Publications

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September 2016 (Revised January 2018)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 4: Organizing for Performance

By: Robert Simons

This module reading explores the implications of different business models on organization design. After discussing the distinction between units focused on work processes and those devoted to markets, the analysis provides insight as to when to organize businesses by... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Customer Focused Organization; Specialization; Span Of Control; Span Of Accountability; Span Of Attention; Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure

February 2012
Case

Henkel: Building a Winning Culture

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This case illustrates a CEO-led organizational transformation driven by stretch goals, performance measurement, and accountability. When Kasper Rorsted became CEO of Henkel, a Germany-based producer of personal care, laundry, and adhesives products, in 2008, he was... View Details

Keywords: Performance Measurement; Performance Appraisals; Human Resource Management; Values; Organizational Transformations; Pay For Performance; Strategy Execution; Values and Beliefs; Work-Life Balance; Organizational Culture; Human Resources; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits

Educators

23 Nov 2021
Book

What It Takes to Build an Organizational Culture That Wins

forthcoming book, Win from Within: Build Organizational Culture For Competitive Advantage, which is a how-to roadmap for improving an organization’s culture. Heskett, the UPS Foundation Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School,... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

Web

Organizational Leadership Course | HBS Online

distinct challenges of leading larger, more dispersed teams Develop strategies for planning and engineering organizational change and innovation initiatives Shape your organizational culture and architecture... View Details

14 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The New Measures for Improving Nonprofit Performance

at Harvard Business School. He has published extensively on the challenges of accountability and performance management facing nonprofit organizations, including the award-winning book NGOs and View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

September–October 2022
Article

The Essential Link Between ESG Targets and Financial Performance

By: Mark R. Kramer and Marc W. Pfitzer

Despite heightened attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, surprisingly few companies are making meaningful progress in delivering on their commitments. Most firms are not integrating ESG factors into internal strategy and operational decisions... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Governance; Financial Strategy; Decision Making; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Organizational Structure

Web

Organizational Behavior Curriculum - Faculty & Research

Organizational Behavior Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students MBA Required Curriculum (FIRST YEAR) Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD) This course... View Details

March – April 2008
Article

Interorganizational Trust, Governance Choice, and Exchange Performance

By: Ranjay Gulati and Jackson Nickerson

This paper looks at when and how preexisting interorganizational trust influences the choice of governance and in turn the performance of exchange relationships. We theorize that preexisting interorganizational trust complements the choice of governance mode (make,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Organizational Culture; Performance Improvement; Conflict and Resolution; Trust

Research Summary

Innovation and Performance Improvement in Health Care

By: Robert S. Huckman

This stream of Professor Huckman's work examines how organizations delivering health care can structure and manage their activities to improve operational performance. It addresses issues including the impact of various forms of familiarity on performance, the impact... View Details

December 2022
Article

The Rise of People Analytics and the Future of Organizational Research

By: Jeff Polzer

Organizations are transforming as they adopt new technologies and use new sources of data, changing the experiences of employees and pushing organizational researchers to respond. As employees perform their daily activities, they generate vast digital data. These data,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Analytics and Data Science; Technology Adoption; Employees

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2011
Article

How Do Networks Matter? The Performance Effects of Interorganizational Networks

By: Ranjay Gulati, D. Lavie and Ravi Madhavin

A growing body of research suggests that an organization's ties to other organizations furnish resources that bestow various benefits. Scholars have proposed different perspectives on how such networks of ties shape organizational behavior and performance outcomes, but... View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Organizational Design; Performance; Performance Effectiveness; Networks; Partners and Partnerships; Research; Perspective; Value

January 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Comcast New England: A Journey of Organizational Transformation

By: Michael Beer and Anita Arun

This case describes how Kevin Casey, Comcast's New England Region general manager, transformed a low commitment and performance organization. When he took charge of this Comcast region he inherited an organization that was bureaucratic, had low customer satisfaction,... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Interpersonal Communication; Customer Satisfaction; Employee Relationship Management; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Performance Improvement; Telecommunications Industry; New England

Educators

04 Jan 2021
News

Chasing Friction: The Paradox of High Performing Teams

Article

Recent Advances in the Empirics of Organizational Economics

By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

We present a survey of recent contributions in empirical organizational economics, focusing on management practices and decentralization. Productivity dispersion between firms and countries has motivated the improved measurement of firm organization across industries... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Productivity; Geographic Location; Motivation and Incentives; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Competition; Human Capital; Markets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Multinational Firms and Management; India; Brazil; United States

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March 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

ACCION International: Maintaining High Performance Through Time

By: Michael Chu

ACCION International has been a major innovator in microfinance for 30 years. Reviews organizational context under which key industry-shaping concepts were developed (from peer group lending, guarantee funds, equity investment funds, and regulated commercial banking... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Equity; Microfinance; Employee Relationship Management; Non-Governmental Organizations

Educators