Systems Thinking - Publications - Faculty & Research

23 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Five Ways to Make Your Company More Innovative

and the DNA of innovators. What they have to say might surprise you. Clayton Christensen Can people learn to be more innovative? I don't want to overstate the case. I think about 40 percent of people just are not going to be good at... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons, Julia Hanna & Roger Thompson

Blog

Inside the Learning: Boston By the Season

events at historical sites. That Monday is also the date of the Boston Marathon. Pick a spot along the route to cheer on the runners. Explore colleges or graduate schools. Is a young person in your family starting to think about the next... View Details

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Most Accountants Aren’t Crooks—Why Good Audits Go Bad

fundamental changes to the way accounting firms and their clients operate. If we are really going to restore trust in the U.S. system of auditing, we will need to go well beyond the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We will need to... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman, George Loewenstein & Don A. Moore; Accounting; Financial Services

16 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Nonprofit Networking: The New Way to Grow

was impressed with the new management and the impact of the structural changes, she also thought that the new system did not fully leverage the potential value of existing and new relationships among staff, both vertically and laterally,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

17 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Quiet Quitters Need More Than Money to Re-Engage

DeLong write. The antidote, they propose, is to replace contractual relationships with covenantal ones. “You need to fill people’s intrinsic motivational needs,” DeLong says, “as opposed to making it simply contractual.” Make changes big and small That requires a shift... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

18 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Looking in the Mirror: Questions Every Leader Must Ask

various frustrations she was experiencing-including unusually high turnover among her senior facilities-management staff, as well as various back-office struggles, computer system failures, and so on. I surprised her a bit by asking her... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

13 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

Science: The Unlikely Frontier for New Business Ideas

insights into marketable products, resulting in patents with little or no value. A tale of two storage systems All told, the most science intense patents were worth approximately $15.8 million, compared with $8.7 million for inventions... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

20 Sep 2019
Research & Ideas

Solving the Riddle of How Companies Grow Over Time

years ago, he found the last serious analysis on firm growth was conducted in 1959, in Edith Penrose’s book The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. “I’d like to think we’ve learned a lot since then,” Pisano says. Getting a better... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Manufacturing

24 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

How to Get People Addicted to a Good Habit

olfactory system is a powerful sensory source of both memory and pleasure and thus easily embedded into the habit loop,” the researchers explain in the paper. The experiment included 3,763 young children and their parents in 2,943... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

12 Nov 2018
Blog Post

Student Portraits - Armed Forces Alumni Association

of us soon.” REFLECTION ON SERVICE: I’m immensely proud of the time I’ve spent in uniform and the bonds I’ve made with fellow service members during four combat deployments (here’s to you, allies). I do not think that I will ever have an... View Details

21 Jun 2024
Blog Post

What Does PRIDE Mean to You?

Bjelde (MBA 2025) PRIDE has been the most vital and important part of my HBS experience. Prior to coming to HBS, I was based in NYC for 7 years where my social circle and community were almost entirely LGBTQ+. Coming to HBS was a huge adjustment for me – leaving my... View Details

22 Mar 2024
Blog Post

Driving Impact in Emerging Markets with HBS Alum Nneka Chime (MBA 2015)

every day,” Nneka said. “Yet I just felt this call to try to do something about it. How do you lift billions out of poverty? How do you create healthcare systems that work? Those are really hard things to do that no one has figured out... View Details

26 Nov 2001
Op-Ed

Why Corporate Budgeting Needs To Be Fixed

companies have budgets in the first place is to help coordinate the disparate parts of their businesses. By openly sharing accurate information and basing decisions on a common set of numbers, the thinking goes, you ensure harmonious... View Details

Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen

17 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

Why a Blended Workforce May Be Key to Lasting Competitive Advantage

In recent years, companies have been anxious about the lack of skilled workers to fill pivotal jobs. But then came COVID-19 and a subsequent recession. The ensuing business turmoil and record-high unemployment may have temporarily distracted companies from their... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph B. Fuller

Web

Frequently Asked Questions - Research Computing Services

code, or have to restore a file, please email RCS with the following information: Your name Full path of the file’s location File name Date file was deleted (if you do not know the exact date, a best guess is helpful) I think I've run out... View Details

29 Aug 2023
News

Helping Consumers Decarbonize their Purchases

sort of a liability that currently people are not being charged for. But they're opting into a system where they're like, "No, no, I want to pay. I want to pay my fair share." Is that the right way to look at it? SP: Yes, that's exactly... View Details

26 Jan 2024
Blog Post

Career Advice from the Guests of the HBS Climate Rising Podcast

Officer at 3Degrees Climate Rising episode: How Harvard is Going Fossil Fuel Free “Rather than saying, I want to get into climate change and therefore, what should I do? I would think of it the other way around, which is, What really... View Details

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Porter’s Perspective: Competing in the Global Economy

articles. Much of Porter's thinking originally appeared in the pages of the Harvard Business Review. Eleven of those seminal articles are collected in On Competition, a book published by the Harvard Business School Press. In addition,... View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael E. Porter

10 Jul 2007
What Do You Think?

How Much of Leadership Is About Control, Delegation, or Theater?

theater and control is required to make people feel comfortable when fundamental operating systems change ." Narendar Singh Raj Purohit adds that " when things are getting out of control someone has to take initiative to give a... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

01 Sep 2006
What Do You Think?

Are We Ready for Self-Management?

in how their jobs affect the customer in how their jobs can be improved in getting work done more effectively is most definitely welcome." Birgi Martin said, "I think self-management is needed at all levels of staff."... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Publications