Publications

November 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Background Note

Why Consumers Don't Buy: The Psychology of New Product Adoption

By: John T. Gourville

Looks at the consumer psychology of new product adoption. Identifies a key reason why consumers do not adopt innovations as quickly as developers think they should--an irrational resistance to behavioral change. Identifies strategies for firms to manage and overcome... View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Social Psychology

November 2023
Article

Psychological Factors Underlying Attitudes toward AI Tools

By: Julian De Freitas, Stuti Agarwal, B. Schmitt and N. Haslam

What are the psychological factors driving attitudes toward AI tools, and how can resistance to AI systems be overcome when they are beneficial? In this perspective, we first organize the main sources of resistance into five main categories: opacity, emotionlessness,... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Self; AI and Machine Learning; Attitudes; Technology Adoption

Read Now

Large organizations—and the people working in them—tend to resist change. Yet some people are remarkably successful at leading transformation efforts. What makes them so effective?

View Details

July 2020
Background Note

Leadership for Change: Seven Enduring Skills for Experienced and Aspiring Change Leaders

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Leaders use seven leadership skills in conceiving and managing change projects, whether innovations in established organizations, culture and process changes, or entrepreneurial ventures for industry or social change. The skills leaders need are different at various... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leading Change; Management Skills

January 2010 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Hindustan Unilever Limited

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Mona Srivastava

This case illustrates Hindustan Unilever Limited's conflict resolution and people development policies using a “leading from the middle” example. The story centers on the challenges faced by an HR manager at a factory who must meet organizational objectives while... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Labor Unions; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Managerial Roles; Conflict Management; Food and Beverage Industry; India

May 1994 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Barilla SpA (A)

By: Janice H. Hammond

Barilla SpA, an Italian manufacturer that sells to its retailers largely through third-party distributors, experienced widely fluctuating demand patterns from its distributors during the late 1980s. This case describes a proposal to address the problem by implementing... View Details

Keywords: Order Taking and Fulfillment; Logistics; Supply Chain; Technology; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Italy

11 Sep 2018
News

The Rare Workers Who Thrive on Negative Feedback

January 1988 (Revised January 2007)
Background Note

Leading Change

By: Michael Beer

Presents a conceptual framework for understanding the process of leading organizational change. Change leaders must create dissatisfaction with the status quo, develop a vision of the future state, and manage a process that sequences and orchestrates events and changes... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Leading Change

2011
Working Paper

Temptation at Work

By: Alessandro Bucciol, Daniel Houser and Marco Piovesan

To encourage worker productivity, offices prohibit Internet use. Consequently, many employees delay Internet activity to the end of the workday. Recent work in social psychology, however, suggests that using willpower to delay gratification can negatively impact... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Performance Productivity; Behavior; Power and Influence; Internet

Read Now

03 Jan 2022
News

Some Big Wall Street Banks Reverse Their Back-To-Office Plans—Again

18 May 2023
Video

Katina Sawyer presents "A Qualitative Inquiry of Masculinity In the National Football League (NFL)"

August 2003 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Elizabeth Parker (A)

By: Tiziana E. Casciaro, Wickham Skinner and David Krackhardt

A new political appointee with years of volunteer experience takes over a highly responsible job in the state government and is met with bureaucratic inertia. Describes a successful strategy to overcome organizational resistance to change. View Details

Keywords: Public Sector; Leading Change; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Conflict and Resolution; Power and Influence

July 2015 (Revised March 2016)
Teaching Note

Uber and Stakeholders: Managing a New Way of Riding

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox

This case provides a vehicle to analyze stakeholder relations as a company grows, particularly in the context of new business models that challenge established industries. It introduces the dilemmas posed by rapid growth, new technologies, regulatory uncertainty, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business or Company Management; Entrepreneurship; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Innovation and Invention; Transportation Industry

20 Aug 2020
Blog Post

Being patients compelled us. Sequoia inspired us. HBS sustained us.

better than us. Which at the time, wasn’t saying much. Today, Deborah and I (an HBS MBA 2010 graduate) run FertilityIQ, an online educational resource used by over 90% of all US fertility patients. We’re imperfect, but we’ve managed to help patients and build an... View Details

May 2014 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Houston We Have A Problem: NASA and Open Innovation (A)

By: Michael Tushman, Hila Lifshitz-Assaf and Kerry Herman

Jeff Davis, director of Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD) at NASA, has been working for several years to raise awareness amongst scientists and researchers in his organizations of the benefits of open innovation as a successful and efficient way to collaborate on... View Details