Publications

November 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Teaching Note

Stone Finch, Inc.: Young Division, Old Division (Brief Case)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Elizabeth Collins

Teaching Note for 3214 View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Human Resource Management; Motivation; Business Growth; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizations; Human Resources

Article

Behavioral and Neural Representations en route to Intuitive Action Understanding

By: Leyla Tarhan, Julian De Freitas and Talia Konkle

When we observe another person’s actions, we process many kinds of information—from how their body moves to the intention behind their movements. What kinds of information underlie our intuitive understanding about how similar actions are to each other? To address this... View Details

Keywords: Action Perception; Intuitive Similarity; Multi-arrangement; fMRI; Representational Similarity Analysis; Behavior; Perception

29 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

The Story of Why Humans Are So Careless With Their Phones

'Be Careless with That!' Availability of Product Upgrades Increases Cavalier Behavior Toward Possessions ABOUT THE AUTHOR Comics journalist Josh Neufeld is the writer/artist of The New York Times bestseller A.D.: New Orleans After the... View Details

Keywords: by Josh Neufeld; Consumer Products; Retail

Web

Introduction – The Human Relations Movement – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

HBS Home HBS Index Contact Us A New Vision An Essay by Professors Michel Anteby and Rakesh Khurana Next Introduction The Human Relations Movement: Harvard Business School and the Hawthorne Experiments (1924-1933) In the 1920s Elton Mayo,... View Details

2016
Working Paper

An Evaluation of Compensation Benchmarking Peer Groups Based on Mutual Peer-Designating Behaviors

By: Jee Eun Shin

In this paper, I argue that firms mutually recognizing each other as compensation benchmarking peers constitute viable competitors in the same CEO labor market, and that non-mutual peer relationships can serve as a tool to evaluate firms’ executive compensation... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation

SSRN

Research Summary

The Unexpected Effects of Workplace Connectivity

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

While investigating how workplace transparency and privacy shape organizational behavior and performance, I wondered about the related effects of workplace connectivity. As new digital tools and organizational forms make it far easier for employees to communicate... View Details

Keywords: Human Behavior; Performance; Virtual Work; Hybrid Work; Office Space; Workplace Design; Organizations; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams; Networks; Behavior; Social and Collaborative Networks; Communication

January 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Dick's Sporting Goods: Getting Out Of The Gun Business (A)

By: George A. Riedel

Dick's Sporting Goods was one of the top five retailers of a range of firearms in the US. Over the last several years and specifically following the Parkland shooting of 2018, Ed Stack, the CEO and chairman, had wrestled with the question of their role as a leading... View Details

Keywords: Gun Policy; Gun Violence; Sporting Goods; Sport; Human Behavior; Violence; Ethics; Decision Making; Social Issues; Corporate Accountability; Sports Industry; Retail Industry; United States

Educators

April 2008
Case

TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial

By: Michael Beer and Sunru Yong

TerraCog, a successful privately held high-tech firm that develops GPS (global positioning system) and similar products for consumer markets, has recently been caught off-guard by a competitor's new product that makes novel use of satellite imagery. When TerraCog... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Meetings; Decision Making; Group Dynamics; Human Resource Management; Conflict; Information Technology; Leadership; Conflict Management; Competition; Groups and Teams; Organizational Culture; Human Resources; Communication; Decision Choices and Conditions; Crisis Management; Technology Industry

Educators

05 Jan 2021
News

Using Behavioral Science to Improve Well-Being for Social Workers

26 Mar 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact

Keywords: by Michelle A. Shell and Ryan W. Buell; Health

Web

A New Vision – The Human Relations Movement – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

activities, sentiments, interactions, norms, and personal and professional connections of individuals and groups that had developed over extended periods of time. The existence of the informal organization, argued the Hawthorne researchers, meant that shaping View Details

2019
Chapter

Happiness and Prosocial Behavior: An Evaluation of the Evidence

By: Lara B. Aknin, Ashley V. Whillans, Michael I. Norton and Elizabeth W. Dunn

Humans are an extremely prosocial species. Compared to most primates, humans provide more assistance to family, friends, and strangers, even when costly. Why do people devote their resources to helping others? In this chapter, we examine whether engaging in prosocial... View Details

Keywords: Volunteering; Charity; Prosocial Behavior; Happiness; Well-being; Behavior

March 24, 2020
Article

Delayed Negative Effects of Prosocial Spending on Happiness

By: Armin Falk and Thomas Graeber

Does prosocial behavior promote happiness? We test this longstanding hypothesis in a behavioral experiment that extends the scope of previous research. In our Saving a Life paradigm, every participant either saved one human life in expectation by triggering a targeted... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Behavior; Altruism; Happiness; Well-being; Spending; Behavior

Web

The “Hawthorne Effect” – The Human Relations Movement – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

research. Harvard’s role in the Hawthorne experiments gave rise to the modern application of social science to organization life and lay the foundation for the human relations movement and the field of organizational View Details

Web

Bibliography – The Human Relations Movement – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

HBS Home HBS Index Contact Us A New Vision An Essay by Professors Michel Anteby and Rakesh Khurana Introduction The Hawthorne Plant Employee Welfare Illumination Studies and Relay Assembly Test Room Enter Elton Mayo Human Relations and... View Details

December 1998 (Revised April 1999)
Case

Mind of the Market: Is the Human Brain a Computer? Primer Seven

By: Gerald Zaltman and Kathryn A. Braun

Keywords: Markets; Research; Consumer Behavior

December 1998 (Revised April 1999)
Case

Mind of the Market: Anatomical View of the Human Brain, Primer Three

By: Gerald Zaltman and Kathryn A. Braun

Keywords: Markets; Research; Consumer Behavior

April 2011
Case

Porcini's Pronto: "Great Italian cuisine without the wait!"

By: James L. Heskett and Richard Luecke

Porcini's Inc. operates a chain of 23 full-service restaurants located near shopping malls and downtown areas in the northeastern United States. Known for providing excellent service, Porcini's serves high-quality Italian cuisine made from fresh ingredients. Looking... View Details

Educators

July–August 2014
Article

Becoming a First-Class Noticer: How to Spot and Prevent Ethical Failures in Your Organization

By: Max Bazerman

We'd like to think that no smart, upstanding manager would ever overlook or turn a blind eye to threats or wrongdoing that ultimately imperil his or her business. Yet it happens all the time. We fall prey to obstacles that obscure or drown out important signals that... View Details

Keywords: Accountability; Business Ethics; Cognitive Psychology; Human Behavior; Personal Ethics In Business; Business or Company Management; Ethics