Norms - Publications - Faculty & Research

21 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

Inside the OR: Disrupted Routines and New Technologies

leadership style was a critical variable. "On the one hand, the proposition that team leader behavior fosters project success is not surprising," write Edmondson, Bohmer and Pisano. "On the other hand, deeply engrained institutional structures and... View Details

Keywords: by Hilah Geer

30 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Asking Questions Can Get You a Better Job or a Second Date

those lower in status than ourselves,” Brooks says. “Every workplace has norms and rules of conduct, explicit and implicit. There are rules of appropriateness. And rules of professionalism,” Brooks says. “It is possible that we are more... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

22 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

Want Hybrid Work to Succeed? Trust, Don’t Track, Employees

The COVID-19 pandemic made remote work more the norm than the exception, and now many companies are struggling to map out a hybrid plan that both managers and employees can embrace long term. With return-to-work policies in flux, this is... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

01 Feb 2022
Book

Innovation Isn’t Just for Startups: How Big Companies Can Succeed

traditional core. She hired computational chemists, genetic scientists, and pharmaceutical business experts. They dressed and spoke differently from the famously staid IBM executive. The best Corporate Explorers not only disrupt the markets in which they operate, they... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

16 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

Why Business Travel Still Matters in a Zoom World

innovation, but it only matters if two firms’ locations are either culturally or temporally far away from each other,” he says—that is, if the two firms possess different cultural norms or don’t have overlapping business hours, defined as... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Air Transportation

16 Dec 2019
Research & Ideas

Taking on the Taboos That Keep Women Out of India's Workforce

In India’s rural villages, social norms dictate that women are to remain in the home, not out and about—and definitely not working. If a woman is seen working outside the home, her neighbors might think she’s a bad mother. They might also... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

14 Oct 2021
In Practice

Reunited and It Feels (Not) So Good: Tips for Managing a Rocky Return

is the author of Remote Work Revolution, and the Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Joe Fuller: Stay flexible in the uncertain ‘next normal’ There is no need for a partial return to historical workplace View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

02 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

Corporate Tax Cuts Don't Increase Middle Class Incomes

patents and valuable intangible assets to low-tax jurisdictions. Nobody benefits except capital owners because the companies are using it as a tax strategy, not as a springboard for building plants and hiring droves of workers. Rouen emphasizes he’s trying to inform... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

29 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

A Manager’s Moral Obligation to Preserve Capitalism

Ramanna, who holds appointments as the Henry B. Arthur Fellow, supporting the research and teaching of business ethics, and as a Marvin Bower Fellow, helping faculty launch innovative new business agendas. "Capitalism delivers on certain View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

06 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Four Strategies for Making Concessions

Rather, each side learns about the interests and concerns of the other and makes good-faith efforts toward achieving joint gains. Unfortunately, while fostering such norms is desirable, it is not always possible. Recently, one of my... View Details

Keywords: by Deepak Malhotra

21 Feb 2005
Op-Ed

Is Business Management a Profession?

dimension on which, in our view, management differs significantly from the true professions is that its members are not governed by a shared normative code that is reinforced by institutions that promote adherence to it. Such a View Details

Keywords: by Rakesh Khurana, Nitin Nohria & Daniel Penrice

17 Jun 2011
HBS Case

KFC’s Explosive Growth in China

decorum, are the norm at Yum! Brands, something Shelman experienced when she accompanied then-COO Mark Chu to one of KFC's Shanghai locations. "You walk into a restaurant and not only do [the employees] recognize him, but they love... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Food & Beverage

11 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Feeling Seen: What to Say When Your Employees Are Not OK

to help each other when we’re going through a difficult situation.” A more subtle way managers can change norms in the group is by encouraging and supporting emotional acknowledgment whenever they see it in action. When acknowledgement... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

Research Summary

Competing on a Common Platform

Why have over 100 firms joined the Eclipse Foundation to collectively produce an open source platform and tools for software application development? What are they trying to accomplish? This research analyzes IBMs divestment of the Eclipse Java Integrated Development... View Details

19 Jul 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Helping You Help Me: The Role of Diagnostic (In)Congruence in the Helping Process within Organizations

Keywords: by Colin M. Fisher, Julianna Pillemer & Teresa M. Amabile

20 Dec 2010
Research & Ideas

Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround

possible case of that solution, at least in a modern context. It did not work particularly well. The United States could intervene to promote democracy and the rule of law, but those interventions failed until the Panamanians developed their own internal political... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Transportation

09 Jul 2007
Research & Ideas

Five Steps to Better Family Negotiations

listen to each other's perspective and to learn about each other's interests and constraints. But this isn't the norm for several reasons. First, relatives tend to be less curious and inquiring about their relatives than they are of... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Davis and Deepak Malhotra

10 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Key to Doing Your Best at Work? Be Yourself

impact on the company’s identity, its culture, and ultimately, its success. But lots of research shows that people in positions of power are given a lot more leeway to buck social norms than those with less status. Are there limits to who... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

22 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

10 Reasons to Design a Better Corporate Culture

in which you invest. An organization's norms and values aren't formed through speeches but through actions and team learning. Strong cultures have teeth. They are much more than slogans and empty promises. Some organizations choose to... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser & Joe Wheeler

17 Feb 2022
Book

When Employees Feel a Sense of Purpose, Companies Succeed

common set of expectations,” one scholarly article observes, “we are ‘under control’ whenever we are in their presence. If we want to be accepted, we try to live up to their expectations.” In companies with strong cultures, norms of... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati

Publications