Publications

Research Summary

Vicarious Learning in Organizations

To advance the study of how individuals learn through their interactions with others, Professor Myers has adopted a vicarious learning theory lens. Vicarious learning allows individuals to learn from the outcomes of others’ experiences, rather than solely their own... View Details

Keywords: Learning And Development; Learning; Health Industry

Teaching Interest

AMP 170 - General Management: Processes and Action

The Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program (AMP) helps drive corporate performance by honing individual capabilities to the highest level of performance. The result is a... View Details

2009
Article

Implicit Affect in Organizations

By: Sigal G. Barsade, Lakshmi Ramarajan and Drew Westen

Our goal is to integrate the construct of implicit affect—affective processes activated or processed outside of conscious awareness that influence ongoing thought, behavior, and conscious emotional experience—into the field of organizational behavior. We begin by... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Framework; Organizational Culture; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Emotions; Motivation and Incentives; Perspective

Read Now

29 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

How Organizations Create Social Value

on board. Close alignment between strategy and mission. How can organizations get the right people with the right skills to develop social value? The recruiting processes should be centered on personal... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

April 2003
Article

Exploitation, Exploration, and Process Management: The Productivity Dilemma Revisited

By: Mary J. Benner and Michael L. Tushman

We develop a contingency view of process management's influence on both technological innovation and organizational adaptation. We argue that while process management activities are beneficial for organizations in stable contexts, they are fundamentally inconsistent... View Details

Keywords: Management; Problems and Challenges

September 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Module Note

Assessing Your Organization's Capabilities: Resources, Processes and Priorities

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Stephen P. Kaufman

Summarizes a model that helps managers determine what sorts of initiatives an organization is capable and incapable of managing successfully. The factors that affect what an organizational unit can and cannot accomplish can be grouped as resources, processes, and the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Experience and Expertise; Innovation and Management; Business Processes; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Mathematical Methods

January 2007 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Organic Growth at Wal-Mart

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Troy Smith

In 2005, an executive vice president at Wal-Mart must decide whether to expand the retailer's selection of organic food. The decision is made in the context of wider attempts to move the giant retailer slightly upscale and to focus on environmental sustainability. View Details

Keywords: Food; Growth and Development Strategy; Product; Business Processes; Environmental Sustainability; Expansion; Retail Industry; United States

Educators

February 1996 (Revised August 1998)
Exercise

Process Flow Design Exercise (C)

By: Janice H. Hammond

Provides detailed instructions for auditors to help them prepare for the factory demonstration day. Each audit position is described and a time line outlining responsibilities for the four phases of the simulation is provided. View Details

Keywords: Business Processes

September 1993 (Revised August 2011)
Exercise

ExtendSim® Simulation Exercises in Process Analysis (A)

By: Roy D. Shapiro

First set of exercises meant to be used with ExtendSim, a simulation system created by Imagine That, Inc. of San Jose, California. These exercises allow students to investigate the impact of variable processing times on the performance of simple in-line processes.... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Business Processes; Performance; Mathematical Methods

May 2011
Case

Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Baria Planning Solutions (BPS) is a consulting firm that specializes in using spend analysis to help companies identify savings through reduced procurement costs and improved supplier performance. Management is concerned about the disappointing performance of the sales... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Technology; Operations Management; Product Lines; Manufacturing; Capacity Planning; Production Planning; Production; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Supply Chain Management; Salesforce Management; Planning; Consulting Industry; North and Central America

Educators

13 Feb 2020
Book

Open Your Organization to Honest Conversations

developed what they call the “strategic fitness process,” which has been used by more than 800 organizations and allows leaders to hear the raw but necessary truth from employees about “the good, the bad, and the ugly” to help shape... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

1991
Chapter

Innovation Processes in Multinational Corporations

By: S. Ghoshal and C. A. Bartlett

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Innovation and Invention; Business Processes

August 1993
Case

USAA: Business Process Review for the Great Lakes Region

By: James L. Heskett and Roger H. Hallowell

USAA proposes to develop a new set of processes for its property and casualty division. The case focuses on processes used in automobile claims. View Details

Keywords: Business Processes; Insurance Industry; United States

December 2010
Article

Organizing the In-between: The Population Dynamics of Network-weaving Organizations in the Global Interstate Network

By: Paul Ingram and Magnus Thor Torfason

This article examines the population dynamics and viability of network weavers, which are organizations that provide network relations for others. An analysis of the population dynamics of the intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) that are the basis of the interstate... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Organizations; Demographics; Relationships; Globalization; Economics; Conflict and Resolution; Value; Lawfulness; Competition

Read Now

25 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

An Organization Your Customers Understand

constituents, managers must choose their primary customer—and organize accordingly. A constituent is a person or group that receives utility from the value creation process of the View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

2009
Chapter

Creativity, Improvisation, and Organizations

By: Colin M. Fisher and Teresa M. Amabile

Although the literatures on both organizational creativity and organizational improvisation have been expanding in recent years, the links between these literatures have not been deeply explored. This chapter explores those links to create a conceptualization of... View Details

Keywords: Body of Literature; Innovation and Invention; Organizational Culture; Research; Creativity; Theory

October 2003 (Revised November 2003)
Module Note

Organizing to Learn Module Note

By: Amy C. Edmondson

Teaches a framework for managing in dynamic or uncertain organizational contexts, designed for either MBA or Executive Education courses. Offers a new perspective on how managers can help stimulate and guide a collective learning process in their organizations. The... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Business Strategy

January 1996
Case

Biogen, Inc.: rBeta Interferon Manufacturing Process Development

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Biogen, Inc., a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company, is wrapping up a project to develop a new manufacturing process for a new drug product that will reposition the company from a purely research-oriented company to a fully integrated pharmaceutical manufacturing... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Technological Innovation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Projects; Research and Development; Corporate Strategy; Biotechnology Industry

Educators