Publications

23 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

The Power of Conversational Leadership

function becomes something that more and more resembles the way that two friends would talk," Slind says. The Properties Of A Good Organizational Conversation The book divides good organizational... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

April 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

IBM: Design Thinking

By: Srikant M. Datar, Amram Migdal and Paul Hamilton

This case describes the 2012-2020 effort at IBM to implement design thinking throughout the company and hire thousands of designers to serve on every product team alongside technical engineers and developers and product managers. IBM’s design transformation is told... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Divisions; Business Units; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Talent and Talent Management; Design; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Jobs and Positions; Job Design and Levels; Leading Change; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Product; Product Design; Product Development; Organizations; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Adaptation; Adoption; Technological Innovation; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

06 Oct 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

18 Tips Managers Can Use to Lead Through COVID's Rising Waters

managing through the pandemic. The topics: people and personal management, strategy, marketing, and organizational design. PEOPLE AND PERSONAL MANAGEMENT Tip: Guide your team to create new norms, protocols, and purpose. Leaders need to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 1991 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Bill Gates and the Management of Microsoft

In July 1991, Microsoft has achieved record growth and profitability in the PC software industry. The case focuses on Microsoft's founder and CEO, Bill Gates, and his top management team, as they seek to retain the innovation and spirit of a small company in a rapidly... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career; Information Technology Industry; United States

Research Summary

Research overview

By: Julie Battilana

How can actors – be they individuals or organizations – diverge from deeply-seated norms and develop new ones, when their beliefs and actions are shaped by these very norms? This question lies at the heart of Professor Battilana’s research. To address it, she... View Details

March 1996
Case

Ernst & Young United Kingdom (A) (Abridged)

By: John J. Gabarro and Samantha Graff

Intended to be a robust example of the challenges encountered during the early stages of a large-scale organizational transformation effort in a professional service firm. Describes a massive change program initiated and led by the new managing partner along with a... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leading Change; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Problems and Challenges; United Kingdom; London

February 1999 (Revised August 2006)
Background Note

What Is an Organization's Culture?

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Kristin Shu

A synopsis of the writings of Edgar Schein, Modesto Maidique, and B.J. Zirger on what organizational culture is, where it comes from, how it can be changed, and how it inhibits change. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture

September 2021
Article

Shaking Things Up: Disruptive Events and Inequality

By: Letian Zhang

This paper develops a theory of how disruptive events could reduce racial and gender inequality in organizations. Despite pressure from regulators and advocates, racial and gender inequality in the workplace remains high. I theorize that because such inequality is... View Details

Keywords: Inequality; Equality and Inequality; Diversity; Race; Gender; Restructuring; Mergers and Acquisitions; Disruption

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January 2025
Article

Communication Within Firms: Evidence from CEO Turnovers

By: Stephen Michael Impink, Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun

This paper uses novel, firm-level communication measures derived from communications metadata several months before and after a CEO transition for 102 firms to study whether and how this organizational event is reflected in employees’ communication flows. We find that... View Details

Keywords: Information; Communication; Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Alignment

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10 Feb 2020
In Practice

6 Ways That Emerging Technology Is Disrupting Business Strategy

involving artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, and the Internet of Things are changing the way business leaders think about strategy. Here’s what they said: 1. Talent and data are more critical than ever “Traditionally,... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

July 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Turnaround at the Veterans Health Administration (A)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Brian R. Golden and Gary J. Young

Investigates the challenges that Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer confronted in seeking to create organizational change at the largest integrated health care system in North America, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Kizer was appointed as the Under Secretary of Health, to... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Leadership; Consolidation; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Health Industry; Public Administration Industry; North and Central America

October 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Komatsu Ltd.: Project G's Globalization

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

This case describes the major strategic and organizational transformation at Komatsu aimed at changing it from a Japan-based producer of construction equipment to a truly global company with the ability to leverage its groupwide portfolio of resources and capabilities... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Construction; Asset Pricing; Investment Portfolio; Global Strategy; Leadership; Resource Allocation; Risk Management; Expansion; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

19 Feb 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Evolution of Science-Based Business: Innovating How We Innovate

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Height Taken but Worth Unknown: Valuation as an Institutional Process

By: R. Daniel Wadhwani and Mukti Khaire

Drawing on research from organizational studies, sociology, history, and anthropology, we develop a framework for understanding valuation as an institutional process in markets. We posit that three institutional elements—categories, criteria, and standards—are integral... View Details

Keywords: Interactive Communication; Markets; Standards; Situation or Environment; Perception; Valuation

December 2009
Article

Restructuring Within an Academic Health Center to Support Quality and Safety: The Development of the Center for Quality and Safety at the Massachusetts General Hospital

By: Richard Bohmer, Jonathan David Bloom, Elizabeth Mort MD, Akinluwa Demehin and Gregg Meyer MD

Recent focus on the need to improve the quality and safety of health care has created new challenges for academic health centers (AHCs). Whereas previously quality was largely assumed, today it is increasingly quantifiable and requires organized systems for... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Performance Improvement; Quality; Safety; Massachusetts

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

A Perfect Fit: Aligning Organization & Strategy

analysis of the organization so that significant changes can be made based on what comes to light." Organizational fitness is based on the premise that an organization is a system. "You can't View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

Research Summary

Trust

By: Sandra J. Sucher

In this research, I aim to provide a practical orientation to trust—how to build it, how it can be damaged, how it might be repaired—grounded in my experience as an executive and in the research on organizational trust and moral philosophy. As a case researcher, I... View Details

May 2009
Case

Tokyo Electron Ltd.

By: Willy C. Shih and Andrew A. King

Tokyo Electron Ltd. operates in a constrained innovation environment, defined by modular boundaries that are long standing in the industry that it serves, the global semiconductor manufacturing industry. While the original motivation for these boundaries was division... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Governance Controls; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Boundaries; Manufacturing Industry; Semiconductor Industry

October 2017 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Data Breach at Equifax

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Quinn Pitcher and Jonah S. Goldberg

The case discusses the events leading up to the massive data breach at Equifax, one of the three U.S. credit reporting companies, the organizational and governance issues that contributed to the breach, and the consequences of the breach. The case supplement provides... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Information Management; Cybersecurity; Technology Industry; United States