Leader Turnover - Publications - Faculty & Research

08 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 8

the democratization of data. The vast turnover at consultancies means armies of experienced strategists are available for hire by former clients, whose increasing sophistication allows them to allocate work instead of relying on one-stop... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

How Mercadona Fixes Retail’s ’Last 10 Yards’ Problem

downtime. Departmental specialists can assist customers during busy periods and order merchandise and arrange their sections during slack hours. The results? Customers receive better service. Employees have more predictable schedules, one reason why View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Food & Beverage

02 Sep 2015
What Do You Think?

What's Wrong With Amazon’s Low-Retention HR Strategy?

high employee turnover for many years. What’s wrong with a low-retention HR strategy? What do you think? To read more: Wayne F. Cascio, The High Cost of Low Wages, Harvard Business Review, December 2006, pp. 23-33. See also Cascio’s... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Web Services; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Consumer Products; Fashion

31 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

Beyond the 'Business Case' in DEI: 6 Steps Toward Meaningful Change

both clarity and caution. While leaders have fallen back on the “business case” for hiring and promoting employees from historically marginalized groups, this rationale can trigger resistance, backlash, and biases, particularly among... View Details

Keywords: by Katherine Hutt Scott and Barbara DeLollis

10 May 2021
Research & Ideas

Who Has Potential? For Many White Men, It’s Often Other White Men

the partners worried the high turnover was damaging the firm’s competitive edge, according to research by Robin Ely, the Diane Doerge Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, who studies race and gender... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

05 Jul 2012
What Do You Think?

Why Is Trust So Hard to Achieve in Management?

effectiveness and of achievement at all costs" (Liam); (3) "excessive turnover and continuous change" (Marlis Krichewsky); (4) leaders who "use ambiguity and weasel words in their... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

08 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Silos That Work: How the Pandemic Changed the Way We Collaborate

Communication Networks during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Zuzul is an assistant professor in the Strategy Unit at HBS and specializes in how leaders and organizations navigate new industries and periods of dramatic change. A treasure trove of... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

01 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

Dying to Lead: How Reaching the Top Can Kill You Sooner

Whitehall findings,” he says. “It turns out that top managers might face more health problems.” Past research has seen mixed results when exploring links between stress and high-status positions. In biology, for instance, studies of primate social groups found that... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

01 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

First Minutes are Critical in New-Employee Orientation

as the control group, but also an additional hour-long presentation, which varied according to the group. For the individual identity condition, a senior leader at Wipro spent 15 minutes discussing ways in which working at the company... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Web Services; Service; Telecommunications

03 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Desperate for Talent? Consider Advancing Your Own Employees First

Job openings in the United States continue to hover at record high levels, exacerbated by the Great Resignation and a sputtering emergence from the pandemic. Competition remains fierce among companies struggling to find qualified workers. Yet many employers,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

25 Sep 2019
Research & Ideas

The Economic Cost of Physician Burnout

the dollar losses were related to physician turnover and reduced clinical hours. The research adds to previous work showing how physician stress generates negative clinical and organizational outcomes. No studies have previously been... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

11 May 2009
Research & Ideas

The IT Leader’s Hero Quest

and ultimately an excellent journey to learning effective leadership skills in The Adventures of an IT Leader (Harvard Business Press). According to the novel's creators, a fictional approach allowed them to blend real-life incidents they... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

17 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

Why Business Should Support Employees Who Are Caregivers

don’t realize that there are material returns associated with helping these workers,” says Fuller, a professor of management practice. “If I told an executive, ‘You could reduce your turnover of key personnel by 3 percent,’ they would... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Health

19 Aug 2021
Op-Ed

Don't Ignore Your Employees' Misery—TAKE Control

profitability in many instances. So why are so many employers pushing so forcefully for all employees to return to the office, even as employee turnover across industries is increasing? It’s a pattern not isolated to the corporate world.... View Details

Keywords: by Hise O. Gibson and MaShon Wilson

06 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

The Innovator’s Battle Plan

itself a long, bruising fight. Unless the new firms sell their advanced product quickly to the established leaders or have extremely patient, deep-pocketed investors, incumbents will spend more, produce better products and services, and... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony & Erik A. Roth

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Looking for CEOs in All the Wrong Places

turnover is largely determined by two factors: whether the turnover is forced or natural, and whether an internal or external candidate is selected as the successor. CEO searches, as currently practiced, are... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs; Employment

01 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 1

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/download.aspx?name=Marketplace_Reseller_HBS%20WP%2001312014.pdf August 2013 Corporations and Citizenship Can For-Profit Corporations Be Good Citizens? Perspectives from Four Business Leaders By: Hsieh,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

25 Apr 2018
Research & Ideas

We May Have Taken Too Much Credit for Easing Workplace Segregation

who co-wrote Firm Turnover and the Return of Racial Establishment Segregation with Stanford University Assistant Professor John-Paul Ferguson. “I’ve had people say, ‘How can this be the case? It can’t be true. My workplace is so much more... View Details