Publications

05 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

Why People Crave Feedback—and Why We’re Afraid to Give It

If you were talking with a woman and noticed a splotch of red marker on her nose, would you tell her? You’re not alone if you would prefer to remain silent. A recent study looking at whether and why people... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

June 2014
Supplement

Chung and Dasgupta: Information for Jordan Ramirez

By: Ian Larkin and Karen Huang

The "Promotion Process at Chung and Dasgupta, LLP" set of cases explores the roles of general and firm-specific human capital in employee performance measurement, feedback, and promotion/compensation decisions. In the cases, a leading law firm must decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Performance Appraisal; Performance Measurement; Employee Feedback; Motivation; Promotions; Human Capital; Performance Evaluation; Management Systems; Compensation and Benefits; Retention; Legal Services Industry; United States; Massachusetts

19 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

What Motivates People to Give Generously—and Why We Sometimes Don't

article originally appeared in the HBS Alumni Bulletin. You Might Also Like: Giving Back: Consumers Care More About How Companies Donate Than How Much Extroverts, Your Colleagues Wish You Would Just Shut Up View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint, HBS Alumni Bulletin

26 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

To Motivate Employees, Give an Unexpected Bonus (or Penalty)

would earn, then you tend to go above and beyond to restore this balance,” she says. On the other hand, those employees who were punished, or who didn’t receive the reward they anticipated, tended to be less... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Manufacturing

June 2014
Case

The Promotion Process at Chung and Dasgupta, LLP

By: Ian Larkin and Karen Huang

The "Promotion Process at Chung and Dasgupta, LLP" set of cases explores the roles of general and firm-specific human capital in employee performance measurement, feedback, and promotion/compensation decisions. In the cases, a leading law firm must decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Performance Appraisal; Performance Measurement; Employee Feedback; Motivation; Promotions; Human Capital; Performance Evaluation; Management Systems; Compensation and Benefits; Retention; Legal Services Industry; United States; Massachusetts

Educators

October 14, 2019
Article

Cracking the Code of Sustained Collaboration

By: Francesca Gino

When most organizations strive to increase collaboration, they approach it too narrowly: as a value to cultivate—not a skill to teach. So they create open offices, talk up collaboration as a corporate goal, and try to influence employees through other superficial means... View Details

Keywords: Collaboration; Listening; Empathy; Feedback; Organizational Culture; Interpersonal Communication; Training; Programs

Register to Read

June 2011
Article

Truth in Giving: Experimental Evidence on the Welfare Effects of Informed Giving to the Poor

By: Christina Fong and Felix Oberholzer-Gee

It is often difficult for donors to predict the value of charitable giving because they know little about the persons who receive their help. This concern is particularly acute when making contributions to organizations that serve heterogeneous populations. While we... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Policy; Information; Knowledge Acquisition; Game Theory; Prejudice and Bias; Poverty; Welfare

05 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Benefit of Giving Back to Open Source Software

productivity from using the software by as much as 100 percent, when compared with free-riding competitors. "Companies that contribute and give back learn how to better use the open source software in... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Computer

December 2022
Article

Kindness in Short Supply: Evidence for Inadequate Prosocial Input

By: Jennifer E. Abel, Preeti Vani, Nicole Abi-Esber, Hayley Blunden and Juliana Schroeder

In everyday life, people often have opportunities to improve others’ lives, whether offering well-intentioned advice or complimenting someone on a job well done. These are opportunities to provide “prosocial input” (information intended to benefit others), including... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Input; Gratitude; Feedback; Advice; Behavior; Interpersonal Communication

28 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

How Workplace Wellness Programs Can Give Employees the Energy Boost They Need

for actually using well-being services. Managers can empower employees to use the services by acting as role models and talking about using the programs themselves. Listen to employees and focus on what... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson

08 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Truth in Giving: Experimental Evidence on the Welfare Effects of Informed Giving to the Poor

Keywords: by Christina Fong & Felix Oberholzer-Gee

27 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Gen AI Marketing: How Some 'Gibberish' Code Can Give Products an Edge

suggest and prioritize. Lakkaraju conducted the analysis with HBS postdoctoral researcher Aounon Kumar. The ability to manipulate product comparison could give some companies an unfair advantage, but it... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology

Article

Selfishly Benevolent or Benevolently Selfish? When Self-interest Undermines versus Promotes Prosocial Behavior

By: Julian Zlatev and Dale T. Miller

Existing research shows that appeals to self-interest sometimes increase and sometimes decrease prosocial behavior. We propose that this inconsistency is in part due to the framings of these appeals. Different framings generate different salient reference points,... View Details

Keywords: Altruism; Charitable Giving; Framing; Prosocial Behavior; Reference Points; Self-interest; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Framework; Behavior

16 May 2023
HBS Case

How KKR Got More by Giving Ownership to the Factory Floor: ‘My Kids Are Going to College!’

Instead, when the company wouldn’t pay them for their lunch hour, they intentionally scheduled deliveries to show up midday, when there wasn’t anyone working to receive them, sabotaging the project. “Top management have to be willing to... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

October 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Rakesh Khurana

Highlights giving and receiving feedback in an MBA classroom setting. View Details

Keywords: Design; System; Performance Evaluation

Educators

08 Oct 2020
Research & Ideas

Keep Your Weary Workers Engaged and Motivated

example by giving rewards for both individual and team performance. Without direct oversight, “Relationships can all too readily slide into cutthroat competition or totally collusive bonding. Either extreme... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

September 2024
Article

Sales Coaching and Value Creation

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Despite the prevalence of “coachability” in firms’ stated hiring criteria, managers over-estimate the amount of time they actually devote to coaching their people. For example, research indicates that only 15% of sales managers even spend as much as 25% of their time... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Employee Relationship Management; Management Practices and Processes

Read Now

November 2019
Article

Procedural Justice and the Risks of Consumer Voting

By: Tami Kim, Leslie John, Todd Rogers and Michael I. Norton

Firms are increasingly giving consumers the vote. Eight studies demonstrate that when firms empower consumers to vote, consumers infer a series of implicit promises—even in the absence of explicit promises. We identify three implicit promises to which consumers react... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Empowerment; Procedural Justice; Promises; Customer Relationship Management; Voting; Perception; Fairness; Risk Management