dysfunction - Publications - Faculty & Research

04 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Governing the Family-Run Business

employ dysfunctional and short-sighted approaches to handle tensions, such as: Exclusion and secrecy—keeping some family members or shareholders out of conversations and keeping too many secrets from employees, owners or family members.... View Details

23 Nov 2021
Book

What It Takes to Build an Organizational Culture That Wins

turnaround of dysfunctional aspects of Microsoft’s culture. But at the same time, he was leading a major change in strategy away from the domination of Windows software, a change made more difficult by the market share and huge wealth... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

02 Mar 2009
Research & Ideas

When Goal Setting Goes Bad

Maurice Schweitzer. Q: Are goals by themselves a problem, or is it the way we use them? A: When we can so easily predict the dysfunctional behavior that will ensue, I would argue that it is the goals themselves. Far too often, people want... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

28 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

The Profit Power of Corporate Culture

families as well. Q: How can a CEO spot a dysfunctional or at least disintegrating culture? What should be the first steps to fixing the problem? A: A CEO in this situation should be tracking and managing by the numbers—the nonfinancial... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

12 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

How Scale Changes a Manager's Responsibilities

Dysfunctions of a Team can be helpful, but mastering the art of hiring takes practice. From 50 to 100 employees. This is a transition period in which you may sit in on candidate reviews for key hires, when the team is deciding whether to... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

09 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Organizations

identity and reputation from unjust attacks. And the firm as a whole needs a similar defensive capacity for its dealings with hostile competitive firms, community groups, or governmental agencies. The defending and learning drives can also veer to View Details

Keywords: by Paul Lawrence & Nitin Nohria

06 Jan 2016
What Do You Think?

Why Do Leaders Get Their Timing Wrong?

organization culture as the culprit. He identified a dysfunctional culture as a cause of poor timing, one that magnifies a “confirmation bias that causes companies to stick with obsolete or weak strategies ... far too long.” Subrata... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Auto; Fashion

08 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: A Sense of Urgency

automatically must be delegated to the damage control specialists. A crisis can be your friend. Never forget that crises do not automatically reduce complacency. If not monitored and handled well, burning platforms can be disastrous, leading to fear, anger, blame, and... View Details

Keywords: by John P. Kotter

12 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Corporate Innovation Increasingly Benefits from Government Research

Blanding is a writer based in the Boston area. [Image: Bruce yuanyue Bi / Alamy Stock Photo] Related Reading Political Dysfunction Makes America Less Competitive Do National Security Secrets Hold Back National Innovation? For Better... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

27 Jun 2011
Research & Ideas

Recovering from the Need to Achieve

back to McClelland's original work, and eventually thinking more deeply about the "high-need-for-achievement professional" and how helpless these individuals behaved when trying to change dysfunctional behavior. DeLong, a... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

27 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

Want a Happy Customer? Coordinate Sales and Marketing

bloated bureaucracy and constipated decision-making. Clearly dysfunctional activities,even in fun, such as a sales vs. marketing golf tournament at the national sales meeting, are to be discouraged.— Benson Shapiro Information technology... View Details

Keywords: by Benson Shapiro

02 Jul 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: The Role of Social Entrepreneurship in Transforming American Public Education

SchoolsKevin Johnson, CEO & President, St HOPE Public SchoolsWendy Kopp, CEO & Founder, Teach for AmericaMichelle Rhee, Chancellor, Washington DC Public Schools A national crisis exists in public education. The root causes include unaccountable teachers, View Details

Keywords: Education

03 Jan 2018
What Do You Think?

In the Wake of #MeToo, Should Corporate Boards Hire Compliance Officers?

role in selecting new board members. There was an implicit presumption of trust among the CEO and board members. At least a limited kind of camaraderie was thought to be essential among the leadership and the directors of a company. Those fearing View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

09 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 9

Prior research on expectancy disconfirmation in task performance contexts has focused on the dysfunctional consequences of disconfirming low performance expectations (i.e., stereotype threat). In this paper we focus on the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

How to Do Away with the Dangers of Outsourcing

and on and on—a coalition of associates that spanned the earth and in the end proved nearly as dysfunctional as the real United Nations often seems. Outsourcing woes cost the 787 an estimated three extra years of development, required... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati; Manufacturing; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion

03 Aug 2016
What Do You Think?

How Can We Hold the “Leadership Industry” Accountable?

How can aspiring leaders raise their voices when they see dysfunctional behavior at the top but fear losing the opportunity to have a shot at the top job? To what extent are the kinds of performance measures used—largely financial and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

14 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Difficulties for Women Bridging Racial, Generational, and Global Divides

symposium focused on bridging race, bridging generations, bridging the global divide among women, and ways in which gender imbalance can fuel dysfunctional relationships among women in the workplace. In each, experts presented the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

11 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research, July 11

that’s essential for creativity and efficiency. Chopped-up schedules interrupt deep thinking, so people come to work early, stay late, or use weekends for quiet time to concentrate. And dysfunctional meeting behaviors are associated with... View Details