Publications

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September 1989 (Revised July 1991)
Case

Caterpillar, Inc.: George Schaefer Takes Charge

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

For over half a century, Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) had been a world leader in the manufacture of earthmoving and construction machinery. In 1982, just months after it recorded the highest sales and profits in its history, CAT experienced its greatest crisis. Demand fell... View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Crisis Management; Labor Unions; Demand and Consumers; Management Teams; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Business Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Manufacturing Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Industrial Products Industry

Educators

December 1984
Teaching Note

General Motors and the United Auto Workers (Condensed), Teaching Note

By: Michael Beer

Keywords: Labor Unions; Auto Industry

December 1984
Case

Expense Tracking System at Tiger Creek

By: Shoshana Zuboff

Mill manager Carl Adelman learns that a group of senior managers is soon to visit the Tiger Creek mill to learn more about the success of the newly implemented Expense Tracking System. The System had been installed on two paper machines to give workers real time cost... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Success; Cost Management; Technology; Pulp and Paper Industry

Educators

Article

Wage-Employment Contracts

By: Jerry R. Green and Charles M. Kahn

This paper studies the efficient agreements about the dependence of workers' earnings on employment, when the employment level is controlled by firms. The firms' superior information about profitability conditions is responsible for this form of contract governance.... View Details

Keywords: Labor; Wages; Contracts

Read Now

October 1982
Supplement

Ideal Standard France: Pat Paterson, Video

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

A two-part taped interview with Pat Paterson. Paterson describes the action he took in dealing with his company's profit problems, then talks about the outcome. His decision to dismiss 1,500 workers may have accelerated the company's bankruptcy. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Profit; Resignation and Termination; Outcome or Result; Problems and Challenges

01 Aug 1979
Conference Presentation

Can Industrial Workers Reform Their Own Work? A Sociologically-Oriented Quality-of-Worklife Project in an Electronics Factory

By: R. M. Kanter, B. A. Stein, D. Brinkerhoff and Daniel J. Isenberg

Keywords: Employees; Working Conditions; Change; Electronics Industry

Article

Needs and Need Satisfaction Among Clerical Workers in Complex and Routine Jobs

By: Michael Beer

Research Summary

Capital Controls, Risk and Liberalization Cycles (joint with Fabio Kanczuk)

By: Laura Alfaro

We construct an Overlapping-Generations model where agents vote on whether to open or close the economy to international capital flows. Political decisions are shaped by the risk over capital and labor returns. In an open economy, the capitalists (old) completely hedge... View Details

Research Summary

Globalization of Human Capital

By: Nitin Nohria

One of the most significant dimensions of the current wave of globalization is the globalization of human capital. Whether it is low cost, skilled manufacturing workers in China, software and customer service professionals in India, or highly skilled employees in... View Details

Forthcoming
Book

How to Be Bold: The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage

By: Ranjay Gulati

What leads people to speak truth to power, share bold new ideas, or put their lives on the line? Most of us chalk it up to personality, presuming that our heroes are naturally fearless. But what if courage isn’t simply a matter of personality? What if it’s something... View Details

Keywords: Personal Characteristics; Personal Development and Career

Forthcoming
Article

Is Hybrid Work the Best of Both Worlds? Evidence from a Field Experiment

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Tarun Khanna, Christos A. Makridis and Kyle Schirmann

This paper reports causal evidence on how the extent of hybrid work—the number of days worked from home relative to days worked from office—affects employee attitudes and performance. Workers who spent around two days in the office each week on average self-reported... View Details

Keywords: Attitudes; Performance Consistency; Employees; Work-Life Balance

Research Summary

Monetary and Non-monetary Incentives

By: Susanna Gallani

In this line of research, Prof. Gallani explores the interplay between monetary and non-monetary incentives in organization. In particular, she explores the effectiveness of non-monetary motivation mechanisms, including mission statements and company values, feedback,... View Details

Keywords: Non-monetary Rewards; Rewards And Penalties; Feedback; Span Of Support; Social Pressure

Forthcoming
Article

No Line Left Behind: Assortative Matching Inside the Firm

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo

How do firms pair workers with managers, and which constraints affect the allocation of labor within the firm? We characterize the sorting pattern of managers to workers in a large readymade garment manufacturer in India and then explore potential drivers of the... View Details

Keywords: Assortative Matching; Productivity; Global Buyers; Readymade Garments; Labor; Organizational Design; Performance Productivity; Fashion Industry

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

I have spent my career studying novel talent management practices and their effect on collaboration and performance. My core research focuses on two interrelated organizational trends that have become salient in the 21st century: workplace transparency (who gets to... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ashley V. Whillans

Engaged with field work in East Africa, South Asia, and in several large hybrid organizations in the United States, Professor Whillans places a focus on exploring questions with strong theoretical motivation in the social psychological literature and relevant... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

The Rise of Remote Work: Evidence on Productivity and Preferences from Firm and Worker Surveys

By: Alexander Bartik, Zoë Cullen, Edward L. Glaeser, Michael Luca and Christopher Stanton

Drawing on surveys of small business owners and employees, we present three main findings about the evolution of remote work after the onset of COVID-19. First, uptake of remote work was abrupt and widespread in jobs suitable for telework according to the task-based... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Remote Work; Health Pandemics; Jobs and Positions; Demographics; Surveys

Article

When the Thought Doesn’t Count: The Dynamics of Unhelpful Help in Creative Organizations

By: Colin Fisher, Julianna Pillemer and Teresa Amabile

We’ve all been there. You ask a colleague for help with something, maybe a tricky research design or a difficult student. They agree to help, but their assistance misses its mark. You wonder what happened and, if you turn to existing research and theory, you don’t find... View Details

Keywords: Helping; Organizational Culture

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Forthcoming
Article

Who Benefits from Online Gig Economy Platforms?

By: Christopher T. Stanton and Catherine Thomas

Online labor platforms for short-term, remote work have many more job seekers than available jobs. Despite their relative abundance, workers capture a substantial share of the surplus from transactions. We draw this conclusion from demand estimates that imply workers'... View Details

Keywords: Gig Economy; Knowledge Workers; Online Platforms; Job Search; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Wages; Demand and Consumers