her doctoral research in the School’s Organizational Behavior program. “I sat in one of the seats closest to the blackboards. I had a perfect view of the whole section,” recalls Fernandes. From there she saw a hierarchy... View Details

01 Dec 2005
News

Alumni Achievement Awards: Honorees and Victories

during a period of intense technological and organizational change through an inspirational leadership style based on a deep commitment to her workforce. Joseph J. O’Donnell (MBA ’71) A prominent... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

26 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 26

expertise, is central to the way in which the risk managers in our study garner influence in their organizations. Based on our field study, we identify two dimensions that help to explain experts' organizational influence: their ability... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2017
Case

Vicki Fuller: Chief Investment Officer of New York State's $150+ Billion Employee Pension Fund

By: Steven Rogers and Valerie Mosley

Vicki Fuller traveled from a four-room tenement bordering Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects to speaking at conferences around the world and typically holding court wherever she went. As a teenager, she helped raise her siblings. As a Wall Street... View Details

01 Oct 2000
News

The Class of 1975 in Review

the one I remember most vividly happened in Paul Lawrence's Human Behavior class. A distinguished expert in organizational behavior, Professor Lawrence was known for the intricacy of his blackboard diagrams. The idea of our game was to... View Details

Keywords: J. Hans Stumm

March 2019
Teaching Note

Zespri Grows

By: David E. Bell and John Masko

Teaching Note for HBS No. 519-047. View Details

01 Apr 2001
News

Khoo Teng Chye: Technology Turnaround in Singapore

market listing possibly as early as this year. “We have to look for new business beyond Singapore, but we can’t do that as a pure government agency,” Khoo explains. “We’ve had a tremendous change in the scope of our mission and in our... View Details

Keywords: Alejandro Reyes; Transportation

01 Sep 2009
News

Letters to the Editor

’59; OPM 13, 1988) Potomac, MD Levitt’s Personal Touch Changed Lives and Institutions I just read Julia Hanna’s piece on Professor Ted Levitt in the September 2008 Bulletin and belatedly hasten to add the story of how Ted Levitt View Details

07 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: February 7

we measure users' interactions with search engines, both in standard configurations and in modified versions with clearer labels identifying search engine advertisements. In particular, for a random subset of users, we change... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 1996 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Suzanne de Passe at Motown Productions (A1)

By: Linda A. Hill and Jaan Elias

Illustrates: 1) the impact of a manager's leadership style on corporate culture, direction, and performance; 2) the concept of fit between leadership style and the requirements of situations in which managers find themselves; and 3) the need for managers to adapt their... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Race; Organizational Culture; Success; Leadership Style; Gender; Management Teams; Change Management; Situation or Environment; Creativity; Relationships; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

November 1990 (Revised September 1991)
Case

The Transformation of IBM

By: Andrall E. Pearson and David B. Yoffie

John Akers, IBM's chairman, must confront how to transform a $60 billion, full line, global computer company that is the leader in every market it serves, yet losing share across the board. The case explores senior management's perspective on the process of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Corporate Strategy; Adoption; Management Teams; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Multinational Firms and Management; Computer Industry