Publications

20 Apr 2020
Book

Why COVID-19 Raises the Stakes for Healthy Buildings

Will you ever again step onto a crowded elevator without hesitation? Reach for a doorknob without concern (or gloves)? Easing social distancing restrictions might reopen businesses, but as long as memories of COVID-19 lockdowns are still fresh in people’s minds, the... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Real Estate; Health

May 1982 (Revised June 1982)
Case

Air Traffic Controllers

By: Michael Beer

On August 3, 1981 President Ronald Reagan terminated 12,000 air traffic controllers, members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, for violating their no-strike oath. Provides background on the human resources policies and practices of the Federal... View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Labor and Management Relations; Government and Politics; Labor Unions; Negotiation; Employees; Air Transportation Industry; United States

2021
Book

The Peacemaker's Code

By: Deepak Malhotra

The book's many themes -- war & peace, history, strategy, negotiation, leadership, friendship, & love -- are woven together in a novel with a sci-fi hook and a thrilling premise. The protagonist is a young history professor who is whisked off to Washington, where he... View Details

Keywords: Fiction

January–February 2025
Article

Why People Resist Embracing AI: The Five Main Obstacles—and How To Overcome Them

By: Julian De Freitas

The success of AI depends not only on its capabilities, which are becoming more advanced each day, but on people’s willingness to harness them. Unfortunately, many people view AI negatively, fearing it will cause job losses, increase the likelihood that their personal... View Details

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2010
Working Paper

Being a Leader and the Effective Exercise of Leadership: An Ontological Model (PDF File of PowerPoint Slides)

By: Werner Erhard, Michael C. Jensen and Kari Granger

This presentation is based on our research program over the last seven years in which our objective has been to rigorously distinguish leader and leadership and to create a technology for providing access to being a leader and exercising leadership effectively (in... View Details

Keywords: Curriculum and Courses; Innovation and Invention; Leadership Development; Goals and Objectives; Research and Development; Attitudes; Perception; Technology; United States

SSRN

27 Aug 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Learning From Japan’s Remarkable Disaster Recovery

It's common in Harvard Business School classrooms to discuss the "pivot," the moment an enterprise changes direction to pursue a new strategy. On a visit to eastern Japan, MBA students talked to Masamichi Ono, CEO of chrysanthemum grower Ono Kashoen, which... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Utilities; Retail

November 2007
Supplement

Differences at Work: Sam (B)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Rachel Gordon

In Differences at Work: Sam (B) HBS Case No. 9-408-054 Sam receives an informal apology from Human Resources which leaves Sam feeling unsatisfied as it is not an official company response. Sam leaves the company for unrelated reasons shortly thereafter but still... View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Human Resources; Social Psychology; Conflict and Resolution; Resignation and Termination; Employees; Policy

September 1989
Background Note

Introduction to Decision Making

By: Francis Aguilar

Describes the process of decision making (establish objectives, generate alternatives, and so on) emphasizing the human side of it (using rules of thumb, favoring one's own pet projects) yet demonstrating the role an analytic/quantitative contribution has to make. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Goals and Objectives; Mathematical Methods; Perspective

18 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 18

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/doi/10.1002/smj.2211/pdf February 2015 Journal of Human Rights Should Business Have Human Rights Obligations? By: Hsieh, Nien-hê Abstract—Businesses... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Dec 2008
What Do You Think?

Can Housing and Credit be “Nudged” Back to Health?

Summing Up The current global recession has, judging from responses to this month's column, many origins, among them housing and credit. All, of course, are traceable to human responses to both perceived opportunities and calamities,... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

February 1999 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Bloomberg L.P.

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Richard G. Hamermesh and Jeremy Dann

Michael Bloomberg founded his company to provide customers quick access to financial market data and analytical tools for understanding that data. As Bloomberg L.P. grew quickly,entered the ranks of "large, established companies," it grappled with a whole new range of... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges

Find at Harvard

06 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Behavioral Finance—Benefiting from Irrational Investors

How "sleepy" or "awake" are you when it comes to your stock portfolio? If you're like most people, you probably don't spend a great deal of time monitoring your investments. So when another company uses stock to acquire a firm in which you hold a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

March 1990 (Revised September 1993)
Case

People Express Airlines: Rise and Decline

By: Michael Beer

Describes the innovative approach to organizing and managing employees by People Express and describes the company's eventual demise. This material can be used to inform about leading edge human resource management practices and to raise questions about what went... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Human Resources; Air Transportation Industry

18 Dec 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Grooming Next-Generation Leaders

too, as CEOs take note of future stars. But medium-sized organizations have the most difficulty with talent identification because these companies often lack the infrastructure and human resources capabilities, says Sasser. With or... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 2004
Case

Succession Capital Corporation

In 2003, a small buyout company in Canada was deciding which company to purchase next. This case explores the challenges facing a young entrepreneur in the process of selecting a new acquisition when financial and human resources are constrained. View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Finance; Canada

Find at Harvard

06 Jul 2009
What Do You Think?

Are You Ready to Manage in an Irrational World?

managing successfully in an environment of uncertainty." As for what this means for educators, Joseph Holt believes that "economics and management will be taught even more effectively the more accurately they reflect a human... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

December 2003 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Managing Segway's Early Development

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and David Kiron

Describes the early development of the Segway Human Transporter and focuses on the organizational issues that arise between the parent company and the new company that is being spun out to produce and market the Segway. Key issues are the distribution of bonuses and... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Business Startups; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Resource Allocation; Organizational Design; Technology Adoption