Publications

May 2013 (Revised August 2013)
Case

McKinsey & Company

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante

In early 2013 the leaders of McKinsey & Co., were reflecting, as they did periodically, on the path forward for their firm. Founded in Chicago in 1926 by James O. McKinsey (Mac), with only a small staff in one office, the firm had grown to be a global company with more... View Details

Keywords: CONSULTING Firms; McKinsey; Professional Service Firm; Marvin Bower; Strategy; Governance; Consulting Industry

2010
Chapter

A Contingency Theory of Leadership

The idea of a contingency theory of leadership is not novel. In the 1960s several scholars conducted research and proposed such an approach arguing that the style of leadership that would be most effective depended upon the situation (Fiedler, Tannenbaum and Schmidt,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Situation or Environment; Behavior; Theory

2023
Book

How the Harvard Business School Changed the Way We View Organizations

The story of the field of organizational behavior (which overlaps considerably with the origin story of Harvard Business School) and how it created the “medical model” of systems thinking—anchored in the practices of listening, observing, testing, and only then... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Systems Thinking; Medical Model; Organizations; Behavior; System; History

1987
Book

The Handbook of Organizational Behavior

Keywords: Organizations; Behavior

October 1995 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Cambridge Consulting Group: Bob Anderson

By: Jay W. Lorsch and John J. Gabarro

Describes the situation facing the head of a rapidly growing industry-focused group within a consulting company. Highlights the dilemmas of being a "producing manager" (i.e., a professional who has both individual production as well as management responsibilities).... View Details

Keywords: Management; Managerial Roles; Agency Theory; Consulting Industry

1967
Book

Organization and Environment

By: Paul R. Lawrence and J. W. Lorsch

Keywords: Organizations; Environmental Sustainability

October 2012 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Olympus (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Suraj Srinivasan and Kathleen Durante

As 2012 approached, the woes of the financial crisis seemed to be fading, companies were resuming business as usual, and some of the scrutiny on corporate governance practices began to recede as well. That is until another major financial scandal emerged in Japan in... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Corporate Governance; Electronics Industry; Health Industry; Japan

November 2005
Case

Michael Ovitz and The Walt Disney Company (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak

Faced with the need to hire a new president, The Walt Disney Co. pursued Michael Ovitz, a founder of the Creative Artist Agency. Although initially disinterested, Ovitz engaged in negotiations with Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Co., in the summer of 1995... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Selection and Staffing; Negotiation; Organizational Culture

June 2017 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Uber in 2017: One Bumpy Ride

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Jay W. Lorsch and Quinn Pitcher

Uber Technologies Inc., the popular ride-hailing company, entered 2017 having doubled its bookings in 2016 and achieving a valuation of nearly $70 billion, making it the largest venture capital-backed company in the world. Co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick embodied... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Information Technology; Transportation; Venture Capital; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry; Transportation Industry; United States

1970
Book

Organizational Structure and Design

By: Gene W. Dalton, Paul R. Lawrence and J. W. Lorsch

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Organizational Design

Research Summary

Directors Survey

This project, which is just beginning, will be a questionnaire survey of directors of public companies in the U.S. The goal of the survey will be to understand the views of directors about their jobs and the changing legal, regulatory, and institutional climate in... View Details

2012
Chapter

Boardroom Challenges

Third Quarter 2015
Article

Should Boards Mentor Their CEOs?: It Is a Complex Question. Here Are the Significant Considerations.

It's a complex question with significant considerations, including how open the CEO is likely to be to such advice, the company's situation, and the characteristics of the board. View Details

Keywords: Directors; CEO Mentoring; Governing and Advisory Boards; Rank and Position; Management Teams