Publications

June 2020 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Vanguard Retail Operations (A)

By: Willy C. Shih and Antonio Moreno

The first two cases in this series are set in the financial services industry, and explore whether it is better for back-office workers to be generalists who provide the flexibility of being able to handle the complete range of transactions that the company faces or... View Details

Keywords: Pooling; Generalist Model; Specialist Model; Operations; Service Operations; Management; Job Design and Levels; Financial Services Industry; United States

08 Sep 2011
What Do You Think?

What’s Apple’s Biggest Challenge: Replacing Steve or Wall Street?

Summing Up The first impression I get from respondents to this month's column is that Steve Jobs can't be replaced as CEO of Apple by just one person. Rather the succession must include at least a head of View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Computer

1992
Chapter

Performance Evaluation and Managers' Description of Tasks and Activities

By: W. J. Bruns Jr. and S. M. McKinnon

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Job Design and Levels

Article

Preference Signaling in Matching Markets

Many labor markets share three stylized facts: employers cannot give full attention to all candidates, candidates are ready to provide information about their preferences for particular employers, and employers value and are prepared to act on this information. In this... View Details

Keywords: Signaling; Matching; Cheap Talk; Congestion; Market Design; Marketplace Matching; Communication; Job Search

Find at Harvard

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03 Apr 2006
What Do You Think?

Has Globalization Reached Its Peak?

annual contest among budding entrepreneurs here at HBS, were awaiting the arrival of software being designed in India that would allow them to demonstrate smoothly-functioning Web sites important to their prospective businesses. Getting... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

September 2013
Case

Management Levels at Staples (A): Company and Organization (Abridged)

By: David A. Garvin

Abridged version of one of six cases that describe the roles and responsibilities of managers at each of the hierarchical levels of management within the U.S. Stores business unit of Staples, the world's largest office supply company. Together, the cases form a... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Management Practices and Processes; Job Design and Levels; Business Processes; Consumer Products Industry; United States

2024
White Paper

Skills-Based Hiring: The Long Road from Pronouncements to Practice

By: Matthew Sigelman, Joseph B. Fuller and Alex Martin

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Competency and Skills; Job Design and Levels

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December 2022
Article

Collaborative Rooming: An Innovative Pilot Project to Overcome Primary Care Challenges

By: Gagandeep Singh, Jill G. Lenhart, Richard A. Helmers, Michele Renee Eberlee, Heather Costley, Joel B. Roberts and Robert S. Kaplan

Primary care physicians are overburdened with growing complexities and increasing expectations for primary care visits. To meet expectations, primary care physicians must multitask during visits and spend extra hours in the office for charting, billing, and... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Groups and Teams; Job Design and Levels; Health Industry

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February 1996 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Toshiba: Ome Works

By: H. Kent Bowen, Janice H. Hammond, Sylvie Ryckebusch and Hiroshi Uchikoga

In 1995, Toshiba was the market leader in portable computer sales worldwide. This case describes the assembly of portable notebook computers in Toshiba's Ome factory in Ome, Japan, providing insights into some of the reasons for Toshiba's success. In addition to... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Employees; Job Design and Levels; Production; Hardware; Japan

01 Aug 2012
What Do You Think?

Should CEOs Worry About ‘Too Big to Succeed?’

(through outsourcing), and give their jobs meaning, then overall size will cease to be much of an issue." Shadreck Salli agreed, commenting that "Any entity is designed to function at different... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing; Financial Services

March 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

OneTen at Delta Air Lines: Catalyzing Family-Sustaining Careers for Black Talent (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

It was December 10, 2020, and Ed Bastian, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Delta Air Lines (Delta), had just finished a meeting with Joanne Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, and Keyra Lynn Johnson, the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Training; Race; Equality and Inequality; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Job Design and Levels; Air Transportation Industry; United States

09 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Catching Up With Boards--Jay Lorsch

couple of decades, however, there's been growing pressure to separate the two jobs in the interest of more effective checks and balances. This comes mostly from the big state employee pension funds like CalPERS, some of the big union... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

September 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Supplement

Martha Goldberg Aronson: Challenges at Mid-Career (B)

By: William W. George

Martha Goldberg Aronson of Medtronic is trying to decide whether to accept the offer from Medtronic CEO Bill Hawkins to become senior vice president and chief talent officer. Aronson returned from an executive role in Europe just 18 months before as vice president,... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Job Design and Levels; Leadership; Managerial Roles; Work-Life Balance