Publications

31 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Why the Largest Minority Group Faces the Most Hate—and How to Push Back

According to Tabellini, white people fear losing status and access to public resources or jobs, as has long been posited in sociology and psychology literature. “When the minority group becomes larger, the majority group feels more... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

31 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Where Can Digital Transformation Take You? Insights from 1,700 Leaders

democratized both inside and outside of companies. In the past, CEOs and other senior leaders were seen as the legitimate strategic decision-makers because they had more access to data and could decide if and when to share it. With much... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

August, 2024
Article

Absenteeism, Productivity, and Relational Contracts Inside the Firm

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Jean-François Gauthier, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo

We study relational contracts among managers using a unique dataset that tracks transfers of workers across teams in Indian ready-made garment factories. We focus on how relational contracts help managers cope with worker absenteeism shocks, which are frequent, often... View Details

Keywords: Implicit Contracts; Productivity; Misallocation; Absenteeism; Supervisors; Readymade Garments; Performance Productivity; Employees; Relationships; Fashion Industry; India

January 2010 (Revised August 2010)
Background Note

Advanced Leadership Note: An Institutional Perspective and Framework for Managing and Leading

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Rakesh Khurana

Large-scale societal issues increasingly appear on the agenda of business leaders, including poverty, health, education, business-government relations, and the degradation of the environment. These problems are not entirely new, but the forces of globalization and the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Framework; Global Range; Leadership; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Social Enterprise; Social Issues; Complexity

Web

Middle East & North Africa - Global

an information session in Istanbul. The event opened with welcome remarks from Yasemin Çağlar, followed by a keynote speech by Alper Gökgöz (MBA 2010), CEO of ING Türkiye, who shared inspiring insights from his personal and professional... View Details

02 Apr 2024
Research & Ideas

Employees Out Sick? Inside One Company's Creative Approach to Staying Productive

more effective to encourage more handshake contracts between managers to share workers than to create a central system for replacing employees, the researchers found. Since different people on production lines perform different tasks,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Fashion

February 2017
Case

Dick's Sporting Goods

By: Rajiv Lal, Jose B. Alvarez and Matthew G. Preble

Edward Stack, chairman and CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS), faced a rapidly changing sporting goods landscape in October 2016. Two large competitors—The Sports Authority and Sport Chalet—had folded earlier that year, and DKS had to contend with increasingly robust... 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... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

March 2022 (Revised March 2024)
Case

DaVita Responds to COVID

By: Susanna Gallani and David Lane

Early in August 2021, DaVita CEO Javier Rodriguez was assessing the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on his firm, which provided life-sustaining kidney dialysis to roughly 240,000 people. Effective infection control practices and information sharing had ensured... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Change Management; Communication; Talent and Talent Management; Fairness; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Human Resources; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Wages; Working Conditions; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Organizational Culture; Health Industry; United States

September – October 2011
Article

Manage the Culture Cycle

By: James L. Heskett

Organizational culture—the shared assumptions, values, and behaviors that determine "how we do things around here"—can be measured and shaped. In organizations with large numbers of customer-facing employees, it can account for up to half of the difference in operating... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Value; Behavior; Retention; Customer Focus and Relationships; Change Management; Learning; Innovation and Invention; Labor

27 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

Religion in the Workplace: What Managers Need to Know

out from under you.” Related Reading: Altruistic Capital: Harnessing Your Employees’ Intrinsic Goodwill We May Have Taken Too Much Credit for Easing Workplace Segregation Collaborating Across Cultures What do you think of this research? Have you witnessed... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage; Apparel & Accessories

April 2023
Case

Elliott Management: Capital Allocation in Biopharma

By: Amitabh Chandra, Paul Clancy and Lauren Gunasti

The case explores the intersection of capital allocation and shareholder activism in the biopharmaceutical industry. As many biopharma companies face looming patent expirations for key medicines, the case asks the question of whether investing in R&D and M&A is an... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Strategy; Capital Allocation; Biopharmaceutical Industry; Shareholder Activism; Investment Activism; Resource Allocation; Research and Development; Business and Shareholder Relations; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

Web

Frameworks - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

HBS ISC Resources Resources Video Courses Data Events & Presentations Frameworks News Publications Frameworks Frameworks Michael Porter has developed a series of frameworks to support the expanse of his... View Details

23 Nov 2021
Book

What It Takes to Build an Organizational Culture That Wins

hope for is “transient competitive advantage.” It’s a world in which, among other things, smaller, faster, more agile organizational entities marshal resources rather than own them and management-by-consensus is replaced by management... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

September 2009
Module Note

Leading Teams Note

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer

This note, which describes the architecture and processes that characterize effective teams, begins by detailing the steps involved in designing a team, from diagnosing the complexity, interdependence, and objectives of the task to harnessing the key resources teams... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Experience and Expertise; Decision Choices and Conditions; Knowledge Sharing; Leadership; Business Processes; Groups and Teams

January–February 2021
Article

How to Help (Without Micromanaging)

By: Colin M. Fisher, Teresa M. Amabile and Julianna Pillemer

Extensive research shows that when employees get hands-on managerial support, they perform better than when they’re left to their own devices, but unnecessary or unwanted help can be demoralizing and counterproductive. So how do you intervene constructively? The... View Details

Keywords: Helping; Employees; Groups and Teams; Management

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Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning

the importance of student participation and the shared responsibility between instructors and students in shaping the class session. For Current Faculty The Christensen Center supports all current Harvard Business School faculty through... View Details

October 26, 2023
Article

How to Connect Employees to Your Company’s Purpose

By: Hubert Joly

We know making a noble corporate purpose — that is, one aimed at doing something good in the world — come to life is both important and hard. Emerging practices from leading companies show that the journey is not about top-down messaging. If anything, it’s about... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Employee Relationship Management