Flat Organization - Publications - Faculty & Research

04 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 4

from the institutional status quo, namely, (1) changes that diverge from the institutionalized template of role division among organizations and (2) changes that diverge from the institutionalized template of role division among... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Reflecting on Work Improves Job Performance

actually talking to each other, an effect might exist." Next, the researchers recruited 178 university students to participate in the same experiment as the first study, but with two key differences: One, they were not paid based on their performance; rather, they all... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

05 Dec 2016
Research & Ideas

How To Deceive Others With Truthful Statements (It's Called 'Paltering,' And It's Risky)

Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. “People seem to be using this strategy because in their minds, they’re telling the truth, so they think they’re being honest. But the people... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Research Summary

Capitalism as a System of Governance

My research interest is in further exploration of the analytic utility of an original conception of capitalism as an indirect, three level system of governance for the economic relationships within political entities, and mostly within nation states. This three level... View Details

24 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 24, 2007

collaboration. Second, they didn't organize effectively for collaboration, believing that innovation could be managed much like production and partners treated like "suppliers." And third, they didn't invest in building... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

31 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Japan Disaster Shakes Up Supply-Chain Strategies

causing many companies to rethink their supply chain strategies, which suddenly seem extremely fragile. When a natural disaster hits, relief organizations such as the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders swing into action with... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Auto; Technology; Computer; Electronics

08 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

A Balanced Scorecard Approach To Measure Customer Profitability

and administrative costs into the cost of serving individual customers. Either they treat all such costs as fixed-period costs and don't drive them to the customer level, or they use high-level, inaccurate methods, such as allocating a View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

18 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing

nothing.” Not social enough Commercial appeals often fall flat on social networks, which many consumers believe should be a place for conversations strictly among people they know. “If you and I are having a conversation and someone... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising; Technology

08 Sep 2008
HBS Case

The Value of Environmental Activists

There are many methods, most financial, to measure the success of companies in meeting goals. But the question becomes a lot harder at Harvard Business School when MBAs are challenged to measure the efforts of environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the World... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

18 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

How New Managers Become Great Managers

promoted to vice president and divisional merchandise manager for furniture and decorative supplies. There she had profit and loss responsibility for $350 million and twelve people in an area with poor assortment of merchandise, flat... View Details

Keywords: by Linda Hill

22 Feb 2021
Book

Reaching Today's Omnichannel Customer Takes a New Sales Strategy

last spring, at the height of pandemic lockdowns. And before the pandemic, social media use had been flat for four years as these advertising channels became more cluttered and distrusted, offering marketers diminishing returns. “Managers... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

31 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

Distressed Employees? Try Resilience Training

alternative or a supplement.” Whillans says an online program may also encourage higher participation rates than certain special events that companies organize to encourage people to relax. For example, a bag lunch get-together or an ice... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health

12 Oct 2016
Research & Ideas

Break the Rules of How Business is Done

or managers to report to. Many other companies have taken similar approaches not only to attempt to operate more efficiently, but also to attract and retain talent by differentiating their companies from the mainstream. Whether or not the super View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

03 Jun 2015
What Do You Think?

Is the Time Right for Self-Management?

added, "Holacracy strikes me as a positive way to manage professionals, especially in flat organizations where job advancement is limited." Brooks Tanner commented, "Regardless of its level of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Psychology, Pathology, and the CEO

In recent years, I have been inside nearly two dozen turnaround situations, in various stages of progress, in which new leaders were bringing distressed organizations back from the brink of failure and setting them on a healthier course.... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

06 Aug 2018
Research & Ideas

Supersmart Manufacturing Tools are Lowering Prices on TVs, Bulbs, and Solar Panels

the boom in LED manufacturing, Chinese local governments would pay for 100 percent of the cost of the metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) tool used to make LEDs, so naturally what followed was a dramatic over-expansion of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing; Electronics

26 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

New Winners and Losers in the Internet Economy

Although much of the United States still struggles to recover from the 2008 economic crisis, the online world defies that bleak economic picture—the Internet continues to put a growing number of Americans to work. “In a very flat economy... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Publishing

15 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Business IT Innovation is so Difficult

organization is crucial. "Don't treat it like plumbing," says McElheran. "I don't know a CEO who is deeply concerned about the firm's sewer system." Long-term horizon. Transforming business processes takes time, so companies need to be... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

21 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 21, 2008

diversification into the technology intensive TFT-LCD flat panel display industry. Because the diversification is far away from its core competence in petrochemicals, it is an opportunity to examine how the firm was able to become a... View Details