Publications

February 2022
Case

Toto Wolff and the Mercedes Formula One Team

By: Anita Elberse and David Moreno Vicente

In December 2021, Toto Wolff, team principal and chief executive officer of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team (the ‘Mercedes team’) is preparing for the start of the 2021 Formula One (‘F1’) season’s last Grand Prix, in the United Arab Emirates. Everything the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Team Management; Culture; Organizational Culture; Sports; Entertainment; Media; Superstars; General Management; Engineers; Competition; Problems and Challenges; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

May 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Managing the Future of Work

By: William R. Kerr, Allison Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

By 2019, leaders from the public and private sector had become increasingly anxious about how advanced technologies and aging global populations could affect labor markets, workplaces, and workers’ lives. Some analysts forecasted that hundreds of millions of workers... View Details

Keywords: Labor Markets; Workplace; Employment; Technological Innovation; Demographics; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities

05 Jul 2023
What Do You Think?

How Are Middle Managers Falling Down Most Often on Employee Inclusion?

(iStockphoto/AzmanL) Search “inclusion” on Amazon and the majority of book entries that come up are for children. Is that an indicator of the current state of management art on the subject? Fortunately, there is a growing body of research... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 2006
Module Note

Managing Innovation in an Uncertain World: Module 3: Expanding Diversity

By: Alan D. MacCormack

Describes the third module of the 30-session Harvard Business School elective course Managing Innovation in an Uncertain World. The course helps students understand the challenges that uncertainty implies for innovation and how to overcome them. The course emphasizes... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Business Processes; Projects; Risk and Uncertainty; Product Development; Managerial Roles; Opportunities; Perspective; Expansion; Goals and Objectives

July 2019 (Revised November 2022)
Case

Backstage at Boston Ballet

By: David G. Fubini, Ryan Raffaelli, Begum Agca Okutgen and Julia Kelley

This case asks students to consider how to prioritize goals when placed in a new leadership role. In August 2014, Meredith “Max” Hodges became the youngest Executive Director (ED) in the Boston Ballet’s 51-year history. In her first year, she was able to claim several... View Details

August 2016 (Revised June 2017)
Case

InsideSales.com (A)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This case focuses on growth requirements for a company moving from its base in SMB customers (Small and Mid-Sized businesses) to Enterprise customers (companies with more than 500 employees). It examines the differences in buying processes, product requirements,... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change And Adaptation; Organizational Design; Talent; Talent Management; Organizations; Growth Management; Sales; Salesforce Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Technology Industry; United States

2023
Book

How the Harvard Business School Changed the Way We View Organizations

By: Jay W. Lorsch

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

April 2008
Teaching Note

Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad (Brief Case)

By: Michael Beer and Elizabeth Collins

Teaching note for case # 2175 View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Human Resource Management; Incentives; Motivation; Manufacturing; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Change Management; Production; Organizations; Human Resources; Manufacturing Industry

First Quarter 2013
Article

Big Data in the Age of the Telegraph

By: Caitlin C. Rosenthal

Daniel McCallum's 1854 organizational chart for the New York and Erie Railroad resembled a tree rather than a pyramid. It empowered frontline managers by clarifying data flows. View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Telegraph; Organizational Charts; History; Data and Data Sets; Business History; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Rail Industry

Read Now

September 2003
Module Note

Managing the Competing Goals of Work and Life

By: Leslie A. Perlow

Outlines how instructors can facilitate discussion within the Managing the Competing Goals of Work and Life module to encourage students to begin a process of self-assessment that focuses on personal values, career development needs, and workplace culture. View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Culture; Work-Life Balance; Value

April 2009 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Urbi and the City Licensee Managers

By: John D. Macomber and Regina Garcia-Cuellar

A leading low income housing builder in Mexico decides which prospective new local partner best extends its advantages in managing twin production lines of homes and clients. URBI has built substantial competitive advantage in the technology and culture that matches... View Details

Keywords: Mortgages; Government and Politics; Housing; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Market Entry and Exit; Production; Supply Chain; Organizational Culture; Franchise Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Advantage; Real Estate Industry; China; India; Mexico; United States

Web

Entrepreneurial Management Curriculum - Faculty & Research

2025 Q3Q4 3.0 Turnarounds and Transformation (also listed under Organizational Behavior) Ranjay Gulati Spring 2025 Q3Q4 3.0 Venture Capital and Private Equity Jo Tango , Archie L. Jones Fall 2024 Q1Q2 3.0 Doctoral Programs Faculty from... View Details

06 Oct 2016
HBS Seminar

John Van Reenen, MIT Sloan School of Management

February 2014
Teaching Note

A.P. Møller–Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Robin Abrahams

This teaching note is an accompaniment to the case, A.P. Møller–Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives. The case reviews the talent management issues being discussed at Maersk Group, a global conglomerate with large shipping and oil & gas... View Details

Keywords: Retention; Human Capital; Human Resources; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Management Practices and Processes; Shipping Industry; Energy Industry; Denmark

Web

Supply Chain Management - Course Catalog

distribution economics, and demand forecasting are explored in depth in SCM. SCM also differs from RC TOM in that RC TOM concentrates primarily on material and information flows within an organization, whereas SCM focuses on managing... View Details

Web

General Management Curriculum - Faculty & Research

3.0 Challenges and Opportunities in the Restaurant Industry Michael S. Kaufman , Andy Pforzheimer Spring 2025 Q3Q4 3.0 Changing the World: Life Choices of Influential Leaders (also listed under Accounting & Management and View Details

11 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

The New International Style of Management

transparency, an orientation to quality, and a performance-driven, high-standards organizational culture. As the best international companies exhibit similarities in certain standards and practices, managers... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

Web

Technology & Operations Management - Faculty & Research

Technology & Operations Management Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students January 8, 2025 Article Why Retailers Are Turning to Third-Party Marketplaces By: Antonio Moreno Some traditional... View Details

2018
Article

Cracking the Organizational Challenge of Pursuing Joint Social and Financial Goals: Social Enterprise as a Laboratory to Understand Hybrid Organizing

By: Julie Battilana

While in recent decades the social and business sectors have evolved on fairly separate tracks, today companies are increasingly expected to generate social value in addition to profit. As a result, they also increasingly face the distinct challenge of pursuing social... View Details

Keywords: Hybrid Organizations; Hybrid Organizing; Multiple Goals; Social Enterprise; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Design; Organizational Culture