Improvisation - Publications - Faculty & Research

19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

15 Podcast Episodes That Grabbed Listeners in 2023

how Apple's financial model contributes to its success and illustrates a critical lesson about risk management. Mike Wheeler on the Jazz of Negotiation Mike Wheeler, who retired as the MBA Class of 1952 Professor of Management Practice, speaks about how negotiation's... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

29 Jan 2018
Book

How 'Teaming' Saved 33 Lives in the Chilean Mining Disaster

Matthews came to the site, and, working with several other strangers, discovered that his measurements were inconsistent with those of other groups; a rapidly improvised set of experiments showed that his equipment was most accurate.... View Details

Keywords: by Amy C. Edmondson; Mining

11 May 2009
Research & Ideas

The IT Leader’s Hero Quest

a new CEO, IVK had woken up to a realization of its current size and the consequent need for a new style of management. The company would mature into a grownup financial services firm. What had been a freewheeling, improvisational... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

10 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Do You Have Change Fatigue?

that Kanter calls IKIWISI (I'll know it when I see it). She compares it to improvisational theatre: you make the best judgment you can in the moment and remain prepared to adjust to whatever new conditions arise. "Personally, I hate... View Details

Keywords: by Nick Morgan

06 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Conducting Layoffs: ’Necessary Evils’ at Work

intense emotions and improvise as the situation unfolds, customizing the way in which they treat those on the receiving end of their actions. For these individuals, following a scripted response to the situation might feel like a burden.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

22 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Negotiation is Like Jazz

Skilled improvisational musicians practice alone and with others for hours every day, year after year—notes, scales, chords, and progressions. After all of this practice comes a performance, and an View Details

Keywords: by Kathleen L. McGinn

07 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Negotiation and All That Jazz

propositions apply in negotiation, as well, according to Michael Wheeler's new book, The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World. As the title suggests, he sees negotiation as an art rather than an exact science.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

05 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

The Ten Deadly Mistakes of Wanna-Dots

issues. Williams-sonoma Williams-Sonoma is a great example precisely because it had such a hard road to travel from initial denial to its first round of successes. The CEO was converted from skeptic to sponsor through two pilot ventures that were View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

29 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 29

book, Joseph Badaracco answers this question in practical and, at times, provocative ways. Publisher's link: http://hbr.org/product/the-good-struggle-responsible-leadership-in-an-unforgiving-world/an/11540-HBK-ENG August 2013 Simon & Schuster The Art of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

What it Takes to Lead Through Turmoil

improvisational theater." When chief executive Scott McNealy decided to push Sun Microsystems beyond workstation sales and into service and other opportunities around the Internet, every department in the company came up with ideas... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

05 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 5, 2008

Richards, Susan Moger and Mark Runco. London: Routledge, forthcoming Abstract Although the literatures on both organizational creativity and organizational improvisation have been expanding in recent years, the links between these... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

How Do You Grade Out as a Negotiator?

wonder if we could have done better; if we get a great deal, we wonder if we could've gotten even more." In his book The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World, Wheeler gave readers concrete strategies for... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

22 May 2020
In Practice

Post-COVID Health Care: More Screens, Less Red Tape?

improvisation to viable ways of operating that can function indefinitely. Neither management scholars nor health care providers have access to an off-the-shelf solution for how to do this. But through a collaborative approach, we may be... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

06 Dec 2013
Op-Ed

HBS Faculty Remember Nelson Mandela

boundaries for the group's activities; and managing the tensions inherent in group life—deciding, for example, when to be supportive and when to be confrontational, when to improvise and when to impose a structure. Watch an interview with... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, Linda Hill, Rosabeth Moss Kanter & Gautam Mukunda

14 Nov 2006
First Look

First Look: November 14, 2006

discount the risk. Such an approach can be catastrophic. Firms that do a good job of dealing with ambiguous threats do not improvise during a crisis; rather, they apply a rigorous set of detection and response capabilities that they have... View Details