Publications

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March 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Managing Religion in the Workplace: Abercrombie & Fitch and Masterpiece Cakeshop

By: Derek van Bever

Challenges related to managing religion in the workplace are on the rise, as are religious discrimination claims and monetary settlements, in the United States and around the world. This case examines two incidents of alleged religious discrimination that made their... View Details

Keywords: Religious Discrimination; First Amendment; Religious Freedom Restoration Act; Business Ethics; Religion And Business; Management; EEOC; Ethics; Religion; Conflict Management; Retail Industry; United States

Educators

Research Summary

Managing Workplace Reforms and Organization-Wide Transformations

Richard E. Walton is studying (with doctoral candidate Scott Hamlin and research associate Kathleen Scharf) the development and diffusion of new forms of union-management partnership together with other new practices in the steel industry. To test and elaborate... View Details

23 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 23

Publications 2013 pub Does Social Connection Turn Good Deeds into Good Feelings?: On the Value of Putting the 'Social' in Prosocial Spending By: Aknin, Lara B., Elizabeth W. Dunn, Gillian M. Sandstrom, and Michael I. Norton... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

15 Nov 2016
First Look

November 15, 2016

policies and practices as an unconscious “social defense” to help employees fend off anxieties raised by a 24/7 work culture. Due to the social defense, two beliefs remain unchallenged—the necessity of long... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

Why Anger Makes a Wrongly Accused Person Look Guilty

University—found that anger can make a person come across as guilty even when they are not. Too often, when an employee is accused of wrongdoing, people evaluating the situation can make snap judgments based on biases and hunches. This... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

05 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

Lessons in Decision-Making: Confident People Aren't Always Correct (Except When They Are)

to pause and question your intuition or the bravado of a particularly overzealous employee might be a critical soft skill. But how does a manager find those right people and allow their decisions to be influential? First, assess the... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

15 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

Why Giving to Others Makes Us Happy

donating a lump sum, and telling employees after that fact. “That’s not likely going to feel as good,” Whillans says. 2. People prefer to have a choice about helping others People seem to express greater happiness when they have control... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

October 2021 (Revised November 2022)
Case

The 2012 Spanish Labor Reform: Lifting All Boats, or Leveling Down?

By: Vincent Pons, Rafael Di Tella, Santiago Botella and Elena Corsi

Since 1978, Spain had struggled to control unemployment. The country’s labor law was protective of employees hired long-term and companies used temporary contracts as buffers. In 2012, amid economic recession and a 23.6% unemployment rate, a center-right government of... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Labor Market; Unemployment; Recession; Globalized Markets and Industries; Government Legislation; International Relations; Working Conditions; Employment; Labor Unions; Contracts; Social Issues; Public Opinion; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Spain; European Union

Educators

12 Nov 2024
HBS Case

Inside One Startup's Journey to Break Down Hiring (and Funding) Barriers

Launching a social justice startup takes more than a moving story. Ask Harley Blakeman, the 32-year-old founder of Honest Jobs. He has perfected his elevator pitch, but that doesn’t mean launching his business has been easy. A... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Employment

March 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Supplement

Arck Systems (C)

By: Ian Larkin

The Arck Systems series of cases describes the dilemmas faced by a senior sales manager in determining a sales compensation plan at an enterprise software company. The existing compensation plan is aggressive and highly rewards "star" performers. The cases track a... View Details

Keywords: Change; Framework; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Management; Organizational Design; Outcome or Result; Performance Evaluation; Sales; Motivation and Incentives; System; Applications and Software

January 1989 (Revised June 1993)
Case

General Electric: Compliance Systems

By: Robert L. Simons

After General Electric (GE) is indicted in 1985 for defrauding the Department of Defense, Chairman John F. Welch takes dramatic steps to prevent a recurrence. This case documents the new systems and procedures that are put in place to ensure that all GE employees are... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Communication; Business History; Behavior; Boundaries; Management Style; Cost Management; Electronics Industry

31 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 31

mathematical models has turned the negotiated order of organizational activities, which necessarily include particularistic elements, into abstract generalizations that favor quantifiable variables. This paper offers another logic, a View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2005
Article

Affect and Creativity at Work

By: Teresa M. Amabile, Sigal G. Barsade, Jennifer S. Mueller and Barry M. Staw

This study explored how affect relates to creativity at work. Using both quantitative and qualitative longitudinal data from the daily diaries of 222 employees in seven companies, we examined the nature, form, and temporal dynamics of the affect-creativity... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Attitudes; Employees; Theory

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April 16, 2019
Article

Research Confirms: When Receiving Bad News, We Shoot the Messenger

By: Leslie John, Hayley Blunden and Heidi Liu

Most jobs require us at some point to deliver bad news—whether it be a minor revelation such as a recruiter telling a prospective employee that there’s no wiggle room in salary, or something major, like when a manager must fire an employee. We dread such discussions... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Perception; Judgments

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October 2013
Article

When Power Makes Others Speechless: The Negative Impact of Leader Power on Team Performance

By: Leigh Plunkett Tost, Francesca Gino and Richard P. Larrick

We examine the impact of subjective power on leadership behavior and demonstrate that the psychological effect of power on leaders spills over to impact team effectiveness. Specifically, drawing from the approach/inhibition theory of power, power-devaluation theory,... View Details

Keywords: Power; Leadership; Team Performance; Groups and Teams; Performance; Leadership Style; Power and Influence

26 Apr 2024
HBS Case

Deion Sanders' Prime Lessons for Leading a Team to Victory

subordinates feels micromanaged, which is bizarre.” It’s a leadership approach focused on self-discipline and personal accountability, one that might be considered refreshing in a business world often bogged down by managers who second-guess every move their View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

January 29, 2018
Article

How to Build Trust with Colleagues You Rarely See

By: Tsedal Neeley

Building trust is key to success for any organization. But that can be tricky when it comes to colleagues that you only interact with virtually. What does it take to build trust when you can’t meet in person? In this piece, the author suggests that professionals should... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Trust; Organizational Culture; Familiarity; Employees

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21 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 21

States, Neeley argues that an organization’s lingua franca is the catalyst by which all employees become some kind of “expat”(someone detached from their mother tongue or home culture). Through her unfettered access to the inner workings... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

August 2013
Article

The Timing of Pay

By: Christopher Parsons and E. Van Wesep

There exists large and persistent variation in not only how, but when employees are paid, a fact unexplained by existing theory. This paper develops a simple model of optimal pay timing for firms. When workers have self-control problems, they under-save... View Details

Keywords: Payday Lending; Hyperbolic Discounting; Self-control Problems; Pay Frequency; Payday Loan Legislation; Paycheck Frequency; Time Inconsistency; Wages; Behavior; Employee Relationship Management