Job Performance - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Dec 2023
News

The Imposter Among Us

inadequacy, in my first week on the job Clayton received a letter from the Nobel Prize Committee asking him to recommend someone for the Nobel Prize in Economics. He handed me the letter, asked me to write a draft, and said, “If you’d... View Details

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

05 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

Why People Crave Feedback—and Why We’re Afraid to Give It

Get the Best of You, Change the Narrative Related reading from the Working Knowledge Archives Reflecting on Work Improves Job Performance Feedback or ideas to share? Email the Working Knowledge team at... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

May 2024 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Leading Culture Change at Microsoft Western Europe

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Cat Huang

In 2023, Cindy Rose, President of Microsoft Western Europe, faced a critical decision. Rose grappled with the potential impact of widespread layoffs on psychological safety and the cultural transformation she had championed since her arrival. When Rose had first joined... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Organizational Culture; Transformation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Problems and Challenges; Motivation and Incentives; Groups and Teams; Business or Company Management; Technology Industry; Europe

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27 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

How One Late Employee Can Hurt Your Business: Data from 25 Million Timecards

deviations on the performance of individual stores in a new study. “One employee being late or absent can negatively affect not only store operations, but also their coworkers by making them stay to make up for the lost labor.” Ananth... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Retail

June 2005 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Coach Roy Williams: What Next? (A)

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Christoper Chang and Scott Schweitzer

Roy Williams, head coach of the Kansas University Men's Basketball Team, was facing a major decision. The recent resignation of the coach at the University of North Carolina (UNC) had lead to speculation that Williams, a UNC alumnus, would be named as its new coach.... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Resignation and Termination; Job Offer; Leading Change; Management Succession; Performance Improvement; Personal Development and Career; Sports; Kansas; North Carolina

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Business, Government & the International Economy - Faculty & Research

positive, effects on assimilation outcomes fully under individual control, like names chosen by parents for their US born children. Moreover, while Italian churches increased immigrants' labor force participation, they induced Italians to select View Details

24 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Rituals at Work: Teams That Play Together Stay Together

Love them or hate them, team-building rituals can fortify bonds among coworkers and create the shared sense that work is more meaningful, which may be especially critical now as managers look to reconnect colleagues re-adjusting to work life after two years of COVID-19... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

23 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 23, 2007

entrepreneurs. Designed for entrepreneurial and international business courses. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=807075 Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Harvard Business School Case 407-028 Bill... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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Topics - HBS Working Knowledge

Communication (42) Investment Activism (12) Investment Banking (6) Investment Funds (12) Investment Portfolio (8) Investment Return (12) Investment (78) Job Cuts and Outsourcing (12) Job Design and Levels... View Details

10 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Too Nice to Lead? Unpacking the Gender Stereotype That Holds Women Back

If you’re a woman in the workplace, chances are your boss and colleagues expect you to be nicer than your male peers, new research suggests. And that perception could contribute to differences in which jobs you are hired for, which tasks... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta

27 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 27

promotion, and job assignments: an "evaluation nudge," in which people are evaluated jointly rather than separately regarding their future performance. Evaluators are more likely to focus on individual View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

07 Jul 2019
HBS Case

Walmart's Workforce of the Future

investment that immediately improved its ecommerce infrastructure. Walmart has also piloted and invested in robots to perform a variety of functions, from unloading trucks to scrubbing floors to scanning shelves and bringing items out of... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

09 Sep 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Perspectives from the Boardroom--2009

Keywords: by Jay W. Lorsch, Joseph L. Bower, Clayton S. Rose & Suraj Srinivasan

07 Jul 2022
HBS Case

How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)

online business course in how to pivot after a failed venture and through its teacher met an investor experienced with rebounds willing to provide the capital they needed—enough money to open one shop with possible expansion to three shops, but only if the first shop... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Value Maximization and Stakeholder Theory

choose among alternative policy options), what would it be? Or, even more simply, How do we want the firms in our economy to measure better versus worse?" It's tempting to consider value simply as a matter of maximizing the short-term financial View Details

Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen

07 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 7

Stephan Heblich, and William R. Kerr Abstract We identify the impact of local firm concentration on incumbent performance with a quasi natural experiment. When Germany was divided after World War II, many firms in the machine tool... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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Hidden Workers, Untapped Talent - Managing the Future of Work

of these groups of hidden workers report that these workers are more loyal and perform better on several key metrics compared to traditional sources of talent. With many companies facing a talent shortage, hiring these hidden workers may... View Details

02 Sep 2015
What Do You Think?

What's Wrong With Amazon’s Low-Retention HR Strategy?

the opportunity to earn high compensation--but jobs that often become too demanding for some employees, particularly those with health problems or family obligations. Former employees complained about bosses who lacked empathy for... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Web Services; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Consumer Products; Fashion

01 Nov 2017
What Do You Think?

What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?

a decision to assess all board members and the top 200 executives regarding their historical and future ability to effectively perform their jobs while truly acting in accordance with our values. Being true... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Banking

15 Feb 2022
Book

When Working Harder Doesn’t Work, Time to Reinvent Your Career

orchestra as a soloist just within reach. But suddenly, his performance started to worsen. No amount of practice or specialized training helped. In fact, the harder he raged against his decline, the faster it inevitably came. He took a... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

Publications