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- All HBS Web
(556)
- News (62)
- Research (439)
- Multimedia (2)
- Faculty Publications (290)
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- January 1982 (Revised June 1983)
- Case
International Drilling Corp. (A)
Details the moral conflict experienced by Don Taylor, a new high-level executive in an oil drilling firm, when he discovered that the firm was deceiving its investors. What should he do and how should he go about it? Presents the emergence of Taylor's suspicions about... View Details
Goodpaster, Kenneth E. "International Drilling Corp. (A)." Harvard Business School Case 382-111, January 1982. (Revised June 1983.)
- 2019
- Working Paper
Veil-of-Ignorance Reasoning Favors the Greater Good
By: Karen Huang, Joshua D. Greene and Max Bazerman
The “veil of ignorance” is a moral reasoning device designed to promote impartial decision-making by denying decision-makers access to potentially biasing information about who will benefit most or least from the available options. Veil-of-ignorance reasoning was... View Details
Huang, Karen, Joshua D. Greene, and Max Bazerman. "Veil-of-Ignorance Reasoning Favors the Greater Good." Working Paper, October 2019.
- Article
The Business Case for Investing in Physician Well-Being
By: Tait D. Shanafelt, Joel Goh and Christine A. Sinsky
Importance: Widespread burnout among physicians has been recognized for more than two decades. Extensive evidence indicates that physician burnout has important personal and professional consequences.
Observations: A lack of awareness regarding... View Details
Observations: A lack of awareness regarding... View Details
Keywords: Physicians; Well-being; ROI; Health; Welfare or Wellbeing; Ethics; Investment Return; Health Industry
Shanafelt, Tait D., Joel Goh, and Christine A. Sinsky. "The Business Case for Investing in Physician Well-Being." JAMA Internal Medicine 177, no. 12 (December 2017): 1826–1832. (doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.4340.)
- 2016
- Article
Vicarious Contagion Decreases Differentiation—and Comes with Costs
By: Ovul Sezer and Michael I. Norton
Baumeister et al. propose that individual differentiation is a crucial determinant of group success. We apply their model to processes lying in between the individual and the group—vicarious processes. We review literature in four domains—attitudes, emotions, moral... View Details
Sezer, Ovul, and Michael I. Norton. "Vicarious Contagion Decreases Differentiation—and Comes with Costs." Behavioral and Brain Sciences 39 (2016): e162.
- Forthcoming
- Article
Subordinating Humanism: How Colliding Beliefs About a Living Wage Shape Personal Fulfillment and 'Professional-Class' Identities in Working-Class Jobs
By: Lumumba Seegars, Serenity S. Lee, Erin M. Reid and Lakshmi Ramarajan
In a society dominated by market-based ideology and management practices that prioritize financial considerations, some organizations are shifting toward humanistic ideology and practices that emphasize human welfare. To examine this transformation in pay-setting, we... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Culture; Moral Sensibility; Wages; Welfare; Performance Expectations; Identity; Employee Relationship Management; Management Practices and Processes
Seegars, Lumumba, Serenity S. Lee, Erin M. Reid, and Lakshmi Ramarajan. "Subordinating Humanism: How Colliding Beliefs About a Living Wage Shape Personal Fulfillment and 'Professional-Class' Identities in Working-Class Jobs." Academy of Management Journal (forthcoming). (Pre-published online June 26, 2025.)
- May 2025
- Article
Punitive but Discerning: Reputation Can Fuel Ambiguously-Deserved Punishment, but Does Not Erode Sensitivity to Nuance
By: Jillian J. Jordan and Nour S. Kteily
The desire to appear virtuous can motivate people to punish wrongdoers, a desirable outcome when punishment is clearly deserved. Yet claims that “virtue signaling” is fueling a culture of outrage suggest that reputation concerns may inspire even potentially unmerited... View Details
Jordan, Jillian J., and Nour S. Kteily. "Punitive but Discerning: Reputation Can Fuel Ambiguously-Deserved Punishment, but Does Not Erode Sensitivity to Nuance." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 128, no. 5 (May 2025): 1072–1102.
- June 2008
- Case
Kidney Matchmakers
By: Brian J. Hall and Nicole Bennett
In this case we look at the design and development of an unconventional market, where neither money nor traditional "goods" are exchanged. Kidney exchange is an idea pioneered by HBS professor and market designer Alvin Roth and a small group of innovative doctors. This... View Details
Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Disruptive Innovation; Market Design; Market Transactions; Value Creation; Health Industry
Hall, Brian J., and Nicole Bennett. "Kidney Matchmakers." Harvard Business School Case 908-068, June 2008.
- October 1994 (Revised April 1996)
- Case
Patricia Ostrander
By: Nancy F. Koehn, Donald J. Edwards and Antonio F. Weiss
Analyzes the career of former money manager Patricia Ostrander. Focuses on Ostrander's purchase of stock warrants issued in connection with the 1985 leveraged buyout of Storer Communications and on her later indictment and conviction for accepting unlawful... View Details
Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Ethics; Capital Markets; Managerial Roles; Outcome or Result; United States
Koehn, Nancy F., Donald J. Edwards, and Antonio F. Weiss. "Patricia Ostrander." Harvard Business School Case 795-016, October 1994. (Revised April 1996.)
- June 1990 (Revised March 1991)
- Case
Jonah Creighton (A)
By: Anne Donnellon and Joshua D. Margolis
How do you manage yourself and your interaction with others when you feel your personal values challenged? What should you be aware of as you proceed with sensitive, ethical issues? Jonah Creighton coordinates the company's fast-track training program, and when he... View Details
Keywords: Business Divisions; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Human Resources; Selection and Staffing; Problems and Challenges
Donnellon, Anne, and Joshua D. Margolis. "Jonah Creighton (A)." Harvard Business School Case 490-090, June 1990. (Revised March 1991.)
- 24 Aug 2009
- Research & Ideas
SuperCorp: Values as Guidance System
moral compass and an entire guidance system. The range of advantages for vanguard companies through their strategic use of values View Details
Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter
- 2020
- Book
Better, Not Perfect: A Realist's Guide to Maximum Sustainable Goodness
By: Max Bazerman
Every day, you make hundreds of decisions. They’re largely personal, but these choices have an ethical twinge as well; they value certain principles and ends over others. Bazerman argues that we can better balance both dimensions—and we needn’t seek perfection to make... View Details
Bazerman, Max. Better, Not Perfect: A Realist's Guide to Maximum Sustainable Goodness. New York: Harper Business, 2020.
- July 1991 (Revised June 1993)
- Background Note
Conflicting Responsibilities
Presents a framework for resolving issues in which managers' responsibilities--to shareholders, employees, other stakeholder groups, and to their own values and commitments in life--conflict with each other. The framework analyzes these issues in terms of duties,... View Details
Keywords: Ethics; Employees; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations
Badaracco, Joseph L. "Conflicting Responsibilities." Harvard Business School Background Note 392-002, July 1991. (Revised June 1993.)
- August 2021
- Article
Humanizing Strategy
By: Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi
In this article, we apply our latest thinking on knowledge to provide insights on how to reconceptualize strategy to cope with a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world, epitomized recently by COVID-19. We demonstrate that business leaders must... View Details
Keywords: Inside-out Approach To Strategy; Practical Wisdom; Future-making; Neuroscience; Sustainability; Strategy; Knowledge; Moral Sensibility
Nonaka, Ikujiro, and Hirotaka Takeuchi. "Humanizing Strategy." Long Range Planning 54, no. 4 (August 2021).
- 1997
- Dictionary Entry
Incommensurable Values
By: Nien-he Hsieh
Values, such as liberty and equality, are sometimes said to be incommensurable in the sense that their value cannot be reduced to a common measure. The possibility of value incommensurability is thought to raise deep questions about practical reason and rational choice... View Details
Hsieh, Nien-he. "Incommensurable Values." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Stanford University, 1997. Electronic. (First published Mon Jul 23, 2007; substantive revision Wed Jul 14, 2021.)
- November 2014
- Case
Napalm: From Soldiers Field to Trang Bang
By: Tom Nicholas and Jonas Peter Akins
Napalm is one of the most destructive weapons ever to be invented. Yet, at its original inception it was nothing more than a technical challenge, and it was never intended to be used in indiscriminate antipersonnel warfare. The pathway of its development by a Harvard... View Details
Keywords: Moral Sensibility; War; Chemicals; Research and Development; Chemical Industry; Viet Nam; Cambridge; United States
Nicholas, Tom, and Jonas Peter Akins. "Napalm: From Soldiers Field to Trang Bang." Harvard Business School Case 815-060, November 2014.
- August 1992 (Revised December 1994)
- Case
Sexual Harassment, Free Speech or ...?
By: Lynn S. Paine
Presents two brief vignettes about female employees who object to gender discrimination in their work environment. In one case, the manager of a convenience store removes "adult" magazines from the store's shelves because she sees them as damaging to women. In the... View Details
Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Working Conditions; Law; Behavior; Managerial Roles; Crime and Corruption; Groups and Teams; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Gender
Paine, Lynn S. "Sexual Harassment, Free Speech or ...?" Harvard Business School Case 393-033, August 1992. (Revised December 1994.)
- 24 Feb 2015
- First Look
First Look: February 24
Abstract—People experience a threat to their moral self-concept in the face of discrepancies between their moral values and their unethical... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- May 2017
- Article
Sacred versus Pseudo-sacred Values: How People Cope with Taboo Trade-Offs
By: Philip E. Tetlock, Barbara A. Mellers and J. Peter Scoblic
Psychologists have documented widespread public deference to "sacred values" that communities, formally or informally, exempt from tradeoffs with secular limits, like money. This work has, however, been largely confined to low-stakes settings. As the stakes rise,... View Details
Tetlock, Philip E., Barbara A. Mellers, and J. Peter Scoblic. "Sacred versus Pseudo-sacred Values: How People Cope with Taboo Trade-Offs." American Economic Review 107, no. 5 (May 2017): 96–99.
- 26 Feb 2015 - 28 Feb 2015
- Conference Presentation
Is That All There Is to Happiness?
By: J. Phillips, C. Mott, Julian De Freitas, J. Gruber and J. Knobe
Happiness researchers have started to converge on a conception of
happiness that involves some combination of high positive affect,
low negative affect, and high life satisfaction. We present three
studies which demonstrate that the ordinary understanding... View Details