Publications

15 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

A Mass Crisis Can Overwhelm Health Care. Liberia Found a Solution.

Response to Covid-19 (Harvard Business Review) What Quarantine Can Teach You About Spending and Happiness (Wall Street Journal) Read COVID-19 coverage from Working Knowledge The health care system in the US is larger and far more complex, and the virus is already... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health

12 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Private Sector, Public Good

Georgia, partnered with a local school district that had a dismal graduation rate. The company staffed its factory with the district's most at-risk kids, leading to a graduation rate that soared among those students as well as other... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

01 Jun 2020
News

Prognosis

and hand sanitizer to every household in the city of Chelsea. We’re staffing a hotel that the cities of Chelsea and Revere have rented for people who need to be quarantined, and we’re providing medical and nursing care there. We are doing... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; COVID-19; Hospitals; Health, Social Assistance

June 2014
Case

Stock Options at Celia-Check

By: Brian Hall, Andrew Wasynczuk and Karen Huang

Describes issues facing three young founders of a high-tech start-up, including hiring an experienced CEO and negotiating with a potential VC investor. Focuses on the incentive and compensation aspects of negotiating with job candidates (e.g., what percentage of the... View Details

Keywords: Stock Options; Venture Capital; Selection and Staffing; Negotiation; Executive Compensation; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Business Startups; Management Teams; Technology Industry; United States

02 Dec 2019
What Do You Think?

How Does a Company like Boeing Respond to Intense Competitive Pressure?

in understanding between departments staffed with employees whose responsibilities and training vary widely? Inherent organizational conflict takes many forms—for example, between home office staff (“who don’t understand how the business... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Air Transportation

18 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Greed Ruining Private Equity Firms?

the first time. With the stigma that comes with staffing changes, the partnership may struggle to drum up ongoing investments. Junior partners can come and go without affecting the ability of a PE firm to raise the next fund. But that’s... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Banking; Financial Services

August 2011
Case

Ockham Technologies (A): Building the Team

By: Noam Wasserman

Describes the issues facing a founder-ceo regarding building a board, assembling an executive team, managing tension between co-founders, and outsourcing development work. View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Information Technology

November 2007
Case

Ockham Technologies: Living on the Razor's Edge (Abridged)

By: Noam T. Wasserman

Describes the issues facing a Founder-CEO regarding building a board, assembling an executive team, managing tension between co-founders, and outsourcing system development work. The abridged version does not include the introduction and final sections of the full case... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Information Technology

30 Apr 2021
News

Revealing the Rules

you were a part of—and certainly race and gender have a role to play as well. I eventually came to the rude awakening that in the workplace, there are two sets of people: One is waiting patiently for the next staffing assignment to be... View Details

16 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Weighing Digital Tradeoffs in Private Equity

When private equity (PE) firms buy a company, they typically follow a standard playbook to create value—streamlining operations, restructuring debt, changing management, and cutting costs. However, as digital technologies and artificial intelligence allow companies to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

August 2002 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Gillette Company (A): Pressure for Change

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and James Weber

After years of strong performance with market-dominating brands, Gillette's performance slips and a new CEO is selected from outside the company to lead a turnaround. This case describes the business and financial situation he inherited and asks what he should do... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Performance Consistency; Product Positioning; Selection and Staffing; Change Management; Leading Change; Competitive Strategy; Planning; Retail Industry

November 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Richmond Events

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Kristin Lieb

The managers of British business forum planner, Richmond Events, are struggling to expand their conference offerings into new territories. At the same time, they are trying to decide how product managers, who are critical to event success, should be hired, trained,... View Details

Keywords: Conferences; Innovation and Management; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Conflict Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Marketing; Service Industry; United Kingdom; Asia

May 2019
Teaching Note

Gender and Free Speech at Google (A), (B), & (C)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Sarah Mehta

Teaching Note for HBS No. 318-085, 319-095, and 319-097. View Details

Keywords: Free Speech; Representation; Diversity; Gender; Race; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Labor; Employment; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry; United States; California

September 2009
Case

Peter Schultz at The Scripps Research Institute

By: H. Kent Bowen, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld and Courtney Purrington

Peter Schultz, Professor of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute, managed an extremely productive lab. This case examines how Schultz recruited, motivated and inspired the students and scientists that worked with him. View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Research and Development; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Management Style; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership Style

Find at Harvard

12 Apr 2013
News

In Push for Gender Equality, Breaking Down the Boardroom Door

Keywords: Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Management; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

July 2010 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Employment Vignettes

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Chad M. Carr

Six vignettes drawn from decided cases explore legal and business issues in hiring, firing, promoting, and demoting employees, with an emphasis on protected classes, pretext, and anti-discrimination laws in the setting of start-ups and privately held companies. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Employees; Resignation and Termination; Selection and Staffing; Laws and Statutes; Lawsuits and Litigation